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This is the first Archived Forum which was active between 17th April 2007 and 1st March February 2012

 

Latest post 07-26-2011 6:52 AM by Stephan. 36 replies.
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  • 07-23-2011 5:53 PM

    The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    Hi everybody,

    after long time waiting for the Beosound 5 Encore the system finally showed up in my living room.

    In an old new-Apple-product manner, here are some first shots of the unboxing and some early impressions:

    Boxes:

    Boxes

    Box open:

    Box Open

    Almost there:

    Almost there

    BS5encore top:

    Top

    Bottom connectors:

    Bottom

    Base connectors:

    Base

    DIY power supply :-) 

    DIY

    Wired:

    done

    _

    Lessons learned:

    - Both USB ports lack the ability to power up a normal 2,5" Harddrive without an additional power supply... this is really sad as I expected that a 2,5" would work on the USB port without additional cables...

    - Mac formatted drives don't work, the HDD needs to be Windows formatted ( FAT32 is working , NTFS not checked )

    - I used XLD to reformat my entire music collection from Apple Lossless to 320, all the covers are there but I guess I need to rework some of the sorting and pics

    - The missing Masterlink connection sucks, as the system is now directly connected to the front Beolab 5s. This causes some hassle as the BS9000 is still connected to my Beovision 7-40 and the Beo 4/6 sometimes operates more than one system... I hope B&O release the BeoNet>ML connector in the near future to get this fixed.  

    - Missing Beo6 update, currently the Beo6 is a Beo 5 with a larger screen, I hope they get the 2-way update out in the near future to release the full potential of the remote

    First Impressions:

    The system sounds really good, even the 320 bitrate MP3s sound better than my Beosound 9000 playing normal CDs.

    The overall operation of the BS5encore works like a charm, its the right product for those with large music librarys.

    I'm really satisfied and finally those CDs will be banned from my living room.. Now off for some more testing :-) !

    Best regards

    Stephan

     

     

     

     

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  • 07-24-2011 6:40 AM In reply to

    • jonnyb
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    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    Thanks for the post Stephan. A couple of  questions: 

    1. The controller column looks like it's plastic as opposed to the aluminium of the original  Beound 5. Is it simply the lighting in your photos?

    2. How does the Encore connect to an iTunes library on your PC/Mac? Does it pick it up over wi-fi or do you have to connect it physically?

  • 07-24-2011 6:48 AM In reply to

    • moxxey
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    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    Stephan:

    - Mac formatted drives don't work, the HDD needs to be Windows formatted ( FAT32 is working , NTFS not checked )

    I'm not 100% sure what you mean? Do you mean you can't connect to a Mac formatted NAS drive or an iTunes library on any Mac hard drive, server or whatever?

    ie. the Beosound 5 can only pull in audio from a Windows formatted drive?

     

    Can you show us some photos of setting up the connection(s) to a remote drive/library via WiFi?

  • 07-24-2011 6:58 AM In reply to

    • mbee
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    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    moxxey:
    I'm not 100% sure what you mean? Do you mean you can't connect to a Mac formatted NAS drive or an iTunes library on any Mac hard drive, server or whatever?

    A NAS drive should work, as the file system used internally is not "seen" by the BS5. The only parameter is the network protocol (SMB, AFP, FTP, Upnp...) In fact, I'm even not sure that there are NAS which have MacOS formatting. It's almost always a Linux filesystem that your NAS operates (Ext4)

    Stephan was speaking about direct connection of a hard drive to the BS5.

    The good new for me : the Line In is at the front, but well hidden at the bottom of the front... Seems ok for permanent connection of something.

    The "DIY" power supply is not very B&O at first sight, but I think that's for B&O technician to adapt cable length for each installation. What is the size of the power supply (a shame that it's not integrated... Still 2 boxes...)

  • 07-24-2011 7:13 AM In reply to

    • mbee
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    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    And Stephan, another question : why did you convert to 320?? 

    If you convert to FLAC, you keep the tracks lossless, and the conversion is really faster!

  • 07-24-2011 7:18 AM In reply to

    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    moxxey:

    ie. the Beosound 5 can only pull in audio from a Windows formatted drive?

    That only applies to HD connected directly by USB. Also Macs can perfectly read and write FAT32 formated USB HD, so it shouldn't be an issue.

  • 07-24-2011 9:10 AM In reply to

    • moxxey
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    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    PhilLondon:

    That only applies to HD connected directly by USB. Also Macs can perfectly read and write FAT32 formated USB HD, so it shouldn't be an issue.

    Yep, realised that after I posted it as I mentioned it in the other Beosound 5 discussion (direct USB drive connection). That's fine then, as I wouldn't need to connect a USB drive to the Beosound 5.

  • 07-24-2011 10:02 AM In reply to

    • Electrified
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    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    I have a couple of questions and comments about your new toy (woot!):

     

    At first I thought it was a shame that the USB ports didn't provide enough power. However one might be able to get by with the use of a Y-cable sometimes used for powering external DVD/Bluray drives.  With that said, I don't think I'll use the direct approach much for external HDD. I do see it coming in handy for connecting my pocket recorder and play the recordings direct. Neat, neat, neat!

