**PLEASE READ CAREFULLY** 1) Got a question? Please ask it of the Darko.Audio RUclips community (and not me) as I'm now busy making the NEXT video 2) All comments here are moderated by a third party: instagram.com/p/CTWcokaszpW/ 3) Polite comments that advance the conversation are most welcome (but no URLs, please)
You are very polite about DTS Play-Fi. How on earth, in 2022, can dedicated streaming software not be gap less ? Try to listen to an opera recording with gaps in between, it ruins everything.
Starting in the late nineties I developed a deep love for the album length DJ mix. I’m talking Northern Exposure, Global Underground, DJ-Kicks, Fabric, etc. Gapless playback is essential for that format.
Totally agree dude. And as much as I love electronic music on vinyl I have to buy these DJ mixes on CD. Flipping a disc 4 times to listen to a dub/ambient techno mix is terribly annoying!
Nobody expects expensive hifi equipment to break Beatles-Abbey Road or Pink Floyd's DSOTM. You're right to be passionate about gapless because it's important.
Hi John. Thanks for highlighting Gapless playback in these last two videos. I'm still in the HiFi stone age, listening to LP's, (LP12) CD's (AudioLab 6000CDT) and iTunes & Spotify (MacBook Pro via USB), and it's all as the maker intended. I mistakenly thought "gapless" applied to Spotify playlists (my 17yr old has a 4 sec crossfade on his account), but I now realise that it's about playback being a faithful reproduction of artist intent - I remember with Level 42 when we were compiling an album running order onto half inch tape back in the 80s, we would pay great attention to the gaps between tracks (or no gap sometimes), and I would attend the album cutting room sessions to ensure fidelity in all aspects. I have been putting off installing a streamer/CD ripper because of the learning curve (Roon), but as I mainly listen to a mix of Classical, Jazz, World and Electronica, and occasional Rock, Pop and Soul, this has been a cautionary tale. Dark Side or Innervisions with gaps? As with Atomkraft, Nein danke!!
Thank you John for for correcting the review. As a consumer I highly value how you handle mistakes. It's not that you (or anyone) made a mistake, it's how you handle the mistake. I think you handled this one great. Sorry that it took you more time but you earned value, at least to me.
genuinely happy with my bluesound. i dont have a kallax but the real estate it doesnt eat really helps.
2 года назад+8
To be completely honest, I don't care that much about gapless playback, but it honestly blows my mind how you can charge more than a few hundred dollars for an audio player and not think it is a mandatory feature. Surely it can't be _that_ difficult to implement.
Another revealing , balanced look at the state of play with gapless and non gapless products, thanks John , love the channel. Happy new year to you bud. 👍
I gave away my 6000n just for the DTS play-fi app issues, I just couldn't gather enough patience to deal with it and got home a Node 2i which took care of all my grievance. Love your posts. Cheers!
A few years ago, I was looking for a network streaming player. Gapless playback is an absolute must. ( Pink Floyd fan etc etc). Why is it after all this time, this issue is still rearing it's head??? Some serious high end manufacturers incorporating software that can't handle it, and still think it's acceptable to compromise with small, none intended breaks in what is recorded as a continuous piece of music.
Your follow up speaks volumes for your honesty and desire to provide a fair and balanced opinion on products. I don't really see that you "missed something" if it wasn't in the user manual (plus that little transfer button isn't very obvious). From your explanation the reduction in gap doesn't offset the annoyance of having to stop the music everytime you want to add a track. I'm only experienced with Sonos for streaming but one of the best parts for me is the ability to listen to music whilst browsing for additional songs and adding them to the "live playlist" depending on my mood and taste at that time, having to stop playback everytime I wanted to add a track would render Transfer useless to me. I often start one track off and then build the rest of the queue as the track progresses.
I would say the true best option in this scenario (if comparing Powernode to 6000A Play) would be pairing the 6000A (non play) with the Bluesound Node 2021. That is really the best of both worlds!
Great follow up. Still don’t think the Play is the way to go with audiolab int amp, but the 6000a base model is an amazing bang for your buck int amp and as you said add your own streamer. Its the same compromise with Hegel int amps, you need to get a streamer if you want Roon. And some will say you can get all these things you want as an all in one that works in other brands, but either they jump up a lot in price or they don’t have the ‘sound’ you prefer. At the moment i like having seperate digital dac, ddc, streamer from my amp as the digital format is still moving along with great improvements and can just update that part of system when a big enough improvement happens. Where as my analogue side of my set up is different, turntable and phono amp it’s set and forget for me.
