Hello Peter and Svend fans,

Just to let you know that the Encore as landed in south of France (just got a call from my dealer).

Normally I will have a look at it tomorrow evening.

Cheers,

Gregory

go to the B&o site and do a search "Bosound 5 encore"

Carolpa:

go to the B&o site and do a search "Bosound 5 encore"

Thanks for the tip! I searched for "encore" (being lazy ) and got these hits, most of which lead to little vignette movie clips promoting features of the Encore seemingly with Beolab 3s as a focus - I took a screenshot of the Airplay video which highlights the use of Apple's Remore software (I think) and an Apple Airport Express (little white box low down on the wall):

BeoSound 5 Encore - Audio
BeoSound 5 Encore. A digital music player that connects to hard disks, media servers, iPhones etc.

BeoSound 5 Encore - Airplay - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - Airport Express

BeoSound 5 Encore - Bluetooth - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - Bluetooth

BeoSound 5 Encore - HDD - Devices


BeoSound 5 Encore - Headphones - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - Headphones

BeoSound 5 Encore - MP3 - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - MP3

BeoSound 5 Encore - NAS - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - NAS

BeoSound 5 Encore - Net radio - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - Net Radio

BeoSound 5 Encore - USB - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - USB

Carolpa:

go to the B&o site and do a search "Bosound 5 encore"

Thanks for the tip! I searched for "encore" (being lazy ) and got these hits, most of which lead to little vignette movie clips (the first leads to an email newsletter registration form) promoting features of the Encore seemingly with Beolab 3s as a focus - I took a screenshot of the Airplay video which highlights the use of Apple's Remore software (I think) and an Apple Airport Express (little white box low down on the wall (i.e. Airplay is not native to the Encore)):

BeoSound 5 Encore - Audio
BeoSound 5 Encore. A digital music player that connects to hard disks, media servers, iPhones etc.

BeoSound 5 Encore - Airplay - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - Airport Express

BeoSound 5 Encore - Bluetooth - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - Bluetooth

BeoSound 5 Encore - HDD - Devices


BeoSound 5 Encore - Headphones - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - Headphones

BeoSound 5 Encore - MP3 - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - MP3

BeoSound 5 Encore - NAS - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - NAS

BeoSound 5 Encore - Net radio - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - Net Radio

BeoSound 5 Encore - USB - Devices
BeoSound 5 Encore - USB

Posted twice because the first post with all its links ended up on the moderator's queue !

Couldn't they have built AirPlay support in to the Encore? If B&W can do it for the far cheaper Zeppelin, surely B&O can include this in the Encore?

@Moxxey : totally agree with you on that : one has to buy an Airport Express to have AirPlay, but the worst thing of all is that as the Beosound 5 Encore hasn't got a digital input, by doing this, you use the cheap low quality DAC of the Airport Express. Sad.

Maybe they decided to directly add the function (and pay 100$ to Apple...) only on the BS5 and not the Encore, in order to give more features to the more expensive system.

mbee:

Maybe they decided to directly add the function (and pay 100$ to Apple...) only on the BS5 and not the Encore, in order to give more features to the more expensive system.

Does the BS5 proper actually have Airplay??

No, the Beosound 5 doesn't have Airplay. But no hardware limitation avoids it as the Beomaster 5 is simply a PC (in fact, the Airplay key has been cracked, so unofficially, any PC can be an Airplay speaker). The only thing to do is to give $100 to Apple for each Airplay product sold. And that's a shame (too exepensive for such a simple technology). But if B&O gave Airplay as an option, I would prefer to spend $100-150 on an in-built airplay option (better integration, and above all Beosound DAC)

I'm going to go against the flow here and say I'd rather airplay wasn't built in, fo the same reason I'd rather use a seperate blu-ray player on a BV7.

A BS5, even in encore form, is a big investment and something you will want to keep for years.  I'd rather keep the airport seperate, so that when Apple update at some point in the future in a bid to force everyone to buy new kit, I just unplug the airport, and plug in a new one.

@rednik : as I wrote before, Airplay has NOTHING hardware related : for a Beosound 5, it is just some lines of code in the software. 

B&O has just added DLNA support (in order to "see" NAS drives and other things such as smartphones) on the BS5. They can do the same with airplay, via a software update. The only issue is the Apple license. 

mbee:

The only issue is the Apple license. 

I don't think you would need to pay a license if AirPlay addition was software-only. If a license does need to be paid, I'm sure it would be a tiny fraction of the Encore RRP :)

moxxey:

mbee:

The only issue is the Apple license.

I don't think you would need to pay a license if AirPlay addition was software-only. If a license does need to be paid, I'm sure it would be a tiny fraction of the Encore RRP :)

Just having an Apple or Apple compatible logo anywhere on your product or literature costs more than you'd think, but then again as Moxxey says, it would be a fraction of the cost of the BS5/BM5 combo or even the BS5 Encore.