    Secondly, that power supply, how big is it, and is that where you also connect the BL5s or do you do that directly to the Encore "main" unit?

     

     

  • 07-24-2011 10:42 AM In reply to

    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    Can you post a picture of it assembled, on shelf or whereever you put it?

    How does it conect to the WIFI network? Through that ethernet plug and an adapter?

     

    I was thinking about using a mac mini rather then a HDD and then connect that to my TV as well for video ...

    BS9000, BS2300, BC2, BL2500, BL3, Bl2, BS1, BV8, BC4, A8

  • 07-24-2011 11:37 AM In reply to

    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    Wow, lot of questions, I try to answer all:

    @ Jonnyb:

    The column is alu, not plastic. Forget iTunes I just put all my music collection on a HDD and connected it to the BS5encore. It takes a while to cache everything but it works like a breeze.

    It doesn't have an option to connect to a iTunes library only physical attached HDDs are recognized, the Wifi connection is for upgrade of the firmware at the moment (future software upgrades could change this but I describe the the current status)

    @ Moxxey:

    If a HDD is HFS+ (Mac) formatted, the BS5 won't recognize the file system of the HDD, it must be FAT or NTFS with the current software version ( don't know if there will be an option to connect to Mac formatted drives in the future)

    As I said before, there is no option in the settings I have found to connect to a drive wirelessly.

    @ mbee:

    DIY power supply is really for a B&O tech guy as this system is intended to be installed but I like to do it for myself and I simply couldn't wait :-)

    320 was the best format for me and it really sounds superb, I will give FLAC a try but I want to keep the library small (currently 225 GB) as I want to store the music on a SSD drive (Intel 320 series with 300GB, currently not released). My library has 600 GB in ALAC, I guess FLAC will be around the same size ... 

    I've compared the normal CD with the 320 files and believe me or not the digital files sounded better even at "low" 320 bitrate!

    @ Electrified:

    A Y-Cable could work but do you want to block all the available USB ports and have cables everywhere? It was disappointing at first but I rather have a HDD with a power on/off switch connected to the BS5encore to have full control of the disc rater than a drive spinning all the time...

    The power supply is roughly the size of 2 packs of cigarettes and a little higher (5 cm) and it only provides power to the system. You connect the PowerLink cables to the base unit ( see picture " Base Connectors, just right to the RJ45 connector)

    @jk1002

    I will post some pics when I'm done

    It connects to my Wifi Network via Wifi ( :-) ) as it has 802.11n inbuilt, forget that Mac Mini idea, as the Mac is HFS+ formatted and it will not "understand" that file format.

    ___

    Best regards

    Stephan 

     

     

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  • 07-24-2011 12:05 PM In reply to

    • moxxey
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    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    Stephan:

    It doesn't have an option to connect to a iTunes library only physical attached HDDs are recognized

    If it can't use WiFi to a NAS drive or remote iTunes library, the whole argument in the other Beosound 5 Encore discussion is completely pointless - the whole point of the Encore is that it sources all external libraries as enables you to play them from one source.

    I'd be staggered if the Encore was shipping with the only function that you have to manually connect a USB hard drive. Basically it would be the Beosound 5 as it is now, without the Master!

    Stephan:
    It connects to my Wifi Network via Wifi ( :-) ) as it has 802.11n inbuilt, forget that Mac Mini idea, as the Mac is HFS+ formatted and it will not "understand" that file format.

    Now I'm really confused. I'm going to have to look in to this myself when it's connected up at my dealer.

  • 07-24-2011 1:09 PM In reply to

    • Electrified
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    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    Thanks a bunch! :)

  • 07-24-2011 1:13 PM In reply to

    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    If you can use Wifi only for updates, the BS 5 Encore would be a prototype of an IPod of the last century, but with a separated display and hard drive! I can't believe this!

    /Räuber
  • 07-24-2011 1:44 PM In reply to

    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    @Raeuber:

    You're right, after checking the videos in the other thread, there seems to be an option where you can connect the system to wireless NAS drive (thats what I've seen after watching the video, there are no cables...)

    I guess that there will be an option or at least this is something that they will add with a future update...

    I will check!

    Regards

    Stephan 

  • 07-24-2011 2:07 PM In reply to

    • mbee
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    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    It should be available from day one : it's the whole purpose of the Encore : connecting to your home media server (NAS, PC, Mac...)

  • 07-24-2011 2:17 PM In reply to

    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    I just plugged an USB key with a song on it in my Time Capsule ( the BS5E is wirelessly linked to that Time Capsule ) and nothing shows up in the display, the source "CD" or "NetMusic" isn't there to select...

    The manual clearly says something about NAS and DLNA server but it seems you have to attach it to the RJ45 connector ... ???

    A wireless HDD as a source for the BS5E would be great as you could "push" new songs to the system.

    To be honest, I don't know if the BS5Encore has been officially released to public, as my dealer only got 2 systems and I managed to get one of those.

