Audiolab 6000N play is an excellent streamer. Setup is easy. Once done you can easily stream from a huge list of apps the the play-fi app has. The sound stage is dynamic. Music really shines. I understood the meaning of "speakers disappearing" You need to pair it with a good amp. This streamer is better than the other hifi brands costing ten times!!As for Hifimart : the delivery was super quick and professionally packed.Yes its a great buy. Also wins the What HiFi streamer award. Should definately buy as seperate's quality is much much better than an all in one. Never mind the absence of the display. Build quality is tough. Strongly recomended for streaming music!

My default streamer was the google chromecast. I refused to believe that a streamer would make a difference. It was only after I heard this streamer did I realize that all electronic streamers are not the same. The "character" of this streamer is that the music sounds well defined. Connected to 6000 A amp and my old KEF Q300, I have a big and well defined soundstage. Listening to Panjaj Udhas "Ahista" on Spotify was sweet. If I closed my eyes, I could visualize the singer sitting in front of me. The guitar strumming in "Tequila Sunrise" was clear and precise. Of course, it is the entire setup that matter. But the streamer did a good job in terms of clarity and resolution. I like it paired both with AudioLab 6000A or my old Onkyo A 9030. Play-fi app that controls the ... MoreMy default streamer was the google chromecast. I refused to believe that a streamer would make a difference. It was only after I heard this streamer did I realize that all electronic streamers are not the same. The "character" of this streamer is that the music sounds well defined. Connected to 6000 A amp and my old KEF Q300, I have a big and well defined soundstage. Listening to Panjaj Udhas "Ahista" on Spotify was sweet. If I closed my eyes, I could visualize the singer sitting in front of me. The guitar strumming in "Tequila Sunrise" was clear and precise. Of course, it is the entire setup that matter. But the streamer did a good job in terms of clarity and resolution. I like it paired both with AudioLab 6000A or my old Onkyo A 9030. Play-fi app that controls the streaming, needs improvement and this would make the experience even more great.

Audiolab 6000N Play

I've had the 6000N for a few weeks and the more I use it, the more impressed I get. Being new to separate systems I found it was straight forward enough to get it connected to my amplifier etc. but a little less so when it came to connecting it to my devices via the Network (WiFi)... I'm not the best when it comes to technology but by no means the worst and I was left scratching my head on a couple of occasions when things wouldn't connect. With a little patience and perseverance I managed to connect the devices I wanted and have been rewarded with a great sounding and reliable streamer.So far, I've not had any concerns with the Play-fi app as mentioned in some of the other reviews, so lets hope they've sorted some of those glitches out! I've found it pretty ... MoreI've had the 6000N for a few weeks and the more I use it, the more impressed I get. Being new to separate systems I found it was straight forward enough to get it connected to my amplifier etc. but a little less so when it came to connecting it to my devices via the Network (WiFi)... I'm not the best when it comes to technology but by no means the worst and I was left scratching my head on a couple of occasions when things wouldn't connect. With a little patience and perseverance I managed to connect the devices I wanted and have been rewarded with a great sounding and reliable streamer.So far, I've not had any concerns with the Play-fi app as mentioned in some of the other reviews, so lets hope they've sorted some of those glitches out! I've found it pretty intuitive in general use and there are instructions in the manual that have helped when needed.The only annoyance I have with the 6000N is the time it takes to start up or connect to the Wifi when you first switch it on - it seems to take a long while, enough to make a cup of tea! (this maybe the strength of my Wifi? I don't know but its certainly not a quick as bluetooth). That said once everything is connected though I couldn't be happier with the quality of the output and the overall product.