Apple TV2, integrated to AV5 HDMI input + PUC, accessed through "V.Aux" on Beo 4, and Voila!  Airplay for my Ipad and Iphone.

Total cost: $99.00

bsantini:

Apple TV2, integrated to AV5 HDMI input + PUC, accessed through "V.Aux" on Beo 4, and Voila!  Airplay for my Ipad and Iphone.

 

Total cost: $99.00

With the Apple TV you get both audio and video integration with B&O. My dealer in the past have tried to sell the BS5 to me because of the audio and N.Radio but I found the Beoplayer program not very user friendly. It seems to me the BS5 is only good so that you can use it for audio to other masterlinked setups. But that seems like a really high price to pay. Maybe B&O have missed the mark...like the mobiles...good products but missed the point?

Oasis:

But that seems like a really high price to pay.

Do we have a confirmed retail price yet ?

moxxey:

Couldn't they have built AirPlay support in to the Encore? If B&W can do it for the far cheaper Zeppelin, surely B&O can include this in the Encore?

Exactly my point, i actually think it is a bit embarresing to advertise the encore this way. There is absolutly nothing new to this. They might aswell advertise ALL their other audioproducts this way because ALL of them can do this when you include an AE. But then again, knowing B&O develompemt cycles, when they started producing the encore, Airplay probably didnt even exist...Actually, WIFI probably didnt exist. So if you take that into consideration, this is actually pretty awsome :-)

So if you allready have a Masterlinked B&O audioproduct, do yourself a favour and buy a macmini and an AE instead. This way you will save a lots of money and have the exact same features, just better.

/Ehlerz

"The only thing to do is to give $100 to Apple for each Airplay product sold. And that's a shame (too exepensive for such a simple technology). But if B&O gave Airplay as an option........."

I've no reason to doubt the 100 dollar figure paid to Apple, but if lots of other companies producing much cheaper products think it's 'worth it' to incorporate Airplay to broaden the appeal and versatility of their products, then why don't B&O think likewise? 

Kokomo:

"The only thing to do is to give $100 to Apple for each Airplay product sold. And that's a shame (too exepensive for such a simple technology). But if B&O gave Airplay as an option........."

 

I've no reason to doubt the 100 dollar figure paid to Apple, but if lots of other companies producing much cheaper products think it's 'worth it' to incorporate Airplay to broaden the appeal and versatility of their products, then why don't B&O think likewise? 

Maybe it's because B&O seems to enjoy being 5 years behind everyone else.

Another thought about AirPlay.

Why would we even need the Encore for this? AirPlay simply streams your audio through the device to the speakers. However, buying an Encore for this is financial overkill and, frankly, embarassing.

Why embarassing? Well, we'd be able to pick up an iPad and show friends the ability for us to "control" our music from our iPhone or iPad, via our AirPlay device. However, move to the Encore - which is designed to spool remote audio to your speakers - and it won't enable you to connect to your iTunes tracks, which means it's nothing more than a pass through the the speakers?

Surely it would be far cheaper just to connect our B&O speakers to the Airport Express directly? :)

For those who want Airport, simply plug an Airport Express into the Audio AUX IN of the Encore.

But I agree, it would be goog if it were built in the BS5, BS5 Encore and BS8.

My opinion:

It is a complete overkill to buy a Beosound 5, Beosound 5 Encore and B&O speakers if you just want to listen to your AAC- or MP3-Files from iTunes or Amazon.
For those low quality audio you should consider an iPod dock ;)

Beosound 5 = WMA losless, WAV or FLAC to enjoy your music.

I'm using WMA losless and it's not as tiring as listening to MP3.

It's a better solution to add an external Airport Express for the Airplay functionality than integrating it into the Beomaster/Encore...
Apple tries to dictate the whole world and that is NOT a good sign (see the new Mac mini that even lacks a Discdrive!)

Apple tries to dictate the whole world and that is NOT a good sign (see the new Mac mini that even lacks a Discdrive!)

Hang on there! Dictate?

Nobody has to buy Apple  products.

It's always the same with successful companies, when they're small then 'small is beautiful' and evérybody loves them. Become successful and big however (for example Apple/Microsoft/Google) and they become the target of abuse.

bayerische:

Maybe it's because B&O seems to enjoy being 5 years behind everyone else.

With their current user interfaces feels more like 10 years 

Easy to remember the difference between the BeoSound 5 and the BeoSound 5 Encore;

The Encore does even less

I can't find anything about the Encore on B&O's website, maybe the update is country-dependent?

I can't find anything about the Encore on B&O's website, maybe the update is country-dependent?