    If you check the official website there is still no word on the Encore, except those links in the other thread...

    Regards

    Stephan

     

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  • 07-24-2011 2:29 PM In reply to

    • mbee
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    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    Ok Stephan, I think your post reassured everyone here.

    You wrote that the BS5 Encore can't read the content of a NAS... But you're using a Time Capsule, which is not what we can call a NAS Smile

    So... It seems that the BS5 Encore uses Upnp (or DLNA if you want) to connect to a NAS. And, what a surprise, Apple doesn't support this protocol (which we can call an "industry standard")!

    Just use any NAS, almost every NAS is Upnp compatible. Not the Time Capsule.

  • 07-24-2011 2:40 PM In reply to

    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    DLNA and uPnP server (on a NAS) works OK

    Twonky on NAS works OK 

    USB does  work well with tag info; only the mp3 with embedded covers are not shown correctly

    You can access your local network wired or wireless (note only 5Ghz; standard in Europe is 2.4 Ghz)

    iTunes is NOT DLNA or uPnP certified so for the moment it is not a server for the BS5e

     

    very good sound quality (BS5e & BL5000); flac 16bit - 44.1kHz up to 24bit - 96kHz on the same NAS for the BS5 & the BS5e

     

     


  • 07-24-2011 2:41 PM In reply to

    • moxxey
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    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    mbee:

    Ok Stephan, I think your post reassured everyone here.

    You wrote that the BS5 Encore can't read the content of a NAS... 

    He also wrote that it needs to be connected through wired ethernet, which somewhat also defeats the object of wirelessly connecting to a NAS drive?

  • 07-24-2011 3:28 PM In reply to

    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    "He also wrote that it needs to be connected through wired ethernet, which somewhat also defeats the object of wirelessly connecting to a NAS drive?"

    At least this is what the poor instruction manual says if you check what the heck that RJ45 connection is for :-)

     

    Do you have any suggestion in terms of a good NAS server that I can access wirelessly?

    I saw that LaCie have a nice looking HDD with wireless NAS functionality (called "Lacie Wireless Space Server")

    I can imagine it could work like this:

    Wireless NAS attached to Wireless base station ( e.g. Time Capsule ) and the BS5E connected wirelessly to the NAS

    Right?

    Regards

     

    Stephan 

     

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  • 07-24-2011 3:29 PM In reply to

    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    moxxey:

    You wrote that the BS5 Encore can't read the content of a NAS... 

    [

    Actually it can read the content of a NAS!

    I use a Readynas Duo. It can be used as a media server with the standard DLNA - UPnP service.

    I have installed Twonky on the NAS as well. 

    The BS5e works with both servers.


  • 07-24-2011 3:35 PM In reply to

    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    Stephan:

     

    Do you have any suggestion in terms of a good NAS server that I can access wirelessly?

    I saw that LaCie have a nice looking HDD with wireless NAS functionality (called "Lacie Wireless Space Server")

     

    If a NAS is DLNA or UPnP capable and is wired connected to your wireless router, you can connect the BS5e and this NAS wireless! 

    ATTENTION: the BS5e has a 5GHz wireless device. So the router or access point has to be 5GHz capable.

    Note: B&o advices to have a local "sub" system for your music. 

     

    Next week I'm going to install a second router and separate the BS5, BS5e & the NAS from the standard LAN. Both routers will be connected though (to assure internet connection)


  • 07-24-2011 3:37 PM In reply to

    • moxxey
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    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    Carolpa:

    If a NAS is DLNA or UPnP capable and is wired connected to your wireless router, you can connect the BS5e and this NAS wireless!

    Sounds like a good time for me to invest in a bigger (non-Apple) network drive!

  • 07-24-2011 4:49 PM In reply to

    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    @ carolpa:

    Does the BS5E act that other way around as I described, meaning that you connect a UPNP capable NAS with the ethernet RJ45 connection to the BS5E and the BS5E acts as the bridge to the router?

    If so, is it possible to "push" new songs to the NAS via the BS5E?

    Best regards

    Stephan

  • 07-24-2011 9:52 PM In reply to

    Re: The Beosound 5 Encore has landed... unboxing & first impressions

    I think your dealer needs to give you a hand, Stephan. WiFi NAS streaming is the crown jewel of the Encore. The RJ45 can be used for direct internet connection, but it's not neccessary. 

    @Moxxey - The BeoSound 5 Encore is a great excuse to buy one of those sexy QNAP RAID drives. I've been exclusively Lacie until recently (I like all their designer cases), but the QNAP is pretty serious. It can also connect simultaniously to both a main network and a subnet which most of the cheaper NAS drive can't do. 

    B&O are reccomending both for showroom and isntallations that we establish subnets so content can be streamed around the house from NAS to Encore, etc. without affecting browsing speeds on the main network. The QNAP would sit on both of those networks simultaneously to allow remote access, direct downloads, etc. while still making content availble on the subnet for local electronics. 

    There is scarcely anything in this world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey. - John Ruskin

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