Philips Streamium WACS700/05 wireless music system reviewed
It's been a long time since we've taken a look at any of Philips Streamium wireless products, and in that time, companies like Roku, Sonos and Slim Devices (not to mention Microsoft and its various hardware partners) have taken a big chunk of the home streaming market. But that doesn't mean Philips is sitting still. TrustedReviews took a look at Philips' latest music streamer, the WACS700, which is available in Europe now for about $938, and can be purchased in the US through the usual sources. The base unit includes a CD player and 40GB hard drive, along with embedded Gracenote software, so that CDs can be ripped PC-free with song data included. The system can connect to a home network via WiFi or Ethernet, and music from your PC can be transferred to the WACS700's hard drive over the network (unfortunately, it doesn't support streaming files from your PC; you first need to transfer the music to the unit itself). While TrustedReviews found the sound quality decent and some other features, including wireless reception, to be good, the reviewer also found the WACS700 to be lacking in a number of key features, including support for DRM'd files, slow ripping (as long as 20 minutes per CD), and the size of the hard drive (40GB is kind of skimpy). Conclusion: while it's not cheap, it is cheaper than Sonos' offerings, and could be an ok solution for the less technically inclined. The rest of us are likely to find more flexible PC-centric solutions.