Bought a 6000A Play, loved the sound but having used Sonos for years I found I just couldn’t get on with Play-Fi. Gapless not the issue, rather it was the trouble one needed to go through simply to get music out. The 6000 A Play has now gone to a new home (hopefully to someone with more patience). Now enjoying Roon, into a Sonos Port digitally into an Arcam SA20 then to Wharefedale Lintons. The fact that this works smoothly all the time means I can enjoy listening to music and am managing to resist the desire to “improve” the streamer. Love the channel John.
After a bit of experimenting with various streamers, I finally landed on an used Sonos Connect Gen 2 for less than $200. It streams Apple Music which is rare and also does gapless! I do have to use an external DAC but it's worth it. My pre-amp already came with a decent DAC so it was no extra cost to me :)
First, I love your videos and podcasts, and your perspective on audio! A comment on your suggestion to use the Audiolab 6000A Amplifier, but with an external music streamer. The 2021 $599 Bluesound Node (without the built in amp) is an excellent option! It has 100% of the advantages of the other Bluesound systems for less money than the Powernode, and gives you the freedom to select a better more powerful amplifier! Another brand new (but significantly more expensive alternative) is the NAD C399 Integrated Amp ($1999), with an optional $549 Bluesound module (which also includes Dirac room correction)! It seems to have almost everything the M33 has for half the price (but no fancy touch screen display)! But the C399 is just starting to become available due to supply chain delays. Thanks for all your work and thoroughness on both your Videos and web site!
... I was seriously about to purchase the Audiolab 6000A Play for my Christmas treat bit after your great Vlog I bought the Bluesound POWERNODE and John I’m so happy I did! It sounds amazing and streams without any problems or Gaps! 👍 ...
Thanks for the important details. Nice review. It looks like that one of the most interesting combinations for “advanced beginner” )) right now would be Argon Audio Solo + Audiolab 6000a. Platform agnostic solution (Airplay, Spotify Connect, Chromecast) with fully hi-res chain for around 950 euro.
... I was seriously about to purchase the Audiolab 6000A Play for my Christmas treat but after your great Vlog I bought the Bluesound POWERNODE and John I’m so happy I did! It sounds amazing and streams without any problems or Gaps! 👍 ...
Happy new Year. I wish more health and better ears and gear for all this year. I do work as a windows installer, and I know exactly how irritating even a 0.1mm of gap is. It must be sealed! It must be gapless so you block the sound out. I do understand that in the musical gapless streaming. As the traffic sounds and outdoor sounds irritates us when the window is not perfectly sealed, so does that 1-5 second gap between tracks to some people, and that absolutely respected. Its like getting a close back headphones and they dont block anything. " Got Gapless?"
I listen to both DJ mixes and classical music, so I also feel strongly about gapless playback. I recently bought a 6000A (non Play) and an external streaming device (Argon Audio Solo). I'm very happy with them both, and even more happy after these couple of videos, that I didn't go for the 6000A Play instead.
John, thanks for this honest, balanced and thorough review!! For me it's because of DTS Play-fi I'm NOT using Tidal or Qobuz anymore. That's a shame. For me DTS Play-fi just spoils the fun of trouble free listening to music, because that is what it's all about. I'm really sick and tired of clicking buttons, waiting....more waiting, more clicks, beginning all over again, pauzes and so on. I am using this wonderful amp for over 4 months now. I would have bought the 6000A instead of the 6000P and add another streamer. At the moment I'm using Apple Music (cd quality) and stream it using an old Apple Airport express (CD quality with the mini Toslink). This works fine! B.t.w. I mailed Audiolab about these DTS Play-fi problems and limitations, two times the last two months, but up until today no answer.
After watching your vid on the 6000a play, I opted to get the amp only, I'm delighted with it. The sound improvement from my old amp is more than I expected. Great amp.
Honestly, DTS PlayFi seems pretty substandard, considering all these limitations and quirks. Not something I would ever pay for, since there are so many other streaming options available. A 6000A plus separate streamer seems the right way to go.
Great video. You wouldn't believe how many listening hours I enjoyed of "Shpongle - Nothing Lasts... But Nothing Is Lost" while working on making sure we had perfect gapless playback back in the Squeezebox days, 15 years ago (!) Getting it to work with LAME-encoded MP3s was a lot of fun. It was eye-opening on some music services when you could tell they had screwed up when encoding their audio files and lost critical gapless metadata. I want to say Rhapsody's 192k MP3 files were guilty of this. The devil is most certainly in the details, and it saddens me that any audio dev would be satisfied with any gaps like in this video. Currently bugging me are the gaps you get on Apple TV 4K on Dolby Atmos albums. Thankfully they manage it fine for lossless tracks.
welcome back, I've been eagerly awaiting new post. I agree, not having gapless playback is incredibly frustrating and is kind of a dealbreaker for me as well
I have the 6000a Play, and I ended up buying a Cambridge Audio CXN V2 as a network streamer / DAC. Gapless playback, and also the DAC is considerably better than the one in the Audiolab.
