Review of the Audiotron Stereo MP3 Component

My quest for the perfect MP3 player has been ongoing. A few weeks ago I decided to try out Turtle Beach's Audiotron. Unlike most other attempts, this one doesn't have any internal storage: instead it has an ethernet port and mounts a Samba (or I suppose windows) file share. Is it all I'd dreampt about? The short review is that for the price, and for what it sets out to do, this is an awesome box... with some caveats.

What it is An MP3 player. But instead of using its own internal storage, it uses Samba shares that you can easily set up on any windows or Linux box for all data storage. This means that you can spread your MP3 collection over your LAN, use an external NAS or file server, but most importantly, not be constrained by the limits of disk space that go with any device that comes with its own storage. IO

The inputs/outputs are simple. Your basic ethernet port (you can assign an IP, or use DHCP). A pair of phone jacks (for HPNA networking which I've never used, nor do I intend to try). Power (you can deduce for yourself what that does). A pair of RCA audio outputs to plug into any stereo system. Best of all is a TosLink optical output so if you have a receiver that can do it, you can have an optical connection.

Setup

Setting up the system was relatively easy. It took longer for me to set up Samba then the Audiotron. Just set a name and password, and make sure samba will let that guy in. Then make sure you have a folder named appropriately ("Music" will work. There is an option to search all folders but that is less then desirable). The atron boots up, uses DHCP to get an IP, scans your subnet, and if everything is configured, starts to get an index of MP3s from every server in your subnet set up to share MP3s. It was able to load all 6500 of my MP3s on my home network in just a few minutes. Note that if it loses power, it must reimport which on my lan took 5-6 minutes to import.

Upgrading the system is trivial . Download an image from the official website, and throw it in your music directory. and select the upgrade option. I did this almost immediately since the latest version has the web server interface that I desired to control the Audiotron from around the house.

I did manage to crash it several times after the upgrade. Once the crash was so severe that I had to restore to factory defaults. The only harm in this is that all of my favorites buttons were lost. I can blame this on the fact that I'm using a beta version of the code. I consider the crashes a tolerable short term problem, and worth it considering that the beta also gives me web control which is much easier then navigating using a knob.

Normal Use

After booting, The front panel LED is mostly used to navigate your collection and select songs. You can do so by artist, title, genre, playlist. Everything is really easy, but somewhat slow. I'm not saying you can do it much better given the restraint of a 2 line LED visual output device and a knob. I'm just saying that you really want to use the web interface to do anything more complicated then selecting an album or artist.

The remote provides a variety of functions that you would expect. And it has a spacious 20 buttons for assigning favorites to. A favorite can be an artist (The Who!) a genre (All my rap mixed up) or just a disc (Daft Punk's Discovery). You can also define playlists, which are actually m3u files stored in your share. You have to make sure that the m3u's have only relative paths, DOS text file cr/lf, and backwards slashes. This is important because creating relatively wacky playlists is kinda a pain through this interface. The remote also lets You can also skip around in your playlist, or even within the MP3.

Fidelity

The audio fidelity is really great, if by "Great" you really mean you want to show how bad MP3 encoding butchers audio. This is no criticism of the Audiotron, but you'll definitely here how MP3s just don't sound as good as the source CDs. I'll definitely be ripping CDs at a higher bit-rate.

Shortcomings

It's just not totally ready yet for a power user although the The recent versions of the system have come much closer. A small feature which would be greatly appreciated is the functionality of the xmms-crossfade plugin. Such technology could presumably be easily integrated into a future version without a hardware upgrade. It's a relatively minor thing but it really adds something to many playlists to simply transition between songs. Sure its not as good as DJ who actually knows the start and end points of songs for proper mixing, but it usually removes those annoying pauses between songs. Somewhat related would be the ability to normalize volume of songs.

I wish the web interface would be reworked by someone who understands html interfaces. The system should offer the ability to create playlists of "Similiar" types. I should be able to add just a few songs, and the box should generate a list of similiar songs based on artist or genre. Right now creating a playlist is fairly tedious. Plus loading a web page often causes skipping in the playback. This is further complicated by the fact that it's output is really slow. I was getting like 8k a second even tho there really isn't any other traffic on the LAN. It wouldn't be so bad if I was getting pages much faster, but if you make your playlist be 'All Songs', you're going to wait awhile for the web page that contains that list. This is bad form.

There are lots of things that just seem messed up: for example I tried to map a few favorites keys to albums but it didn't want to play the CD in order even tho "Random" was off. They are played in order if you select the disc directly with random mode off. I think the favorite might randomize at assignment time. I suspect this is just an artifact of the beta build I was using.

In dream world this box would have TV interace, and 802.11b wireless support instead of regular ethernet. Of course this would double the price. At under $300, it's well within the range of typical consumer electronic gizmos so I doubt we'll see these options.

What it does best

If you have several MP3 sources on your LAN, this is a great solution. Just set up samba shares on each box, and the audiotron will scan each of them and give you a single interface. Likewise, since it looks like a real stereo component, it means that you can let your PC just be a file server, and let this bad boy handle all MP3 playing chores. It won't stick out visually. And there aren't whirring fans to add more noise to your listening environment.

