Help for a friend required (bonafide!) While not a total scratchy-tabard-wearing luddite, I do know very little about the development of stereo/hi-fi since the demise of the Sony Entertainment Centre.

So a friend asked me ‘what do you buy nowadays to listen to music?’ I’m the wrong person to ask as 1. I use headphones and 2. do not own any hifi or wotnot these last 20 years.

Any help greatly appreciated – this is the criteria as roughly harvested:

-To play music from laptop or phone
– go relatively loud without distorting
– not be too bulky
– no CDs required
– radio would be nice actually

PS she does not own or plan to own television or any surround thingummy.

Radiogram.

Hipster innit!

I’d kick off with a bluetooth speaker thingy – we’ve got a Bose Soundlink, but others on here have bought similar from other brands

https://www.richersounds.com/hi-fi/separates/mini-hi-fi.html

or just a standalone network speaker like a Sonos…

A spotify subscription (other music streaming services are available) and a blue tooth speaker

– go relatively loud without distorting
– not be too bulky

Pick one

Google Home. Decent enough sound quality (for my ears anyway). Will play music from your phone, internet subscription or streaming radio. Buy more than one and link them for multi room audio.

Has the added bonus of all the other smart speaker functionality as well.

I’m not a big fan of Bose, a bit too B&O for my taste, but I’ll be the first to admit the Soundlink is really bloody good, and puts out a lot more sound than its size suggests.
Alternatively a B&W Zeppelin Air, or else their A5 or A7 streaming speakers.

A spotify subscription (other music streaming services are available) and a blue tooth speaker

Just the one speaker? Is Stereo no longer a thing?

A spotify subscription and an Anker bluetooth speaker like this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MTB55WH?psc=1

-To play music from laptop or phone
– go relatively loud without distorting
– not be too bulky
– no CDs required
– radio would be nice actually

Something like a Pure Digital radio.

They are a radio obviously, but you can connect any device via a 3.5 mm jack lead, or the newer ones also connect via Bluetooth.

Naim Mu-so?

only a slight hijack, but i have 2 large mordaunt & short floor speakers. at present theyre connected to an old arcam amp which has selections for cd, radio, phono and aux. i think its seen better days so im also on the lookout for the best way forwards, but id like to keep the speakers as they sound great.

what options do i have for a unit to replace the amp? i dont have a cd player, turntable or owt these days, so is there anything that would take the ‘old stylee’ red and white jack leads of the speakers yet play music from my phone (deezer)? maybe wifi and bluetooth?

thanks

EDIT: i have a pure evoke 2 dab radio in the kitchen, and an anker bluetooth speaker for outside which get a lot of use. this would just be for those days when you want to blast music out in the lounge.

Does the amp still work? You could just plug in a bluetooth receiver.

Or Naim Qube.

I picked up one of the aether cones after the company went bust. (PSA on here). It’s great.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/content/aether-cone-wireless-speaker

Problem with Bluetooth is that you need your phone to be near your speakers.

Wifi Multi-room is great. Start with two and keep adding speakers (yep, N+1 again). No wires or amp needed. People say they are expensive, but price/sound is comparable to an OK amp and speakers, and way more convenient.

Sonos for me – Samsung, Sony, LG, Bose etc are trying to catch up but they don’t have the expertise with the software and wifi reliability. Also I don’t trust them to keep supporting stuff once they go through a few release cycles, whereas Sonos have proven they will.

Even my wife likes ’em 😀

Does the amp still work? You could just plug in a bluetooth receiver.

it does, but sometimes i have to whack it to stop it distorting, just thought its time to update it. and bluetooth receiver? id prefer wifi for home use, is there anything that does both and takes the red and white plugs? oh, and isnt over £600? 🙂

A car.

Libratone Zipp.

Supports Airplay, Bluetooth, Spotify Direct (Deezer/Tidal/Amazon music etc), Aux in, USB in.

Has battery that lasts 8-10hrs.

Built in internet radio

Sounds great.

Several colours.

iOS/Android app.

£249, but drop to £169 all the time on Amazon.

Has battery that lasts 8-10hrs

think id prefer something plugged in constantly so no need to think about charging, itd be in the lounge permanently. do I just need a modern amp? 😆

I am very impressed by the sound and bass of the v2 of the Anker SoundCore bluetooth speaker. As recommend on here. I never realised I needed one but now use it pretty much every evening. Playing music off the laptop, phone or tablet depending on what I happen to be using atthattime. Bluetooth makes it though the thick stone walls of my Edinburgh tenement flat. 24+ hrs battery

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-SoundCore-Bluetooth-Playtime-Resistance/dp/B01MTB55WH

Sonos Play 3 – comes with TuneIn radio, for the radio thingy.

SadExPunk – For the standalone speakers – Sonos Connect Amp.

I wouldn’t look any further as they are both excellent.

is there any difference in the music quality, wifi vs bluetooth? or is it all digital so will always be same quality?

sonos more pricey than id like, but looking at those sort of things, they all seem to be well into the hundreds. maybe ive got unreal expectations. I did actually connect a chromecast to the amp ‘aux’ but it kept dropping out, so that’s not the answer either unfortunately.

was going to reccommend chromecast – odd re dropouts – no such problems with me – they are flawless.

is there any difference in the music quality, wifi vs bluetooth? or is it all digital so will always be same quality?

Yeah, there is, noticeable to even none snake-oil addictsaudiophiles 😉

I assume wifi is the superior method then yep?

EDIT:

was going to reccommend chromecast – odd re dropouts – no such problems with me – they are flawless.

could it actually be my amp that’s flawed?

Play a file that’s physically on your phone through the aux socket using the chromecast cable. If it drops out it’s the amp.

think id prefer something plugged in constantly so no need to think about charging, itd be in the lounge permanently.

Then leave it plugged in?

I’ve just bought a samsung soundbar – couldn’t be happier with it.

It does bluetooth, wifi, connects to my TV, works using the TV/appleTV remote without any jigery-pokery (my TV doesn’t have ARC) – and sounds great, even without a sub or wireless rears (which you have an option to add later)

It’s comparable in sound to the sonos playbar and bose soundtouch, but has a better spec (no BT or HDMI on the playbar was a dealbreaker) and is significantly cheaper – it even came with 5,000 qantas points.

It’s obviously not as good as a separates system – but a compromise was required to reduce speaker/cable clutter (toddler), and “faf-factor” (wife) associated with separates.

It’s this one: review

I thought something which played gramophone records was de rigueur these days?

Play a file that’s physically on your phone through the aux socket using the chromecast cable. If it drops out it’s the amp.

just been experimenting, and it does seem that the amps ok. playing deezer from my phone to chromecast audio, i keep getting little split second stutters. not actually dropping the signal, but just tiny breaks in continuity.
go straight to aux cable and bypass the cc, its fine.
another slight difference is the volume level. chromecast i have to jack the volume right up which seems to amplify little ‘speaker crackles’. aux cable nearly deafened me so had to turn volume right down which obviously made any background noise disappear.

but….. i dont want my phone plugged into a cable constantly, i want it to be er…. mobile.

so, discounting the chromecast audio as my solution, what options do i have for something constantly plugged in, that can connect by wifi, connect to my phone wirelessly should i want to (either wifi or bluetooth), and also play deezer etc as a standalone app?

thanks 🙂