Simple Audio Roomplayer Streaming System Review

Simple Audio live up to their name with the Roomplayer

by Steve Withers
MSRP: £699.00

What is the Roomplayer?

Simple Audio's Roomplayer is a high resolution music streamer that is intended to provide a single or multi-room solution for all your listening needs. It offers a very easy setup procedure and even includes Powerline technology, which uses your home's existing electrical mains to create a wired network. It is also designed to offer easy access to music collections stored on almost any device and also provides integrated music streaming services and online radio stations; all via a free control app that works with both computers, tablets and smartphones.

There are two types of Roomplayer, the basic version which you can connect to your HiFi to add a music streaming capability and another one that includes a 50W per a channel amplifier; allowing you to add a pair of speakers and create a system of your own. You can also add more Roomplayers via the Powerline network that piggy-backs off your home's existing electrical mains to create a complete multi-room experience; along with individual setup profiles and playlists. The basic version retails for £599, whilst the one with a built-in amp will set you back £699 (December 2014).

Design and Connections

The Roomplayer was created by a group of designers and engineers who were originally from Linn Products, which might explain why the resulting device is a beautifully designed and well made piece of kit. Whichever version of the Roomplayer you choose the basic design is essentially the same with a black aluminium casing and a tempered glass top.

The edges are slightly rounded and the entire chassis has the feeling of a product that has been well engineered and constructed; with the unit measuring 50 x 200 x 200mm (HxWxD) and weighing 1.2kg. The aluminium casing helps deliver silent radiant cooling and the Roomplayer is designed to be energy efficient, resulting in less power usage and making it environmentally friendly.
Simple Audio Roomplayer
Simple Audio Roomplayer

There is no on/off switch on the Roomplayer, you just plug it into the mains with the 2m power cable provided. The overall design is very clean, with only an indicator LED on the front. Along the bottom right, in a recessed area, you'll find a 3.5mm jack for connecting an MP3 player, smartphone or tablet to the Roomplayer and there's also a headphone socket. There are three LEDs for indicating when your Roomplayer is pairing with another Roomplayer or connecting to your network.

At the rear is the socket for the mains cable, which also doubles as a Powerline connector (more on that later), and an Ethernet port for connecting to your router. There's also a coaxial digital output, an optical digital output, stereo RCA outputs and inputs, a subwoofer output and a USB port but no direct USB audio connection. If you buy the Roomplayer with Amp then you also get a set of speaker terminals with spring clips for bare wires and holes for 4mm banana plugs.
The build quality is excellent and the features and specifications are impressive.

Features and Specs

The Roomplayer is hand built with technicians making up the PCBs (printed circuit boards) and assembling the components in-house, to ensure a high standard of quality. The Roomplayer uses a high performance Wolfson WM 877SEFT DAC (digital-to-analogue converter), which is optimised for digital sample rates up to 24-bit/192kHz. All the signal paths have been kept as short as possible, thanks to the use of an eight layer PCB.

The two versions of the Roomplayer share the same specifications but the amplifier version also includes an integrated Class D B&O IcePower amp with 2 x 50W. Although it's Class D, Simple Audio are keen to stress that the amplifier is not digital; however it is efficient and quiet with regards to EMC emissions. It also has a unique feedback design called MECC which is designed to reduce distortion and give a more 'analogue' sound to the amplifier.
Simple Audio Roomplayer
Simple Audio Roomplayer

Setup couldn't be simpler and the control app is well designed and very effective.
The Roomplayer comes with a number of cables, including a stereo RCA phono to phono cable for connecting to your amplifier or TV; there's a stereo RCA phono to 3.5mm cable for your MP3 player, smartphone or tablet; a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable for plugging an MP3 player, smartphone or tablet into the front of the Roomplayer; and an Ethernet cable for connecting the Roomplayer to your router. The Roomplayer also includes Powerline technology in order to establish a network over the existing electrical mains in your home rather than using WiFi.

