Twonky Forum

Hello folks,

I am looking for a cheap LAN streaming client, which works well with the TwonkyMediaServer. At present, I have the Twonkyserver running to serve my PS3 and I am looking for a second client. I do not need support for high definition TV, I will use it mainly for streaming MP3. WLAN would be nice but is not necessary. I wonder wether someone could recommend a smart device, which should be

• - cheap
  - fully compliant to the Twonkymediaserver (DLNA UPnP)
  - not consume to much power

Any ideas? Your assistance and recommendations are highly appreciated!

Many thanks in advance,


Brad

I have a Philips SLA5520 and I am quite happy with it. Works perfectly with Twonky (installed on my Synology DS-107+ NAS).

Audio only? Noxon (V1) or V2 fits the bill nicely. Never had anything but flawless streaming from all 3 of my Noxons.

I recently bought a Noxon2, and even more impressed than I was with my Noxon 1, the only downside, is they are pricey. There is a nice addon speaker attachement for them.

I do have a cheap Noxon 1 for sale, if you are interested...

Many thanks guys!

I will have a closer look at the suggested devices....

Thanks again!

Have a look at the Freecom MusicPal.
I have been using many UPNP players (music only) for the last 4 years but this one is the best and cheapest I have had so far.

The '+' points:
- WIFI + Ethernet (SLA5520 is only WIFI)
- WIFI 'g' with WPA (hence it does not downgrade your WIFI security / speed)
- User interface (the best and a real example in terms of simplicity, ask my wife)
- Alarm clock and sleeping mode
- WMA and MP3
- Internet Radios (WMA and MP3)
- RSS feeds (you can select the RSS feeds you want to display on the screen or access in the menus: meteo, news, etc.)
- Built-in speaker
- Price (129 Euros if I am correct)
- Radio list managed through vTuner and vTuner web interface (for favorites, etc.)
- Web interface to manage the configuration and settings (very handy for the RSS feeds setting, etc.)

The '-' points:
- No remote control
- No FLAC support (so far)
-The line-out quality of sound is not the best (I have also some SLA 5520' and the Noxon2. I have the same remark about them. Amongst all the players I have the MP101 sound quality is the best by far but that's the only quality of the MP101...)
- I wish the screen was even bigger (to read the RSS feeds and news).

I'm just having 3 little 'radios' here from a local store. Think I'll bring 2 of them back.
Here's the list:

dnt IPdio mini (EUR 100)
Technisat Internetradio1 (EUR 90)
Freecom MusicPal (EUR 120)

The dnt looks sleek, but doesn't listen to Twonky ("no media on server")

The Technisat was introduced 2 years ago, at a price (then) of >200 EUR.
It has two detachable stereo speakers and sounds certainly better than the other two
-- not really a replacement, though, for a stereo. The sound is flat, "mid boosting",
and there are no sound controls. Technisat boasts an optical out (!). The software is OK.
It lets you decide whether to "open" or "play" a folder, so, playing albums, folders
or playlists is no problem. Playing stops while you navigate the menus.
The downside of it all is that, the hardware is rather cheap. So, there are no
knobs, just a standard remote control. The remote control has a ridiculuously
short range, no more that 20cm. The loadspeakers are "active" (the power cord
is a Y-cable, plugging in both the player and one of the speakers). That means,
no amplifier on board -- to connect better speakers, you'll need a complete
HiFi stack. Another big problem with the firmware is that connects and requests
to Twonky time out after exactly 10 seconds. My Twonky tends to respond
sluggishly (need to fix that, maybe my folders are to big?). After a few hours
of uptime, the server will never answer within the 10 seconds window allowed
by the Technisat. So, no music at all.

The MusicPal certainly looks nice. What I like about it is that it seems to attract
a crowd of 3rd party firmware hackers now (and these players are just as good
as their firmware, so if that evolves, it's a big advantage). The software is
well thought-out, with some funny bonuses (rss display while on stand-by). It
_will_ go on playing while you browse the music list or change the settings.
But in many ways, it looks pretty "beta". So, sometimes it won't notice if I
plug in headphones, the built-in speaker will go on bleeping.

One thing I really hate is that you can' play albums or folders, only playlists. Funny
actually, as that's pretty inconsistent. See, you have two dials and two knobs
(no remote control). The knobs are for "EXIT MENU" and "FAVORITES", the left
dial is volume. The control you'll need most of the time is the right dial.
Rotating it means to navigate a list of things, pressing it means OK/select.
If you do an "OK" on a playlist item, it will start with the the selected item,
then go on to play the rest of the list. If you do the same thing with a
file within a folder or album, it will just play this song, then stop and wait.
No, the Musicpal does play albums just the way it does playlists. I was misled by a
corrupted song in an album which made mpal replay the last song all the time.

The speaker appears to have an oval membrane, 4 by 6 cms in size. It
is really just for listening to radio news. The MusicPal has line-out and
phones out for all higher creature comforts.

Mosley wrote:One thing I
really hate is that you can' play albums or folders, only playlists.

???? You need to investigate this, it plays album just fine here, I now have 3 MusicPal 1.47, it plays one track after the one, no issue.
I am just playing one album now (and since I like to share my taste: massive attack - collected), one track after the other.
...and I do not think (need to check) a similar issue has been reported on the 3 MusicPal forums I watch.

k1200rs wrote:

Mosley wrote:One thing I
really hate is that you can' play albums or folders, only playlists.

???? You need to investigate this, it plays album just fine here, I now have 3 MusicPal 1.47, it plays one track after the one, no issue.
I am just playing one album now (and since I like to share my taste: massive attack - collected), one track after the other.
...and I do not think (need to check) a similar issue has been reported on the 3 MusicPal forums I watch.

You're right, of course it does. I corrected my previous post. Thanks for pointing that out.
MOS