I think the most important thing here is that gap-less is always better. Theres no reason to want added gaps that were not the artists intentions. I find it almost disgraceful that on expensive audio gear that will market their sound reproduction will actively distort your music experience. Surely they have to be better than Spotify on a phone in all ways if they are literally a dedicated streaming device. If they can't do that, just sell an amp/dac and leave the streaming to someone else
Oh yep! The window analogy is so right! BUT overall it seems so cumbersome that it would still be a no go for any product using Play-Fi. In UX design, the technology must be out of the way, seamless and unobtrusive. These all seem like patching an initial wrong way of doing things.
I am so glad I got the CXN V2 instead as the Audiolab was a contender the CXN V2 just does streaming so well gapless no glitches and so much more. Don't understand why they can't get it right with the playfi.
LOVE the new sound dampaning panels! They actualky make your walls more interesting... almost like an art piece. As for the Audiolabs, thanks for bringing this issue up. Nobody likes a gap. Whether it's 1 second or 5. It's one thing to mind the gap at a station, but nobody wants to have to do it everytime they listen to music!
Yes, Kallaxfi is important! Your illustration about the shortcomings of gapless was delightful. Love the quality and playful professionalism of your work.
Just listened to Seconds Out over Airplay (Macbook Air to Airport Express to a vintage Linn Classik/Kan combo) sounded great to these non audiophile ears.But most importantly it plays totally gapless which is so important to that LP.YES gapless is important and that's the reason I'm here as its finally time for me to do my 20 year upgrade.I was so close to pulling the pin on the Audiolab and this has totally changed my mind.As ever another great informative video, thanks John.
Thanks for this John, it gives me comfort knowing that I made the right decision in opting for a Node 2i over a Play-Fi unit. My Rega Brio also happens to be Kallax-fi, but that’s not the reason I chose it over the non-streaming vanilla 6000A, I just preferred the sound it made.
John, you've nailed it about Play-Fi...it's operational foibles are simply not at all acceptable. If such foibles are not addressed in such a cut-throat market, it'll be a death knell!
Wow! What were the developers thinking🤔 you cannot browse music to add to your current playlist whilst in transfer mode! Why didn't they name it idiot mode. I love the way the audio lab amp only sounds but until they and or DTS play sort this out both gapless and permanent choice transfer mode. I will never buy a product that has it installed. Thanks John for highlighting this, I do hope that manufacturers start asking what do streaming customers want or value and bloody well take note.
Gapless is an absolute must for me. ..and not having to deal with what looks like an extremely clunky transfer mode, is a must too. Such a shame Audiolab went in that direction. ..but you gotta love the timing in this case. The update being released when you launch your video. It is pretty funny :) I love that you are on target letting us know about the non-gapless players, and will upload these addons to your original review. That's classy.
I returned my 6000A play because of the horrible play-fi app. Yes, the gaps are annoying, but also everytime you need to enable transfer and criticalmode. Why DTS? why? Why can Sonos do it, and why can Bluesound do it? Yamaha Musiccast can, even HEOS can do it i believe. Also te play-fi module crashed on my a few times within the two week trial i had it ( no sound, had to turn it off and on again). However the 6000A sound is really awesome. After this little adventure i bought a NAD C368 with bluesound module (with a discount, because the full price is to high imho for the C368) and it just works perfectly. Also beeing able to turn on the amp using the app is a nice touch. I think the C368 is a bit cleaner then the 6000A but i have a feeling is has a little less bass. (could be my imagination).
So, transfer mode is basically a half hearted workaround. I appreciate your honesty about missing the feature in the first place, but the problem remains.
The fact is software is making or breaking hifi today. And frankly I would prefer to stick to PC solutions for streaming. Hifi companies in general just dont do well.
When I bought a new streamer last year, I'm glad I did not go for anything with DTSplay, those issues you talked about are a deal breaker for me, I just want stuff to work. I don't want to jump through hoops and having to change settings and interrupting play to change musica or any other quirks that interfere with a smooth operation of a streamer.
Great vid, as usual. Totally about gapless playback, I listen to loads of DJ mixes too. But that aside I really want to know how the window story ends….
100% with you. No gapless is a deal breaker to me. 5 seconds is insulting! Being that both Roon and LMS can do gapless EVEN with Chromecast, whoever is doing their OWN hardware should be getting gapless right.
I use DTS Play-Fi (built into my Anthem AV processor) and find it only good for multi room audio (including volume control). The synchronization is excellent which I could not achieve with AirPlay, etc. The software is extremely slow, however, and transfer mode does not work during multi room playback. Obviously Bluesound is a better option, but requires additional financial investment unless you already have NAD equipment or Bluesound speakers.