While the interface has rough edges, it's under three hundred bucks. And you can easily put one anywhere you have an ethernet drop. I doubt it would be worth placing one in a room where you already have a desktop PC to play songs directly on, but any room where you don't want a computer, have a stereo, and want access to your MP3s, this is simply a great way to do it. There are other ways you could do this, but this way is fairly elegant. And as a bonus, you can config the box via a web browser.

In short, I highly recommend this device. It fits right into the price performance functionality curve. And hopefully frequent releases will add more features and make it better. Now if only Turtle Beach would release the code under an open license... I'd love to see an XML/RPC interface so we could write front ends. Or tivo-style thumbs up/down controls for building more intelligent playlists.

So ThinkGeek sells these things if you're interested. I'm very pleased with mine. And I'll be more pleased when I get the 100 gig hard drive in my file server so I can rip the rest of my CDs.

Comments

Waste of Money

[Mr. Eradicator]

So basically this is just a remote control for Winamp. What else could this possibly add to any software mp3 player? Who cares if it hooks up between your computer and stereo. You can just use a moderately-priced sound card to do that.

The claim that this can be used with the highest-quality sound equipment is hilarious. What is the compression on mp3s? Do you _really_ think mp3s sound nearly as good as a good CD player? No matter how tweaked out this bad boy is, mp3s will still have hisses and skips that can be dangerous to powerful, quality audio setups.

This is not a flame. This is a reality check.

I can't see

[trilucid]

paying over $200 for *anything* like this. What's so bad about using and old P90 box and your existing home audio system (most of us have one) for this sort of thing?

It puts old hardware to a good use, and if you invest in a couple of used 20GB drives, you can store all the MP3s you want *cheap*.

It's a nifty device, no doubt. However, I'm not lacing up my running shoes on this one just yet...

Anybody know what the real advantage of this thing is? Am I just missing something horribly obvious? To be fair, I suppose the best place to advertise something sold on ThinkGeek is /. after all ;-), but I hardly thing this was worth a review of its own...

Hard-driveless is better

[Computer!]

Notice the low price once hard disk or other media is removed from the picture? Some flash RAM would be nice to save settings, though.

How long until the manufacturer is required to put DRM in at the hardware level, since "LAN" storage could be internet storage over broadband. What's to keep several users from forming a community of these devices? How great would the ability to listen to any song by any artist on demand for free? I didn't see any search functionality, though, so thousands of mp3s might get a little unwieldy.

Re:Shameless Marketing

[ttyRazor]

A friend of mine has one of these, and it pretty much works as Taco described. So, yeah, it might be a bit "convenient" that thinkgeek just so happens to sell them, but at least he's not exaggerating.

yeah and so?

[bliss]

"thinkgeek."

so? is there a problem

"who im still mad about for incuring me customs charges"

If you live out of the country in which the object is located expect this.

" and threatening to throw my credit rating off."

I would like to know how this happened

"this is a shameless plug. pathetic i say pathetic."

they are affiliated with a company which is ideologically similar with the people who purtchess things there are essentially have other things of similar interest.

"i guess its products for nerds capitalism that matters eh taco?"

I may have to say this but you really don't have to buy it. It isn't being forced on you.

Re:Nice music library

[Cuthalion]

There are plenty of musics which are legally distributed via MP3. http://www.mp3.com contains several examples.

no ogg support?

[abde]

how can you endorse something that doesn't support OGG? will upgrades for ogg support be available? can it be hacked?

Re:no ogg support?

[SomeOtherGuy]

What consumer audio device does support OGG?? If the only way to endorse OGG is to not get anything -- then sorry. Consumer audio devices that play and record/encode music are pretty much commonplace now days, and it is pretty easy to see what formats are dominating....But then again you could always choose not to watch movies because they don't play in your Beta machine.

Concider the following ...

[LoudMusic]

Most of the /. readers live in a small house or appartment. I would say the AudioTron is designed for people that have more than one computer in more than one room of a decent sized house and a stereo setup in another room. With a simple network run to the stereo equipment the user doesn't have to crank his computer speakers to listen to his mp3 collection in another room, or even through the whole house.

Most of my family would dig this device. Most of my friends would dig this device. There are just a few features that need to be added to get it up to snuff. There needs to be an easy software configuration for the PC so the user doesn't have to 'learn' windows networking to get it going, and the web interface needs to be streamlined and fluid.

I totally dig it, when the current beta reaches a finalized point (and I finish running my home network) I'm definitely buying an AudioTron.

~LoudMusic

riiiight- damaging equipment

[Anonymous Coward]

Hisses and clicks huh? so everybody with good hi-fi equipment will stop playing their vintage vinyl discs?

non-sinusodial waveforms (square waves, triangle waves, clipping-type distortion due to overdriving transistors, etc) is what damages equipment- especially speakers. With high enough compression, you'll get fidelity that's good enough to not have those problems. The analog components right after the DAC will probably smooth out the waveform steppings, anyway.