Audiolab6000N Play

I found it a bit confusing... understanding different led flashings to determine the status its a bit confusing having not done this before (you need to constantly read in the book to remind yourself what the flashings mean).. can one imagine how easier would be if there was a little screen telling you what is happening. For example the software needed upgrading, yes the unit picked it up by itself through it needed doing through the dts app but the user information was a bit poor to indicate what is happening. For me it took longer and i thought the update process has failed, so I end up disrupting the upload...I have not gone through the whole set up but I read the instructions and it's not particularly clear how to lock certain internet radio stations to any of ... MoreI found it a bit confusing... understanding different led flashings to determine the status its a bit confusing having not done this before (you need to constantly read in the book to remind yourself what the flashings mean).. can one imagine how easier would be if there was a little screen telling you what is happening. For example the software needed upgrading, yes the unit picked it up by itself through it needed doing through the dts app but the user information was a bit poor to indicate what is happening. For me it took longer and i thought the update process has failed, so I end up disrupting the upload...I have not gone through the whole set up but I read the instructions and it's not particularly clear how to lock certain internet radio stations to any of the memory buttons, i am not even sure if possible, i tried it but it did not remain in the memory. The other thing I found not clear (admittedly i have not understood it fully I need to get on it again) it appears the mobile phone with the dts app running will need to sit next to the unit in order to play an internet radio station. It is annoying if that is the case but I have not found a way how to set that up. If it is the case then it seems i have spent £500 to link my mobile phone to the musical system speakers, that would be annoying and rendering this unit a waste of money. Otherwise as all audolab products oozes quality.

Flawed genius. But well worth it!

I posted a fuller review on avforumsBut here's a quick summary. If you are researching this device, you must have read the angst from endusers regarding Play-fi.Relax. It has come a long way, and is liveable. Competitor ecosystems are undoubtedly better. But it still does the job well enough.If sound quality is what you're after, this is the unit for you. There is little this side of £1000 that has the same features. I use it purely as a digital transport and haven't sampled the onboard DAC yet. But there are few streamers that support all the streaming services, works with Alexa, and can output the full 24/192 on both coaxial and toslink. Competitors around the same price may do that on coaxial but either 24/48 or 24/96. A toroidal transformer linear power ... MoreI posted a fuller review on avforumsBut here's a quick summary. If you are researching this device, you must have read the angst from endusers regarding Play-fi.Relax. It has come a long way, and is liveable. Competitor ecosystems are undoubtedly better. But it still does the job well enough.If sound quality is what you're after, this is the unit for you. There is little this side of £1000 that has the same features. I use it purely as a digital transport and haven't sampled the onboard DAC yet. But there are few streamers that support all the streaming services, works with Alexa, and can output the full 24/192 on both coaxial and toslink. Competitors around the same price may do that on coaxial but either 24/48 or 24/96. A toroidal transformer linear power supply is worth £150 from aftermarket suppliers. And a beautiful metal case. No unnecessary displays or bluetooth radios to create unwanted electronic noise. Clean, crisp, beautiful sound. Can't fault it.After using it for the last few nights, despite the direct streaming from portable device, my ipad and phone both do not show severe battery drain after a few hours of streaming. So not bad at all!But here's something I learnt. If you're doing streaming, especially hi res, whatever digital transport, use a good router rather than the free ones provided by your ISP, and use ethernet whenever possible.

Great sound and glitch free streaming.

Bought a week ago and once set up there have been no problems streaming from amazon music. Sound is very good played thru a Marantz 6000 amp (using analogue feed as the amp is 9 yrs old so decided to utilise the 6000N DAC.)Set up was a bit of a pain trying to link an android phone but since then streaming has been 100% reliable andglitch free. There is a short wait (20 seconds?) after turning on while it reaquires the wifi and you can't open the phone app till this occurs.The app finds my amazon music account without fail but please note that while you can search and play new tracks through the app you cant build playlists or save tracks.You can edit inside amazon music while playing thru the app with no problems though.I was a bit worried when I read ... MoreBought a week ago and once set up there have been no problems streaming from amazon music. Sound is very good played thru a Marantz 6000 amp (using analogue feed as the amp is 9 yrs old so decided to utilise the 6000N DAC.)Set up was a bit of a pain trying to link an android phone but since then streaming has been 100% reliable andglitch free. There is a short wait (20 seconds?) after turning on while it reaquires the wifi and you can't open the phone app till this occurs.The app finds my amazon music account without fail but please note that while you can search and play new tracks through the app you cant build playlists or save tracks.You can edit inside amazon music while playing thru the app with no problems though.I was a bit worried when I read reviews complaining about streaming glitches and pauses between tracks but have not experienced either. I have hi speed fibre broadband which is v reliable so that may be why?Overall a great buy and v satisfied.

Needs an Amazon Echo device + a pretty good phone!