Great vid. Ease-of-use is so important to me that I'd choose a lesser sounding player over the better one. Quick snappy response, browsing whilst listening, adding tracks in the process. What I saw here sounds like a nightmare that would prevent me from playing music as it's such a hassle to use. Luckily, there are many alternatives and I'll stick to my old Node 2 (not even the i), it just works.
I've been playing LPs for around 50 years now, and I've never once needed a software update to fix the gaps. Is it really so much to ask for 2022 digital technology to give us the same?
Hi John. Happy New Year to you Olaf and Jana. Here are my thoughts on this video and the preceding Audiolab video: 1. Please keep gapless playback as a criteria upon which you evaluate a streamer. I agree you don’t have to yammer on about it. But you should make a note about it and let us know. 2. This Audiolab unit is junk. There are too many “modes” to much buffering. You can’t browse music or the music stops! It is way to wonky! Who designed this thing?! Life is too short and there are other streaming amps out there that perform better and are better to use than this Audiolab. This review was artfully done. It was essentially a negative review without coming across as being negative. You were just truthful and laid the cards on the table so to speak. I would recommend sending this unit back to Audiolab and be done with it. Otherwise, you can give it as a “prize” to the person who has left you the most obscene, obnoxious and rude comment. Thanks for all your great work. Happy 2022!
It's hilarious how much research is required to buy a streaming amp which supports gapless playback. I owned a Naim Uniti Atom for years and when I bought it I didn't even know non-gapless existed - I got lucky then. Replacing it this year with more knowledge, so many products/ecosystems STILL don't do it with Tidal or other services like Qobuz. My shortlist included the Primare i15 (nope), Yamaha RN-803D (MusicCast - nope), NAD C399 (bluOS - yes), Roksan Attessa (bluOS - yes). I eventually settled on a Gato Dia-250s NPM which uses mConnect or Roon and does, but with mConnect you still have to enable it each time you open the app. Why? WHY???? Why would anyone not want gapless enabled, ever? Why would gapped playback be the DEFAULT? It's madness.
I love your attitude towards HiFi 👍🏼 gapless matters to me because I love classical music. Kallax form factor does matter to me, I prefer traditional form factors like Mac and ARC. Cheers John
Your gapless playback analogy brought back memory’s of my childhood with metal windows and a cracked single pain of glass in the winter. You are right gapless playback is in my view essential and in 2022 or any recent year, every device should have gapless playback as standard just like we have seatbelts as standard!! Ok my analogy isn’t as good as yours!! Lol P.s. I am not here to start a war!!
I’d love your 2 cents on the dac inside the bluesound. I own one for headphones only, with a separate burson amp (which is amazing). I just wonder how the dac inside the bluesound compares with separate dacs in the
**PLEASE READ CAREFULLY**
1) Got a question? Please ask it of the Darko.Audio RUclips community (and not me) as I'm now busy making the NEXT video
2) All comments here are moderated by a third party: instagram.com/p/CTWcokaszpW/
3) Polite comments that advance the conversation are most welcome (but no URLs, please)
I am completely with you regarding gapless playback. It is absolutely essential.
You are very polite about DTS Play-Fi. How on earth, in 2022, can dedicated streaming software not be gap less ? Try to listen to an opera recording with gaps in between, it ruins everything.
Starting in the late nineties I developed a deep love for the album length DJ mix. I’m talking Northern Exposure, Global Underground, DJ-Kicks, Fabric, etc. Gapless playback is essential for that format.
Totally agree dude. And as much as I love electronic music on vinyl I have to buy these DJ mixes on CD. Flipping a disc 4 times to listen to a dub/ambient techno mix is terribly annoying!
100% same but from early 80s!!
Spot on- Sasha, Digweed et al wouldn’t be the same without gapless
I went to Cream Liverpool to see the NE tour 1 and 2 live. Love Sasha and Digweed.. those were the days my friend
Nobody expects expensive hifi equipment to break Beatles-Abbey Road or Pink Floyd's DSOTM. You're right to be passionate about gapless because it's important.
Hi John. Thanks for highlighting Gapless playback in these last two videos. I'm still in the HiFi stone age, listening to LP's, (LP12) CD's (AudioLab 6000CDT) and iTunes & Spotify (MacBook Pro via USB), and it's all as the maker intended. I mistakenly thought "gapless" applied to Spotify playlists (my 17yr old has a 4 sec crossfade on his account), but I now realise that it's about playback being a faithful reproduction of artist intent - I remember with Level 42 when we were compiling an album running order onto half inch tape back in the 80s, we would pay great attention to the gaps between tracks (or no gap sometimes), and I would attend the album cutting room sessions to ensure fidelity in all aspects. I have been putting off installing a streamer/CD ripper because of the learning curve (Roon), but as I mainly listen to a mix of Classical, Jazz, World and Electronica, and occasional Rock, Pop and Soul, this has been a cautionary tale. Dark Side or Innervisions with gaps? As with Atomkraft, Nein danke!!
