Online music collection via my hifi...

sist_si · 1 Dec 2013 at 23:33

Hi all,
I have a quick question. I use Google Play Music to store my music collection. This works great but what I'd really like to do is get a device that I can plug into my standard hifi (e.g. via the optical input) and link up to my Google account then use my iPhone/iPad to select and play music....effectively turning my hifi into a networked device.
I know Sonos do something but I wondered if there were any more alternatives.
Thanks for any help!

wez130 · 2 Dec 2013 at 09:48

Are you looking to buy a new receiver? The onkyo TX-NR626 will allow what you're looking for, and other networked receivers (DLNA1.5 ready) will allow you to stream from your phone / tablet / laptop too.

sist_si · 2 Dec 2013 at 09:57

Hi there. No i have an Onkyo receiver. I want to buy something I can hook up to it which will access my network and if possible my google play music account via an iPhone/iPad app to stream the music.

Jano · 2 Dec 2013 at 11:20

The QED Uplay boxes do this.

Marsman · 2 Dec 2013 at 18:48

Uplay devices are Bluetooth. Bluetooth isn't good enough to be paying that kind of money for an audio receiver. Logitech do one for less than £25. Cheap, does the job, and you aren't paying near £100 for Bluetooth's poor music capabilities. Far better to buy a Airport Express, which would be ideal as the OP will be using Apple devices to stream from.

Caged · 2 Dec 2013 at 18:59

Might be worth holding out for the Chromecast to be available over here, I'm fairly sure that would use the Google Play Music app to set up the stream and after that your phone only acts as the controller, rather than having to be the device doing the streaming.

I'm assuming you can set it up on your TV and then use an HDMI to Optical converter to use it in audio only mode, someone's probably done it.

sist_si · 2 Dec 2013 at 22:51

thanks for the advice guys. i'll look into those. is Chromecast out now? I notice it's on the rainforest site.

If I have to go via the TV into my hifi so be it but just to clarify - my ideal scenario would be to have an app on my iphone and ipad which communicates with the device I'm looking for which is in turn plugged directly into my Onkyo receiver on the AUX channel so I can effectively dial up a song on my Google Play Music account (via the iPhone/iPad) and it will play on my hifi. The phone itself doesn't have any music stored on it. It's all online on Google.

Caged · 2 Dec 2013 at 23:19

Yeah that's what I was getting at - I can't see why the Chromecast wouldn't work just plugged into a box that extracts the audio from the HDMI signal without being connected to the TV. I'd assume that it works fine if it can't detect a TV but who knows.

Jano · 3 Dec 2013 at 09:25

sist_si said:
thanks for the advice guys. i'll look into those. is Chromecast out now? I notice it's on the rainforest site.

If I have to go via the TV into my hifi so be it but just to clarify - my ideal scenario would be to have an app on my iphone and ipad which communicates with the device I'm looking for which is in turn plugged directly into my Onkyo receiver on the AUX channel so I can effectively dial up a song on my Google Play Music account (via the iPhone/iPad) and it will play on my hifi. The phone itself doesn't have any music stored on it. It's all online on Google.

This is why I specifically mentioned the uPlay devices, they can plug directly into your stereo and can be controlled from your iphone/ipad. As long as they are aptX devices, and I am pretty sure they are, the sound quality isn't bad at all, and they certainly dont cost £100.

abbotsmike · 3 Dec 2013 at 11:05

But can the uPlay devices pull music down from google play music? As far as I'm aware, it's a completely closed system at the minute, no API available. So the only way to get to the music is to use a computer or android device.

Jano · 3 Dec 2013 at 11:57

Yes it can, I do it regularly. You play it from the iphone, ipad, smartphone, and it goes straight through it to your hifi.

sist_si · 4 Dec 2013 at 23:51

I see. So it's like pairing your device with a Bluetooth enabled car stereo

abbotsmike · 4 Dec 2013 at 23:57

Jano said:
Yes it can, I do it regularly. You play it from the iphone, ipad, smartphone, and it goes straight through it to your hifi.

I see. So you are streaming the audio from your phone to the uplay box which then outputs it, rather than the uplay box accessing the google play library directly. I was looking at it from the direction of the phone being only a controller, such as my setup where xbmc pulls the media directly from a NAS, and the phone just controls it, rather than being the audio source.

How does it affect the phone battery life?

Jano · 5 Dec 2013 at 10:19

I generally use an old HP touchpad running Cyanogen mod, but it's happy enough playing all day when I work from home and probably uses 1/3 of the battery. Havent really tried it for any length of time through my phone (samsung s4), but again, I haven't noticed it causing a major drain on the battery.