[Thought Police]

Hi Carolpa

Thank you for your response. I have looked into this as I described earlier in this thread.

As I understand it yes you can send to AirPlay 2 devices from Audirvana, however to do that you have to select those devices as the output on that Mac.

So, if the Mac is in another room you have to go to that other room, select the devices, then you will be able use Audirvana.

If the devices are not selected on the Mac then Audirvana cannot “see” them. So although, yes, you can use the remote app for Audirvana on a mobile phone to select the output, that is only the case if the outputs are available to Audirvana on the Mac and for the Airplay 2 device to be available it has to be selected as the output on the Mac.

I’ve described this three times now in this thread. If I have misunderstood this then I would love to be corrected as it would be great if this worked otherwise.

[Thought Police]

I’m replying now to my own earlier comment because as an update I’m going to be buying myself a new MacBook Pro very soon, probably this week actually.

Anyway an advantage with having a MacBook Pro as well as my Mac Mini is that the laptop can be in my living room and so I can control Audirvana there, where the Beolab 28s would be situated.

So, I can then use Audirvana as the source for the music.

I am planning on using AirPlay 2, however I’m also interested to know about connecting to the Beolab 28s directly with my MacBook Pro, this would be digitally of course. I see they have an optical input, could that be connected directly to the Mac? There are two USB ports but in the manual I’m looking at those are identified as being “for service”.

So, does anyone have any suggestions for connecting the Mac directly? Thank you!

[Thought Police]

Thank you for your response Carolpa.

I have Audirvana Studio.

As I understand it for Audirvana Studio to “see” the Airplay 2 device that device has to be selected as the output for the Mac OS. I can change the settings in Audirvana Studio using the Audirvana remote iOS app, but I can’t change the settings in the Mac OS using the Audirvana remote iOS app.

[Thought Police]

That is interesting Carolpa. I’ve been looking through Audirvana Prefs and I see that I can change the output there. However the options are for the connected items, my Meridian Prime Headphone amp, my external headphones output and the Mac Mini speakers. Those are all physically connected. It is also possible to change this using the Audirvana remote app on my iPhone and iPad.

Your suggestion has prompted me to do a little bit of reading at the Audirvana community forum and I think if I select a HomePod with the Mac settings then that option becomes available with Audirvana. So, I guess that would also be true with the 28s.

However I’m thinking that I would need to make that setting change on my Mac then go to my living room to play the music and that would be hassle.

I’m checking out Vox Player now actually and I rather like the way that works, I’ve got some files on their cloud storage. I’m going to be doing testing with my HomePods to see if I like the functionality.

I totally love Audirvana on my Mac actually. I think it is the best sounding audio player for the Mac. I use it with the Meridian headphone amp and my Sennheiser HD 800 S headphones or my Beyerdynamic T1s and the quality is just fabulous.

[Thought Police]

Thank you MM, trackbeo and Geoff for your excellent considered responses.

I have read them carefully.

I’m agreeing with MM that actually it is probably best that I start with the simplest route and possibly explore more complicated options if I feel the urge.

So, the simplest route is to use AirPlay 2 to send from my iPhone or iPad wirelessly. I don’t have to use Apple Music alone for that of course, I actually keep some files on my iPhone in Vox player. That’s the free version of Vox player, but if I upgrade to being a paid user of Vox then I have very handy online space to keep my files and so it would work seamlessly with Vox player on my Mac. That would be much simpler than building a network with Roon.

As an aside I know that some people keep files in Apple Music and share across devices that way but I don’t like the way Apple Music deals with that. There are so many stories about the files being overwritten and then it is actually difficult to know with Apple Music if you are playing your own file or an online version.

Judging by the figures given by Trackbeo I think I’ll be totally fine with AirPlay 2. In my initial posting I wrote about Hi Res files, but actually, I’m not that into Hi Res, the main reason I want to be able to play my files is that they are just different versions from those offered up on the streaming services. 95% of my files are ripped from my CDs and of course they are 16bit 44.1khz. I have to say I find that “redbook” CD level to be totally fine. In my study I play those files on my Mac using Audirvana and I listen to them with my Meridian headphone amp and Sennheiser HD 800 S headphones and they sound absolutely superb! So, I don’t think I need a higher resolution capability than that really.

I do think that I will improve the quality of Wi Fi in my house. That is easy for me to do and it is an issue at present. I have the eero system however there is one unit connected to the my modem (virgin router in modem mode) and there are two other units in the house deployed wirelessly. If I finish the Cat 6A networking then I can connect those other eero units to that and I think that will improve Wi Fi reliability throughout the house. I think I shall get on with that and then have good Wi Fi in place and just try using the B & O 28s with AirPlay 2 from my iPad.

I like this as well because part of the plan is to keep as little tech stuff as possible in my living room. I really like the relaxed non-tech feel the room has. The B & O 28s will go very nicely in that room and not disturb its feel, but adding extra stuff, like an endpoint maybe with an LED screen or something will increase further the amount of tech. Okay, I know it could be hidden probably, but simpler maybe just to stick with AirPlay 2.

[Thought Police]

Hi MM

Thank you for your reply.

Since I put my post up I realised there is a forum for using Macs with B & O. However my post is here now.

I understand that I can reach the 28’s from Airplay on the Mac, but when I am in my living room how would I sort through the files on my Mac and select one to play? Can that be set up with the B & O app?

Also does Airplay work through a wired network? I have some high resolution files on the Mac which I’d like to be able to play. I think Airplay 2 has a limitation on what it can send through the air, I wonder if it can send high resolution through the wired network?

It is a good suggestion to use the 28s for my home theatre however that is in my second bedroom in my house and it is a small room, 10 sq metres, it will be a home theatre for two. I don’t have any TV in my living room and that is how I like it. What I would love now is to have very high quality music in my living room, that is the thing I feel a great desire to have.

So, the home theatre is a secondary thing for me and when that gets set up it will do fine with an Apple TV and the HomePods I think. However in the longer term that room might well become B & O equipped.

As an aside after I get the 28s the next thing I’d get is the BeoPlay A9 for my main bedroom, because I just love that design and it would be perfect in my bedroom. However first to get the 28s!

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