I just played The Wall on my apple tv and it was perfectly gapless - and lossless. Lovely.
6000A + Bluesound Node seems the way to go!
Exactly what I got myself for Christmas. Absolutely awesome combo!
I absolutely love the window example, helps me truly understand the importance of COMPLETE gap-less playback!
Let us gapless fiends unite, and there be an end to it!
Thank you John for for correcting the review. As a consumer I highly value how you handle mistakes. It's not that you (or anyone) made a mistake, it's how you handle the mistake. I think you handled this one great. Sorry that it took you more time but you earned value, at least to me.
genuinely happy with my bluesound. i dont have a kallax but the real estate it doesnt eat really helps.
To be completely honest, I don't care that much about gapless playback, but it honestly blows my mind how you can charge more than a few hundred dollars for an audio player and not think it is a mandatory feature. Surely it can't be _that_ difficult to implement.
Another revealing , balanced look at the state of play with gapless and non gapless products, thanks John , love the channel. Happy new year to you bud. 👍
I gave away my 6000n just for the DTS play-fi app issues, I just couldn't gather enough patience to deal with it and got home a Node 2i which took care of all my grievance. Love your posts. Cheers!
That was a perfect analogy. Keep up the good work!
Excellent sir. Such a breath a fresh air to hear/see content creators standing behind their videos and owning up to mistakes. Well done!
A few years ago, I was looking for a network streaming player. Gapless playback is an absolute must. ( Pink Floyd fan etc etc).
Why is it after all this time, this issue is still rearing it's head???
Some serious high end manufacturers incorporating software that can't handle it, and still think it's acceptable to compromise with small, none intended breaks in what is recorded as a continuous piece of music.
Your follow up speaks volumes for your honesty and desire to provide a fair and balanced opinion on products. I don't really see that you "missed something" if it wasn't in the user manual (plus that little transfer button isn't very obvious). From your explanation the reduction in gap doesn't offset the annoyance of having to stop the music everytime you want to add a track. I'm only experienced with Sonos for streaming but one of the best parts for me is the ability to listen to music whilst browsing for additional songs and adding them to the "live playlist" depending on my mood and taste at that time, having to stop playback everytime I wanted to add a track would render Transfer useless to me. I often start one track off and then build the rest of the queue as the track progresses.
Great analogy. Couldn’t agree more. Gaps of any size are a deal breaker.
I would say the true best option in this scenario (if comparing Powernode to 6000A Play) would be pairing the 6000A (non play) with the Bluesound Node 2021. That is really the best of both worlds!
Great follow up. Still don’t think the Play is the way to go with audiolab int amp, but the 6000a base model is an amazing bang for your buck int amp and as you said add your own streamer. Its the same compromise with Hegel int amps, you need to get a streamer if you want Roon. And some will say you can get all these things you want as an all in one that works in other brands, but either they jump up a lot in price or they don’t have the ‘sound’ you prefer. At the moment i like having seperate digital dac, ddc, streamer from my amp as the digital format is still moving along with great improvements and can just update that part of system when a big enough improvement happens. Where as my analogue side of my set up is different, turntable and phono amp it’s set and forget for me.
Bought a 6000A Play, loved the sound but having used Sonos for years I found I just couldn’t get on with Play-Fi. Gapless not the issue, rather it was the trouble one needed to go through simply to get music out. The 6000 A Play has now gone to a new home (hopefully to someone with more patience).
Now enjoying Roon, into a Sonos Port digitally into an Arcam SA20 then to Wharefedale Lintons. The fact that this works smoothly all the time means I can enjoy listening to music and am managing to resist the desire to “improve” the streamer.
Love the channel John.
After a bit of experimenting with various streamers, I finally landed on an used Sonos Connect Gen 2 for less than $200. It streams Apple Music which is rare and also does gapless! I do have to use an external DAC but it's worth it. My pre-amp already came with a decent DAC so it was no extra cost to me :)
First, I love your videos and podcasts, and your perspective on audio! A comment on your suggestion to use the Audiolab 6000A Amplifier, but with an external music streamer. The 2021 $599 Bluesound Node (without the built in amp) is an excellent option! It has 100% of the advantages of the other Bluesound systems for less money than the Powernode, and gives you the freedom to select a better more powerful amplifier! Another brand new (but significantly more expensive alternative) is the NAD C399 Integrated Amp ($1999), with an optional $549 Bluesound module (which also includes Dirac room correction)! It seems to have almost everything the M33 has for half the price (but no fancy touch screen display)! But the C399 is just starting to become available due to supply chain delays. Thanks for all your work and thoroughness on both your Videos and web site!