For that matter, one should be more worried about movie soundtracks damaging your "sensitive" hi-fi equipment.

Should I stop looking at jpegs on my sony monitor because it might improperly drive the electron guns? give me a break.

Re:It's too expensive for what it does

[kilgore_47]

I'm not usually one to lash out at Taco & Crew, but this is just a blatant plug for a product that their company is selling (VALinux/ThinkGeek/Slashdot/Whatever). He didn't even mention the connection between the companies, like he usually does!

I think this thing is a big waste of money. I keep all my mp3s on a samba share, so any computer in the house can get to it (well the macs can't, but I'm working on setting up some sort of mac compatible solution alongside samba). It's really pretty simple to run a cable from the back of a pc to the back of a receiver, and I don't see what this shiny box is going to give me that my current setup won't (except a $289 hole in my wallet).

The optical output seems cool, until you realize that your playing mp3s anyway so the fidelity loss is already there.

It seems like Taco, of all people, would adovcate building your own setup (using linux boxen, naturally) over using a buggy embedded system like this.

Bah

[CaptainSuperBoy]

r3mix

Read it, then come back here with a clue.

Don't trust the web page, do some ABX tests on your reference system, comparing 256kbit MP3 to the original signal.

Oh, did you mean 128kbit MP3, encoded by Musicmatch, has hisses and skips? I whole heartedly agree with you! But if you believe that all MP3 < all CD, I have a $20,000 tube amp I'd like to sell you.

Assuming 256kbit MP3 done with a decent encoder, this component, and a Toslink connection to your badass DAC, I can assure you that the limiting factor there is the quality of your DAC and everything after it.

Go get Streamsicle

[justin_w_hall]

If you're looking for a quick, easy way to efficiently get music to every system in your house, go get Streamsicle. It's a java-based combo web/mp3 server. Point it to your MP3 directory/share and fire up the server, and it works. Here's our setup:

• A linux box running samba and the streamsicle server. The audio stream runs on TCP port 4711 and the web interface on 8080, but both are changeable to suit your needs. The server's pointed to /mnt/mp3s/ and the mp3 shares on all the machines in the house are smbmounted below that directory by computername (/mnt/mp3s/megatron, /mnt/mp3s/starscream, etc).
• The clients connect to the web interface (customizable easily by stylesheets) and play the stream. 7 clients play easily on our 100base network with no hiccups. For parties, we put every system in the house in IE kiosk mode for easy song requesting. The interface is sweet - mp3 index is searchable and you can skip/delete tracks from the playlist from anywhere (which makes for interesting arguments at parties :)
• One laptop has the audio line out going to the RCA in on our stereo system. Beautiful sound.
• Internet radio? Easy, just hit 8080/4711 on the server you're running from or port forward thru your firewall.

RC2 of this project is out and very stable. 1.0 is looking really sweet and from the ML it looks like it'll be out pretty soon. I really recommend it, as it's a cheap (free) solution to getting your whole house playing a music collection everywhere you have a PC.

Re:seems like an old computer is superior

[CapnGib]

...old P133 tower sitting in my living room ...

Um... I think that's the whole point. Most people (even computer geeks) don't want bulky old computers all over their home with fans buzzing and hard disks whining.

Re:It's too expensive for what it does

[vanguard]

I was just looking at these things the other day. I'm really thinking about buying one. When I saw his review I thought, "Cool, at last some news for nerds."

According to me, /. has focused too much on privacy and politics. They are important but I need a little more UI debates, geek toys, etc.

What you see as a blatant plug I saw as a nice change of pace. Anyway, I liked his choice topics.

Re:seems like an old computer is superior

[dpease]

Well, I've got mine in a corner behind my couch and the cabinet with my stereo on top of it, so it's fairly invisible, and the noise is also effectively baffled. I understand not everyone has a convenient place to put a computer, but it's kind of a knee-jerk response to say "hey, it'll be ugly" when a mini tower takes up so little space.

Wrong, it's not unusual. Why can't I have 400 CDs?

[aussersterne]

Above average?

Most of my friends have 300-600 CDs. I've got 400 here. Furthermore, where are you getting an average of 8 songs per CD? A sampling of 10 of my CDs (admittedly small sample, but sounds right) gives me an average of 11 songs per disc. Maybe we just like different genres of music?

I don't have mine all to MP3 either (I've scripted up for it and started the process a couple of times, but then LAME comes out with something new that sounds better and I start all over...) but thats an estimated 4,400 MP3's for me, and I don't consider myself a big music junkie...

I just have a collection that I've been building since the late '80s, that's all. Someone who's bought one CD a week for a decade has 520+ CDs now. That's no stretch of the imagination, it sounds very reasonable to me.

The anti-piracy assholes are getting out of control. I don't mind buying software or music, but I'm getting tired of having to defend my 400+ CDs or 200+ games every time the subject comes up. If nobody's going to believe that I bought them anyway, I wish I had just copied them from the beginning, god knows I'd be a lot richer right now.