This review focuses on the devices's higher end capabilities as a stand alone single source renderer outputting to a high res capable dac - Don't have a view on it's abilities as a part of a multiroom ecosystem.So here we are - the future!So, say you say..."Alexa play 'In Your Eyes' by Peter Gabriel on Audiolab"..... the song plays, through the Hi-Fi without so much as a button press. Just by asking the Alexa app in the Echo dot speaker. Without a phone in sight! - WOW!!!Or say you set the Play-Fi 'app' on your phone to 'critical listening' then you'll be hearing 24/192's in glorious Hi Res from your nas; or an Amazon HD track in (deep breath) ACTUAL HD through your dac at 24/96!!.Or you can choose direct casting from Spotify Connect, or the Amazon music ... MoreThis review focuses on the devices's higher end capabilities as a stand alone single source renderer outputting to a high res capable dac - Don't have a view on it's abilities as a part of a multiroom ecosystem.So here we are - the future!So, say you say..."Alexa play 'In Your Eyes' by Peter Gabriel on Audiolab"..... the song plays, through the Hi-Fi without so much as a button press. Just by asking the Alexa app in the Echo dot speaker. Without a phone in sight! - WOW!!!Or say you set the Play-Fi 'app' on your phone to 'critical listening' then you'll be hearing 24/192's in glorious Hi Res from your nas; or an Amazon HD track in (deep breath) ACTUAL HD through your dac at 24/96!!.Or you can choose direct casting from Spotify Connect, or the Amazon music app or the Alexa app .Or you can play internet radio though the DTS Play-Fi ..... I was going to say 'app' again - but it not really an app - it's more an integration and control setting tool.Using it to play music through, on it's own, is a brutal experience compared to the streamer's own apps.But using the Amazon app INSIDE the Play Fi- app 'structure' is as easy as using the Amazon video app on your TV.The device is DLNA and UPnP compliant and so will be recognized by a PROPER media streaming implementation app like Bubble UpNP - but again no high-res. You only get high res output through critical listening single soiurce mode in Play-FiTHIS is the device that Amazon SHOULD be selling as their Hi-Fi capable device rather than the 'Echo Link' piece of garbage..But and it's a big big big BIG BUT - playing music on this device isn't the same as playing a network stream from a hard disk, attached disk or a NAS - on a laptop.And it's really, really, really not the same as playing a Spotify or Apple music track on your phone.For a start to make it sing you need a really pretty good android smart phone. We are talking high end Samsung or Sony (or Huawei, - but only the ones where the Google Store works.) Mid-range smart phones won't cut the mustard, and Apple integration is frankly rubbish.. (See told you the future was here)The hi-res capabilities are very much phone defendant (for now - apparently DTS are working on this) And the ability to voice command depends on having an Alexa input device, either the Alexa app on your phone or ideally an Amazon echo dot or at least an Amazon echo 'input'.The elephant in the room. No Google integration whatsoever. None.Wont be recognized by Google home devices + no Bluetooth, so if you want to talk to it it's Amazon or nothing. If you want to cast to it - it won't be from YouTube.(you can potentially cast from Google Play Music through Bubble UPnP - Cloud services Library and into the Audiolab as the renderer. But you'd be much much happier with a Chromecast AUDIO (the one with optical spdif out - at 24/96) for the Google side of things (so get one while you can)!So why no recommendation? - because you will REALLY struggle to get it to work if you approach it from a hi fi perspective.This is a a network/cloud services music integration device with high-res capability - thinly disguised as hi-fi unit.

Nice network streamer

My first foray into a network streamer and so far I'm impressed with the Audiolab. I'm connected via an (existing) external Rega DAC. I did listen briefly via the Audiolab DAC which was fine for a budget streamer, but it showed what a good upgrade path an external DAC is/would be.In terms of setup, the Audiolab was quick and simple to set up. It is connected via my wifi mesh hub network (fibre broadband) and it keeps a strong network connection.The only gripe I have with the player is the DTS Play-Fi software which is the 3rd party software Audiolab use to run the player. I tried playing my lossless files on my Android phone but the Android version of the app is currently pretty much unusable. If you see the reviews in Google PlayStore then it seems they botched ... MoreMy first foray into a network streamer and so far I'm impressed with the Audiolab. I'm connected via an (existing) external Rega DAC. I did listen briefly via the Audiolab DAC which was fine for a budget streamer, but it showed what a good upgrade path an external DAC is/would be.In terms of setup, the Audiolab was quick and simple to set up. It is connected via my wifi mesh hub network (fibre broadband) and it keeps a strong network connection.The only gripe I have with the player is the DTS Play-Fi software which is the 3rd party software Audiolab use to run the player. I tried playing my lossless files on my Android phone but the Android version of the app is currently pretty much unusable. If you see the reviews in Google PlayStore then it seems they botched the last update in a bad way. I was lucky to have 2 or 3 songs play before the app crashed - you can forget scrolling through your library as that will crash the app instantly. I'm now running the iOS version of the app on a 6th gen iPod touch (check the IOS version required is compatible with your device) and that is significantly better. I can actually play my files through the iOS app although it is still sluggish scrolling through your library to select your music. I've had music playback stutter due to the app on IOS once. A restart of the iPod and all has been working well again.So a good budget network streamer, easy to setup, good connectivity - but the Play-Fi app interface has it's issues.