... I was seriously about to purchase the Audiolab 6000A Play for my Christmas treat bit after your great Vlog I bought the Bluesound POWERNODE and John I’m so happy I did! It sounds amazing and streams without any problems or Gaps! 👍 ...
Good choice 👍
Yep did the same thing a couple of months ago. POWERNODE was my best purchase of 2021
Thanks for the important details. Nice review. It looks like that one of the most interesting combinations for “advanced beginner” )) right now would be Argon Audio Solo + Audiolab 6000a. Platform agnostic solution (Airplay, Spotify Connect, Chromecast) with fully hi-res chain for around 950 euro.
... I was seriously about to purchase the Audiolab 6000A Play for my Christmas treat but after your great Vlog I bought the Bluesound POWERNODE and John I’m so happy I did! It sounds amazing and streams without any problems or Gaps! 👍 ...
200% agreed on gapless!
Happy new Year. I wish more health and better ears and gear for all this year. I do work as a windows installer, and I know exactly how irritating even a 0.1mm of gap is. It must be sealed! It must be gapless so you block the sound out. I do understand that in the musical gapless streaming. As the traffic sounds and outdoor sounds irritates us when the window is not perfectly sealed, so does that 1-5 second gap between tracks to some people, and that absolutely respected. Its like getting a close back headphones and they dont block anything. " Got Gapless?"
Love the window gap analogy
Your explanation about gappless playback is hilarious.:)
I listen to both DJ mixes and classical music, so I also feel strongly about gapless playback. I recently bought a 6000A (non Play) and an external streaming device (Argon Audio Solo). I'm very happy with them both, and even more happy after these couple of videos, that I didn't go for the 6000A Play instead.
John, thanks for this honest, balanced and thorough review!! For me it's because of DTS Play-fi I'm NOT using Tidal or Qobuz anymore. That's a shame. For me DTS Play-fi just spoils the fun of trouble free listening to music, because that is what it's all about. I'm really sick and tired of clicking buttons, waiting....more waiting, more clicks, beginning all over again, pauzes and so on. I am using this wonderful amp for over 4 months now. I would have bought the 6000A instead of the 6000P and add another streamer. At the moment I'm using Apple Music (cd quality) and stream it using an old Apple Airport express (CD quality with the mini Toslink). This works fine!
B.t.w. I mailed Audiolab about these DTS Play-fi problems and limitations, two times the last two months, but up until today no answer.
Gapless matters to me. I love hearing you carry on about it.
After watching your vid on the 6000a play, I opted to get the amp only, I'm delighted with it. The sound improvement from my old amp is more than I expected. Great amp.
shows greatness to admit an error, adds to your credibility- thanx
AS Always thank you for the video!
Honestly, DTS PlayFi seems pretty substandard, considering all these limitations and quirks. Not something I would ever pay for, since there are so many other streaming options available. A 6000A plus separate streamer seems the right way to go.
Great video. You wouldn't believe how many listening hours I enjoyed of "Shpongle - Nothing Lasts... But Nothing Is Lost" while working on making sure we had perfect gapless playback back in the Squeezebox days, 15 years ago (!) Getting it to work with LAME-encoded MP3s was a lot of fun. It was eye-opening on some music services when you could tell they had screwed up when encoding their audio files and lost critical gapless metadata. I want to say Rhapsody's 192k MP3 files were guilty of this. The devil is most certainly in the details, and it saddens me that any audio dev would be satisfied with any gaps like in this video. Currently bugging me are the gaps you get on Apple TV 4K on Dolby Atmos albums. Thankfully they manage it fine for lossless tracks.
welcome back, I've been eagerly awaiting new post. I agree, not having gapless playback is incredibly frustrating and is kind of a dealbreaker for me as well
I have the 6000a Play, and I ended up buying a Cambridge Audio CXN V2 as a network streamer / DAC. Gapless playback, and also the DAC is considerably better than the one in the Audiolab.
I think the most important thing here is that gap-less is always better. Theres no reason to want added gaps that were not the artists intentions. I find it almost disgraceful that on expensive audio gear that will market their sound reproduction will actively distort your music experience.
Surely they have to be better than Spotify on a phone in all ways if they are literally a dedicated streaming device. If they can't do that, just sell an amp/dac and leave the streaming to someone else
I can't wait to set up my system in my new apartment and start to play with the room correction aso. Cheers Darko, und frohes neues Jahr
!
