Sonos has been sitting pretty at the top of the wireless audio distribution space for quite awhile now. Today Yamaha is fighting back with a totally refreshed (and very Sonos-like) Musiccast2 system that supports up to 32 rooms of WiFi-based distributed audio from sources such as Rhapsody, Internet radio, or tracks stored on your Mac, PC, USB sticks, Bluetooth devices, or networked shares. iTunes support is enabled via a bundled TwonkyMedia Server in the $500 MCX-RC100 Network Music Commander remote control (above) with 3.5-inch LCD, touch-sensitive trackpad, and GUI that displays details such as album art and song information from all your MP3, WMA (no lossless or PRO), AAC (no Apple lossless or FairPlay DRM), FLAC and WAV audio files. To distribute the audio, you'll need a $400 MCX-A300 (amplified, just add speakers) or $400 MCX-P200 (non-amplified for AV connection) Network Music Player placed in each room where audio is desired. The MCX-P200 can also function as a universal IR remote with multiple IR outs to control other devices in the AV rack via IR flashers or the MCX-RC100 remote control. So yeah, it gets expensive, but it's easy and quick and won't require a sledgehammer, wiring, or sheetrocking skills. Our only reservation is with Yamaha's choice of straight-up 2.4GHz 802.11b/g to link the audio compared to the rock-solid, customized-802.11n mesh created by Sonos -- nobody wants a microwave to harsh their mellow, dig? More component pics after the break.
MCX-A300
MCX-P200
posted Jun 19th 2009 6:59AM
FINALLY. You don't know how LONG I've been waiting for something like this. GO YAMAHA!
I'll keep my Sonos thanks!
I kept passing on Sonos as it was too expensive to get started, but now that you can use your iPhone/iPod Touch as a remote control with the free app from Sonos, and save paying $400 for a controller (or $800 for 2, as my wife has an iPhone she can use as well), then the Sonos only costs $350 to get started. Unless Yamaha has an iPhone app for control as well, I'll be buying the Sonos.
Imagine living in a world where mobiles evolve so fast that within 2 years your present mobile will be obsolete and you will prey the next one actually (highly unlikely) supports the remote of your stereo or you will be stuck forever with a remote which has a dying battery you can´t replace...
Nah.. having a proper remote instead of a toy to control my stereo which i will still be using probably in 10 years from now obviously has some preference to me. I´m though a bit horrified by the chunkiness of this device.
Given that, with the Sonos, I'd still have the option to buy the standard remote for $400 but didn't have to lay out that initial $400 investment at the start, or I could just buy an iPod Touch for half that to use around the house as a remote, so I think I'll stick with the Sonos option. As far as the Squeezebox goes, being able to easily link the Sonos systems together to play the same thing around the house as I walk around is very nice, and I believe it's still very, very hard to setup a Duet receiver without the matching remote, even if you get iPeng for your iPhone to control it after it's setup.
@JZ: Are you saying that in two years, Apple will start refusing to replace iPhone and iPod Touch batteries? He can keep it for the sole purpose of controlling his music and still save the $400.
Or, of course, you can go the SqueezeBox route. Duet has a controller that can control *ANY* squeezebox, as well as an iPhone/Touch app that's second to none. Oh, and the zone players can be had for $150. Maybe not 100% as slick as these solutions but WAY cheaper. Of course, spend your money as you see fit.
No Apple Lossless support? Fail!
Ugh. FLAC is the future my friend!
I have the Squeezebox Duet system. The controller is ok, but with the advent of the new iPeng app for the iPod Touch/iPhone, the controller is never used.
Squeezebox Receiver = $175
IPeng = $5
Great combination. Don't have an iPod touch? Ok, get one of those for $300 or so OR get the whole Duet system.
The best part - the open-sourcocity of the Slim Devices products.
Here's what really interesting. 2 years ago when I was building my house, all of these AV installers wanted me to put keypads all over the house. No thanks, I said - something better will come along.
Well, it has. There are multiple wireless audio systems available. The cost of the wired distribution system? Around $3,000 just for the controller and keypads. Keypads that have no feedback as to what you're really doing, too. Sonos, Slim Devices, Yamaha - much better and much cheaper.
+1 very satisfied Sonos customer here. But welcome to the party anyway, Yamaha. You can have seat right over there next to the coat closet....and the Duet.
I've looked at the sonos but it just wasn't for me. That Yamaha looks sweet and it will control my RX-V3900...it just made the top of my "want list".
Yamaha failed. They had me hooked, until I did some research after reading the Engadget article.
NO DIGITAL OUTPUT?!?! WTF?
The DACs in these things, be it Yammy/Sonos/Squeeze, all leave something to be desired for higher-fi applications. I understand they need to build to a price-point, and most users don't care which DAC is used or how it is implemented. But for those of us that run stand-alone DACs, there is no option to get the bitstream to my DAC. No optical Spdif, no digital co-ax, no usb out (just input). How hard would it have been to add a digital output?
Sad too, I like Yamaha. The 3 tuning forks in their logo used to mean something. They walked away from the hi-fi market in 1988 after producing their TOTL Centennial series, and haven't looked back.
Oh well, back to Squeeze/Slim or Sonos.
Looks very nice, unlike the Sonos "toasters", as you'd expect from Yamaha. No 802.11n support will mean poor reliability (I have a Squeezebox Boom in my study and had to connect over Ethernet as the sound regularly drops out). I hear the ex-CEO of Slim has now left Logitech, so can't really see a future for Squeeze.
No 802.11n? C'mon, this is 2009! At $1200 they could surely afford it. Also, only Rhapsody? I bet in 6 months they'll add aonther service, and another 5 months later another... also a joke. Only 3 can be linked in party mode? You're kidding, right?
The real competition here to me seems to be Cisco - has anyone tested this yet? I'm waiting to get my hands on one around Christmas when they'll probably release an update. The iPod streaming looks good on the Cisco system as does the touchscreem controller... I sawy some dude posted real measurements of Cisco vs. Sonos on NY Times yesterday: http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/ciscos-sonos-fighter/#more-9519
-JW