QED uplay streamer,- under £20

[Gazjam]

If anyone is interested I am happy to dig my Belkin HD Streamer out of the cupboard for sale.

On a related note I also have a pristine Logitech Slim Devices Squeezebox that has been gathering dust for some time. Performs much the same function though to a higher standard. Afficionados will know what it does!

Geoff

oh yes..

[dave2010]

The one feature of the QED uplay which some might find useful is the multi-room facility. At £20 or thereabouts kitting out several rooms is affordable.

I don't know much about multi-room operation, and/or whether it is useful or a PITA. Does anyone - with these or other (probably more expensive) kit?

[dave2010]

One problem I'm noticing with Chromecast devices is dropouts, but presumably the QED uplay would also be prone to these. In the worst and most annoying cases the dropouts are permanent, and lose the connection. This can be a severe problem.

Years ago when WiFi was really only just taking off I was tinkering (experimenting) and I discovered a few things which may not be generally known.

1. Some WiFi kit is very directional. This doesn't apply to everything, but some kit does exhibit rather strong directionality. I measured this by setting continous transfers to devices, and monitoring the data rates. For some devices the data rate dropped to a very low value when they were rotated by 90 degrees, and the rate went back up when rotated back. This test was repeatable, so not really in doubt.

2. I also discovered that siting some WiFi kit on top of metal biscuit tins severely limited the possible data rates! This was an accidental discovery - checked as in 1 by measuring data transfer rates. It was accidental, as we had been eating biscuits, and on reflection was the reason for my doing the experimentation/measuring in the first place.

3. If there is more than one device in a room then depending on the geometry (and perhaps other factors) there can be interference and interruptions in communications. In particular, if there are several devices on the same geometric "line" to the router, then there can be quite significant interference. This is more speculative, but seems to be the case. It is possible to have several WiFi devices in a room, but if they all line up then some may drop out. If they are spread out in different directions then drop outs seem less likely.

Recently I noted dropouts in wireless links to Chromecast devices - both a regular TV one, and an audio model, which I assumed were due to using a battery rather than a PSU. The dropouts kicked in quickly, and there wasn't any recovery.

I looked up the symptoms for "advice" on these, and there was the suggestion to use the supplied PSU. I tried that, but it still didn't solve the issue. This morning I had yet more dropouts - this time on the TV model which was working fine last night. I noticed that this seemed to correlate with my picking up my laptop and typing. I was sitting on a sofa close to the iPad which was casting the programme, and not far from the Chromecast receiver. Drop outs would occur within a minute or so of using the laptop.

I have now moved to the other end of the room with the laptop, and the music has been playing continuously ever since - actually one very short dropout - but it did recover. This is slightly speculative, but I do have a strong hunch that this is correct. I was wondering if the QED devices would be better in this regard than the Chromecasts - it's possible - but if they also rely on WiFi for convenient use (i.e. from a phone, iPad or wireless laptop) then they'd also be subject to the same WiFI dropout problems.

However the QED devices also have allow an ethernet wired connection. This might reduce problems slightly, as at least one link might then be via a wired connection even if WiFi is used to set up and/or distribute the programme content. However my experience with Apple TVs is not comforting in that regard, and some devices do not work well with such wireless links at all.

[struth]

Interesting that. Maybe you,ll solve it eventually. Ive 2 audio chromecasts and not suffered dropouts so far.

[jollyfix]

Can Chromecast can used with a Mac??? Does it have an inbuilt dac, like the QED in this thread?

[Sherwood]

I think that my Belkin HD Bluetooth Streamer beats the QED and Chromecast hands down. It has analague and digital out and will play anything from an Android device. For example, you do not need to subscribe to Spotify Premium since the Belkin will transmit anything your phone can play as a bluetooth device. Since purchasing my Cambridge CXN streamer my Belkin has been in a cupboard so as soon as I get a moment I will take some photos and post in on AoS. Although, the Cambridge has the edge in sound quality the Belkin is more flexible since the Cambridge requires Spotify Premium to work.

For those interested, here is a link to a Youtube review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKvOtMr0cw0

Geoff

[dave2010]

Interesting that. Maybe you,ll solve it eventually. Ive 2 audio chromecasts and not suffered dropouts so far.

I was about to write that I'd "solved" the problem, and just picking up the laptop and typing a few words seems to have knocked out the audio Chromecast, even though it's at the other end of the room. However, I was able to listen to radio 3 for around 30 minutes on a regular TV style Chromecast (connected to the TV) without dropouts from the same location. I was able to cause dropouts on that too when I sat at the other end of the room. Perhaps my Chromecast audio is just not reliable enough - but I did get it cheaply - though I don't think that's the reason why I'm getting these problems.

To jollyfix who asked whether Chromecasts (either TV or audio) can be used with Macs the answer is "yes", though might require the use of an updated Chrome browser. This may turn out to a be a pain, depending on which version of Mac OS X you're using, and perhaps "force" you to upgrade the OS - which you may not wish to do.

All the Chromecast models have inbuilt DACs. The audio model has an optical output which can be fed to an external DAC, but also has its own internal DAC and analogue output for driving a pre-amp or portable speakers.

[struth]

Or headphones... it works on ios ipad etc too. You need the google app to set it up.

It might be your router causing the dropouts. Its maybe defaulting to the other unit when its being used. Coulld be a local ip issue

[dave2010]

I think that my Belkin HD Bluetooth Streamer beats the QED and Chromecast hands down. It has analague and digital out and will play anything from an Android device. For example, you do not need to subscribe to Spotify Premium since the Belkin will transmit anything your phone can play as a bluetooth device. Since purchasing my Cambridge CXN streamer my Belkin has been in a cupboard so as soon as I get a moment I will take some photos and post in on AoS. Although, the Cambridge has the edge in sound quality the Belkin is more flexible since the Cambridge requires Spotify Premium to work.

For those interested, here is a link to a Youtube review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKvOtMr0cw0

Geoff

You may well be right that this is a more convenient gadget. However, Bluetooth is fundamentally limited compared with WiFi. It may be good enough for modest quality systems, but won't work for really high quality audio. There is just not the bandwidth available, and slightly better Bluetooth links use apt-X digital compression.

https://www.aptx.com/
https://www.aptx.com/how-it-works
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AptX

There are higher Bluetooth standards, but these rely on other LAN standards to extend the bandwidth.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth

Look at Bluetooth 3, 4 and 5.

Also, the video you pointed at simply shows how to take it out of the box - hardly a serious review of the Belkin gadget.

[dave2010]

Or headphones... it works on ios ipad etc too. You need the google app to set it up.

It might be your router causing the dropouts. Its maybe defaulting to the other unit when its being used. Coulld be a local ip issue

Indeed you may be right. It's just a pain though, as I can plug the optical cable into my MBP and run direct to my DAC without bothering with Chromecast or Apple TV - but it'd be good to sit at the other end of the room, rather than tethered close to the speakers. Life seems at times too short to have to deal with all of this stuff.

Also, though I've just responded slightly negatively to Sherwood's post re a Belkin device, sometimes having something which actually works is much preferable to having a really much higher quality device which actually doesn't!

Though the reason that the Chromecast (TV version) kicked in today was that we "had" to use it last night as for some reason iPlayer on our BT Youview PVR wouldn't work, and it just started up and turned the TV on when I tried to cast from iPlayer on an iOS device.

Maybe I should reboot (i.e power off then on) our BT router.