Excellent explanation..
Love it... Regards Antony, Warrington.
Oh yep! The window analogy is so right! BUT overall it seems so cumbersome that it would still be a no go for any product using Play-Fi. In UX design, the technology must be out of the way, seamless and unobtrusive. These all seem like patching an initial wrong way of doing things.
Happy new year Darko :)
I am so glad I got the CXN V2 instead as the Audiolab was a contender the CXN V2 just does streaming so well gapless no glitches and so much more. Don't understand why they can't get it right with the playfi.
I bought a Bluesound Node and I could not be happier. Gapless is a must, also, great video!
LOVE the new sound dampaning panels! They actualky make your walls more interesting... almost like an art piece. As for the Audiolabs, thanks for bringing this issue up. Nobody likes a gap. Whether it's 1 second or 5. It's one thing to mind the gap at a station, but nobody wants to have to do it everytime they listen to music!
The fact that I have to enable Transfer mode every time, i would NEVER buy this product even if it sounds slightly better than the blusound.
I just love the windows story with gaps, well done! .😂😂
Got to be able to browse whilst playing thats for sure.
What a time to be alive in 2022 to get gapless playback 😁
As ever, you're approach is spot on. Thanks for doing what you do 😁 - happy new year!
Interesting insights into John's process with this follow up vid. Nicely balanced coverage, I feel...
Yes, Kallaxfi is important! Your illustration about the shortcomings of gapless was delightful. Love the quality and playful professionalism of your work.
Just listened to Seconds Out over Airplay (Macbook Air to Airport Express to a vintage Linn Classik/Kan combo) sounded great to these non audiophile ears.But most importantly it plays totally gapless which is so important to that LP.YES gapless is important and that's the reason I'm here as its finally time for me to do my 20 year upgrade.I was so close to pulling the pin on the Audiolab and this has totally changed my mind.As ever another great informative video, thanks John.
Thanks for this John, it gives me comfort knowing that I made the right decision in opting for a Node 2i over a Play-Fi unit. My Rega Brio also happens to be Kallax-fi, but that’s not the reason I chose it over the non-streaming vanilla 6000A, I just preferred the sound it made.
Very well articulated. Love your views.
Great attention to detail. Integrity.
John, you've nailed it about Play-Fi...it's operational foibles are simply not at all acceptable. If such foibles are not addressed in such a cut-throat market, it'll be a death knell!
Wow! What were the developers thinking🤔 you cannot browse music to add to your current playlist whilst in transfer mode! Why didn't they name it idiot mode. I love the way the audio lab amp only sounds but until they and or DTS play sort this out both gapless and permanent choice transfer mode. I will never buy a product that has it installed. Thanks John for highlighting this, I do hope that manufacturers start asking what do streaming customers want or value and bloody well take note.
Gapless is an absolute must for me. ..and not having to deal with what looks like an extremely clunky transfer mode, is a must too. Such a shame Audiolab went in that direction. ..but you gotta love the timing in this case. The update being released when you launch your video. It is pretty funny :) I love that you are on target letting us know about the non-gapless players, and will upload these addons to your original review. That's classy.
Would you consider looking at the ROG Gaming Phone with a ESS Sabre DAC 3.5mm headphone jack?
John, you are a man of integrity, humility and a certain je ne sais quoi.
I returned my 6000A play because of the horrible play-fi app. Yes, the gaps are annoying, but also everytime you need to enable transfer and criticalmode. Why DTS? why? Why can Sonos do it, and why can Bluesound do it? Yamaha Musiccast can, even HEOS can do it i believe. Also te play-fi module crashed on my a few times within the two week trial i had it ( no sound, had to turn it off and on again). However the 6000A sound is really awesome.
After this little adventure i bought a NAD C368 with bluesound module (with a discount, because the full price is to high imho for the C368) and it just works perfectly. Also beeing able to turn on the amp using the app is a nice touch. I think the C368 is a bit cleaner then the 6000A but i have a feeling is has a little less bass. (could be my imagination).
John, you are absolutely right: gaps - however short - are very annoying.
Sorry Audiolab, but you need to go back to the drawing table.
Kallax-fi is the way to go, and less boxes ! Nice video by the way.
So, transfer mode is basically a half hearted workaround. I appreciate your honesty about missing the feature in the first place, but the problem remains.
Dude! I had never used this feature. Thanks.
Love the videos, mostly since I have a taste for electronic music, I’ve gotten several just from your videos, thanks
Most album are meant to experience with gapless playback, the way you describe the frustration over the new window is just perfect.
Fantastic#30 - Bass for beginners (and beyond) podcast!!
This is why I love SACDs!😀
The fact is software is making or breaking hifi today. And frankly I would prefer to stick to PC solutions for streaming. Hifi companies in general just dont do well.
