Streaming audio from laptop to hi fi (not via TV or media player)

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aboylikedave

243 posts

Master Geek

#107897 21-Aug-2012 21:31

Hi there

I wish to stream audio I am playing on my laptop to my hifi.

I have a jailbroken Apple TV2 which is just fantastic, and we use it particularly for playing videos from our laptops on our TV (XBMC/ATVflash).

However I just don't find the media player ('pull' media) concept that convenient or intuitive for music - I want to 'push from my laptop. For various reasons I don't want to run the music through my TV either.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a box/software to achieve this? Airplay/airfoil seems the best but are there any catches? Are there any other similar solutions?

My EPL football websites: Get the results but hide the score of your team at HidetheScore.net. Compare league positions with wage bills at RealPremierLeague.net.

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#675266 21-Aug-2012 21:42

An Apple Airport Express?
Or an Apple TV with a stand alone toslink to RCA DAC?

Jared777

61 posts

Master Geek

#675490 22-Aug-2012 14:21

Have you considered bluetooth?

I use the Belkin bluetooth music receiver - http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=508754 - to stream music from my laptop or phone to my av receiver.

If you're a stickler for sound quality bluetooth might not be for you, but I've found it works quite well and haven't had any problems really.

Logitech also have a similar product as well.

Jaxson

8044 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#675507 22-Aug-2012 15:14

Get a networkable receiver?

eracode

Smpl Mnmlst
8876 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#675508 22-Aug-2012 15:16

Jared777: Have you considered bluetooth?

I use the Belkin bluetooth music receiver - http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=508754 - to stream music from my laptop or phone to my av receiver.

If you're a stickler for sound quality bluetooth might not be for you, but I've found it works quite well and haven't had any problems really.

Logitech also have a similar product as well.

+1 for the Logitech unit. I stream music from my iPad and my Galaxy SII to our stereo in the lounge. Works great up to about 10 metres but needs to be pretty much line of sight.

An alternative (that we also use to get a Sky TV signal from MySky box to a TV in our kitchen downstairs) is an AV transmitter at the box end and an AV Receiver at the TV end. Also works brilliantly - and will work for just just stereo audio into your receiver. You can get the AV Tx/Rx quite cheaply at Dick Smith.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

aboylikedave

243 posts

Master Geek

#675648 22-Aug-2012 21:06

Thanks for the suggestions. The Airport Express suggestion got me googling which lead me to Airfoil for Windows which I have tried and seems fantastic - streams audio from laptop to Apple TV. And the key thing (which the ATV toslink to RCA doesn't achieve) is that I control the audio from the laptop and not from ATV - when you start AirFoil it simply 'starts up' in ATV

However the final step is that I don't need to turn on my TV so I will still need a toslink to RCA adapter - are $50 on ebay.

My EPL football websites: Get the results but hide the score of your team at HidetheScore.net. Compare league positions with wage bills at RealPremierLeague.net.