Turtle Beach AudioTron Digital Audio Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Very pleased with my AudioTron, makes the most of an existing home network and archives of MP3s. Far cheaper than hard drive-based digital audio receivers, the AudioTron has excellent sound quality, solid construction, and is generally easy to use. Only took me about 15 minutes to setup, making connections to my reciever and network hub.
PROS:
- Bright, easy to read LCD display
- Solid construction of case & controls, rack-mountable
- Digital audio out (optical SPDIF)
- Web interface is quite good, makes device accessible throughout your home
- Excellent sound quality, particularly when using digital out and higher bit-rate MP3s (192 kbps+)
- Great phone support from Turtle Beach, software updates
- Adjustable pre-buffering to eliminate interuption of music stream and reduce latency
CONS:
- Included remote feels a bit [flimsy], has too many buttons allocated to preset "favorites" while lacking important functionality like accessing "Options" menu
- Bundled Audiostation software has a lot of functionality, but a bit buggy (I experienced some difficulty using CD ripping features, but plenty of other software available which provides similar functionality)
- Connecting to a wireless 802.11b network requires additional hardware since device only has Ethernet 10Base-T connection
All in all, an excellent and truly networked device. Offers more functionality that similar devices (like Rio Digital Receiver) and looks right at home w/ your other stereo components.

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The Turtle Beach AudioTron transforms your PC into a powerful jukebox for your entire home. AudioTron uses your home network to play streaming audio from a networked Internet connection and digital music files from a PC hard drive. With the PC as your digital music library you can easily manage your music collection, create custom playlists, and find any song you want without having to search through a pile of CDs.
The Turtle Beach AudioTron connects to your PC via either an Ethernet or HPNA (home phone line) network. If you already have a home network AudioTron is easy to set up--a comprehensive setup utility helps you get started and analyzes your network configuration. (If you need to set up your home network, read our networking buying guide to learn how to get started.)
To run the AudioTron, you'll need a PC with at least a Pentium 233 MHz processor and 64 MB RAM, running either Windows 98 SE, 2000, Me, NT 4.0 SP6 or later, or XP. The PC should have sufficient hard disk space for storage of your digital music files and have an Internet connection to take advantage of streaming audio.
The AudioTron includes a phone cable for the HPNA connection and a CAT 5 cable for the Ethernet connection. It also includes a stereo RCA-to-RCA cable for connecting the analog audio outputs to powered speakers or a stereo receiver. The IR (infrared) remote provides access to all playback functions, including up to 20 presets that can be customized to instantly launch your favorite songs or Internet radio stations.
The included AudioStation jukebox software can convert your CDs to digital audio files, as well as operate with jukebox programs compatible with music files in the MP3, WMA, and WAV formats and ID3 tags in version 1.0, 1.1, or 2.3 format.

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Sonos Play:3 All-In-One Wireless Music Player With 3 Integrated Speakers (White, NEW) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I say "second best" because the best purchase I have made is the Zoneplayer 120. Set-up was a breeze, sound quality is good, all in all I am very pleased. The Play 3 will play loud but the sound quality couldn't match my B&W 685's that I have hooked up to the ZP120 (but it isn't supposed to...). I am ordering a second but haven't decided if I am using it in the garage or as a stereo pair in the bedroom.

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The smaller, sexier, tuck in a corner and blow out the roof, all-in-one player. Wirelessly stream your entire iTunes library, favorite music services, and thousands of radio stations from around the world. Versatile enough to put anywhere and still fill the room with sound. Set up simply, and expand until every room in your home is packed with music. All playing a different song in every room or the same song in perfect synchronization. Control it all from your Android iPhone or iPad using the free Sonos CONTROL app.

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Sonos Play:3 All-In-One Wireless Music Player With 3 Integrated Speakers (Black, NEW) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Here's the problem with Sonos. Most of these reviews are worthless for a new customer as they have no concept what the various components do, how they fit together and what they should get! In fact, I will say that Sonos could significantly improve the messaging of their products. Think about it -- is a new customer going to have any idea what ZonePlayer or Bridge means. Even their website is quite confusing for someone new to all of this stuff. For example, they sell a ZonePlayer120 and ZonePlayer90, which have vastly different functionality. Sonos should just get rid of their marketing folks and hire some people from Apple to fix the messaging confusion. My advice for folks who want to learn more about Sonos is to find a friend with one or go to local stereo shop. Fortunately, the folks on the tech-side of Sonos know what the heck they are doing and why I give this 5 stars!
OK, I just bought a new Black Play:3 along with the Bridge. In a nutshell, here is probably all you need to know:
- Why... The Play:3 is essentially for folks who want to listen to their digital music through a high-quality speaker system that is wirelessly connected to sources of music. Typically, the music is coming from your computer's library (e.g., iTunes) or some internet service such as Pandora or TuneIn (internet radio). How do you control all of this -- by using one of their nifty free apps which run on iPhones, iPod Touch, Androids, iPads (with more to come).
- The Play:3 is your speaker component where sound comes out of. The only connection to worry about is AC power. The beauty of this is that you can move your speaker anywhere in your house at will just as you would with a clock radio.
- The Bridge is a little white box that connects to your WiFi router. It functions to stream music from the source to your Play:3 speaker, wherever that may be. Sure, you don't really need this $50 box as you could plug your Play:3 into your router, but then you defeat much of the purpose for getting a Sonos (wireless portability).
- Sonos makes setup of everything about as easy as possible. If you have a firewall (e.g., at workplace), then things become a little more complicated (you're best off just calling tech support instead of wasting hours figuring it out, which I know many have done).
- I decided to copy my entire iTunes library to a network (NAS) drive and just have Sonos access this. Essentially, I have a portable 500GB Western Digital USB drive connected to my Apple Airport Extreme base station. It is ridiculously easy to setup. The advantage of this is that my music is always available instead of needing my computer to be turned on. Also, much of disk space on my Macbook Pro is used for photos and videos. I should say that another reason I did this was because I am running Mac OS Lion, which is not yet supported by Sonos (but this will be addressed very soon).
- The nice thing about Sonos is that I can easily expand my system later on. For example, I can buy another Play:3 so that I can setup the two in stereo. Or I can create multiple zones in my house (e.g., bedroom, living room) with each Play:3 playing different music at the same time.
- The main limitation of the Play:3 is that there is no line-in jack. This means you cannot connect an outside audio source such as a CD player. And because of this limitation, you cannot configure it using an Apple Airport Express to stream from your iOS device using Apple's Airplay technology. The Play:5 system has a line-in if you really some of these features. Personally, I would love to see Sonos come out with a cheap little white box that just has some line-in audio jacks (including optical). This box could address some of the Play:3 limitations as well as offering an easy way to connect the Sonos system to an Apple TV.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with my purchase and will likely buy another Play:3 shortly to further enhance my system. It just works...and sounds great!


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The smaller, sexier, tuck in a corner and blow out the roof, all-in-one player. Wirelessly stream your entire itunes library, favorite music services, and thousands of radio stations from around the world. Versatile enough to put anywhere and still fill the room with sound. Set up simply, and expand until every room in your home is packed with music. All playing a different song in every room or the same song in perfect synchronization. Control it all from your Android iPhone or iPad using the free Sonos CONTROL app.

Click here for more information about Sonos Play:3 All-In-One Wireless Music Player With 3 Integrated Speakers (Black, NEW)

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