Wow this is nuts! How on earth did they roll this out and think this user experience is OK?
Please tell us what happened with the window gap in the end, we need closure!
I'm glad I wasn't the only one! It left a gap in the story ;)
When I bought a new streamer last year, I'm glad I did not go for anything with DTSplay, those issues you talked about are a deal breaker for me, I just want stuff to work. I don't want to jump through hoops and having to change settings and interrupting play to change musica or any other quirks that interfere with a smooth operation of a streamer.
Great vid, as usual. Totally about gapless playback, I listen to loads of DJ mixes too. But that aside I really want to know how the window story ends….
I was initially really keen on the 6000A Play but reading up on DTS Play-Fi killed it for me - no sale.
100% with you. No gapless is a deal breaker to me. 5 seconds is insulting!
Being that both Roon and LMS can do gapless EVEN with Chromecast, whoever is doing their OWN hardware should be getting gapless right.
Every time you mentioned your dad being angry I just laughed. We all had that dad!
Satellite Serenade, one of the best.
Hey John! Thanks for 2021! And a Happy New Year to you and yours…👋🌹🇦🇺✌️
My 5$ MP3-Player from 2005 did Gapless... Why a new 1000$+ machine should get away with that goes over my head
I use DTS Play-Fi (built into my Anthem AV processor) and find it only good for multi room audio (including volume control). The synchronization is excellent which I could not achieve with AirPlay, etc. The software is extremely slow, however, and transfer mode does not work during multi room playback. Obviously Bluesound is a better option, but requires additional financial investment unless you already have NAD equipment or Bluesound speakers.
Great vid. Ease-of-use is so important to me that I'd choose a lesser sounding player over the better one. Quick snappy response, browsing whilst listening, adding tracks in the process. What I saw here sounds like a nightmare that would prevent me from playing music as it's such a hassle to use. Luckily, there are many alternatives and I'll stick to my old Node 2 (not even the i), it just works.
To enable "transfer mode" permanently, all you need to do is buy a Bluesound product.
Rega Brio and a Bluesound node…….job done
I've been playing LPs for around 50 years now, and I've never once needed a software update to fix the gaps. Is it really so much to ask for 2022 digital technology to give us the same?
Hi John. Happy New Year to you Olaf and Jana. Here are my thoughts on this video and the preceding Audiolab video: 1. Please keep gapless playback as a criteria upon which you evaluate a streamer. I agree you don’t have to yammer on about it. But you should make a note about it and let us know. 2. This Audiolab unit is junk. There are too many “modes” to much buffering. You can’t browse music or the music stops! It is way to wonky! Who designed this thing?! Life is too short and there are other streaming amps out there that perform better and are better to use than this Audiolab. This review was artfully done. It was essentially a negative review without coming across as being negative. You were just truthful and laid the cards on the table so to speak. I would recommend sending this unit back to Audiolab and be done with it. Otherwise, you can give it as a “prize” to the person who has left you the most obscene, obnoxious and rude comment. Thanks for all your great work. Happy 2022!
It's hilarious how much research is required to buy a streaming amp which supports gapless playback. I owned a Naim Uniti Atom for years and when I bought it I didn't even know non-gapless existed - I got lucky then. Replacing it this year with more knowledge, so many products/ecosystems STILL don't do it with Tidal or other services like Qobuz. My shortlist included the Primare i15 (nope), Yamaha RN-803D (MusicCast - nope), NAD C399 (bluOS - yes), Roksan Attessa (bluOS - yes). I eventually settled on a Gato Dia-250s NPM which uses mConnect or Roon and does, but with mConnect you still have to enable it each time you open the app. Why? WHY???? Why would anyone not want gapless enabled, ever? Why would gapped playback be the DEFAULT? It's madness.
You are right it's completely unacceptable...
Is best of both worlds and 600a (no play) with a bluesound node streamer?
NAD C399 review...pleeeeaaase
I love your attitude towards HiFi 👍🏼 gapless matters to me because I love classical music. Kallax form factor does matter to me, I prefer traditional form factors like Mac and ARC. Cheers John
That user interface is shocking. Why would anyone want to use that?
Your gapless playback analogy brought back memory’s of my childhood with metal windows and a cracked single pain of glass in the winter. You are right gapless playback is in my view essential and in 2022 or any recent year, every device should have gapless playback as standard just like we have seatbelts as standard!! Ok my analogy isn’t as good as yours!! Lol
P.s. I am not here to start a war!!
I’d love your 2 cents on the dac inside the bluesound. I own one for headphones only, with a separate burson amp (which is amazing). I just wonder how the dac inside the bluesound compares with separate dacs in the