Well built unit, control app poor

I bought this at the same time as the Audiolab 8300a, I ended up returning the 6000n for a few different reasons. Firstly i found the sound very bright, coming from an all analogue background this could have been one of the reasons why, however i have found the bluesound node 2i is much more to my taste (I appreciate this is personal opinion). Secondly the unit itself had a different finish to the 8300a, the 6000n was a matt black finish (which marked very easy, even with a finger touch) whereas the 8300a is a satin black finish. Not the end of the world but an annoyance all the same when they are close. I also would have liked the 6000n to have some digital input options which it didn’t.Finally and most importantly I couldn’t stand the control app, it was buggy ... MoreI bought this at the same time as the Audiolab 8300a, I ended up returning the 6000n for a few different reasons. Firstly i found the sound very bright, coming from an all analogue background this could have been one of the reasons why, however i have found the bluesound node 2i is much more to my taste (I appreciate this is personal opinion). Secondly the unit itself had a different finish to the 8300a, the 6000n was a matt black finish (which marked very easy, even with a finger touch) whereas the 8300a is a satin black finish. Not the end of the world but an annoyance all the same when they are close. I also would have liked the 6000n to have some digital input options which it didn’t.Finally and most importantly I couldn’t stand the control app, it was buggy and didn’t support gapless playback, i just couldn’t live with it. I’m sure it will improve in time but I didn’t want to wait for that.The unit looked great, seemed very well built and i liked the preset buttons on the front, a shame I didn’t get on with it.The staff at RS Liverpool were great as per usual, this includes the purchase and return.

nice steamer

This little machine is very capable, can play most high resolution files upto 24bit 192khz with WiFi and ethernet connections. Can integrate well with most streaming services using the play fi app. One of the few devices that can actually play Amazon hd music files at its highest settings under critical listening mode on the dts play fi amp, although best to use the ethernet connection as you may experience some drop outs using WiFi connection, 24bit192khz music files.You will have no problems using standard lossless cd quality setting's. Hard presets can only be used on some services to store music files, currently most but not all streaming services. Not yet tried pnp/dnla capabilities to see if this works well with other devices as I'm just enjoying streaming ... MoreThis little machine is very capable, can play most high resolution files upto 24bit 192khz with WiFi and ethernet connections. Can integrate well with most streaming services using the play fi app. One of the few devices that can actually play Amazon hd music files at its highest settings under critical listening mode on the dts play fi amp, although best to use the ethernet connection as you may experience some drop outs using WiFi connection, 24bit192khz music files.You will have no problems using standard lossless cd quality setting's. Hard presets can only be used on some services to store music files, currently most but not all streaming services. Not yet tried pnp/dnla capabilities to see if this works well with other devices as I'm just enjoying streaming directly from Amazon music and Spotify. The 6000n seems to perform well and sound very good perfect match with the audiolabs 6000a amplifier as this will show the resolution of the data stream beeing played but does not show any other info like song title etc and the 6000n has no inbuilt display but then again you wouldn't need it if using your mobile as the remote for your streaming services. One less thing to go wrong in my eyes. app also has the ability to stream direct to streamer without using your mobiles phones resources, but again this only works with certain apps, this is beeing updated by dts play fi in time with most of the streaming services currently available, but not all at this moment in time.If you just want the ability to just sit down and enjoy music at high resolution lossless and lossy files without messing around you could do a lot worse than the 6000n especially given it's price point.