This might seem strange but Simple Audio feel that this approach results in a more robust and stable connection that can handle 24-bit/192kHz without the possibility of overloading the way a wireless network might. The 200MB/s network created by the Powerline technology built into the Roomplayer makes it easy to create a multi-room system of up to 10 units and you can also buy a Powerline Roomplayer Bridge (£59) to connect your Roomplayer to the router if it's too far away to use an Ethernet cable.
Simple Audio Roomplayer
Simple Audio Roomplayer

The Roomplayer can stream all the major music formats including MP3 and AAC, as well as ALAC, FLAC (up to 24-bit/192kHz lossless), AIFF and WAV (up to 24-bit/192kHz linear). The Roomplayer also makes it easy to find music libraries, music folders and even individual tracks on any device connected to the network. The Roomplayer will synchronise iTunes libraries and music folders and once it is sync'd it's available every time the device storing the music is detected. Roomplayer does not change the location of the music, so if someone arrives with their laptop the music instantly appears and when they leave it immediately disappears.

Along with the multi-room and multi-library capabilities, there is also a multi-user feature that allows you to personalise your experience. Everyone can use the Roomplayer system, from family members to visiting friends; all they need to do is download the free app to their device. They can then create a user profile and each individual can personalise how they access music and interact with the system. As well as having your own user profile, you can sync libraries, hide libraries, add favourites and create personal playlists. Room players can also access music stored on a NAS.

The free Roomplayer app is available for PC, Mac, iOS and Android and displays all the available music whilst providing ways to browse and search through albums, artists, tracks and composers. The interface is nicely designed and very graphical, making the whole experience very intuitive. You can create playlists, control music and even control individual rooms or groups of rooms. You can also setup your Roomplayer how you want, create different rooms, personalise aspects and perform firmware updates. Finally the app also includes Deezer music streaming and TuneIn online radio stations.

Setup and Control

In keeping with the company's name, setting up the Roomplayer was indeed simple. We were provided with two Roomplayers, both with built-in amplification. This meant that the first thing we needed to do was locate some bookshelf speakers to use with one of the Roomplayers. We set that up in the lounge where we wired the speakers and then connected the Roomplayer to our router using the provided Ethernet cable. It was easy to connect to the network and then use the control app on our Mac to setup everything else up and synchronise our music libraries.

We then plugged in the second Roomplayer and pressed the pairing button on both units to allow them to pair before moving the second unit into the home cinema where we connected it to our HiFi (analogue, optical and coaxial). There are two ways of connecting Roomplayers together, either using an Ethernet cable to wire both to your router or by using Powerline. We chose the latter and quickly had both Roomplayers setup to access our music libraries whilst we controlled them using the iPad app. We also connected our iPhone directly to the 3.5mm jack at the front and listened to music using headphones as well.

Any downsides?

The obvious downside that people might point to is the lack of any wireless capability. In this age when almost everything is connected wirelessly, it's strange to see a manufacturer eschewing WiFi and claiming that it makes more sense to use a wired connection. However they are right to a degree, a wired connection is preferable and certainly more robust. It can also handle higher resolution audio better and Simple Audio's ingenious use of Powerline technology means that setting up a multiform system is extremely easy with no need to run cables everywhere. There will be those that bemoan the lack of WiFi but we did find Simple Audio's solution to be highly effective.

The second downside relates to the lack of any built-in speakers, which puts the Roomplayer at a disadvantage to much of the competition. When you look at wireless speakers and multi-room systems from the likes of Sonos, Samsung and LG, the lack of built-in speakers means that the Roomplayer isn't quite as convenient. You will need to either connect your Roomplayer to your existing HiFi system or buy a pair of speakers to use with the version that includes an amplifier. Of course this will give you the freedom to pair the Roomplayer with a decent set of speakers and the audio performance will be superior but it does make the Roomplayer quite expensive when compared to other systems.

Simple Audio Roomplayer Video Review

Roomplayer Sound Quality

The Roomplayer certainly offers plenty of options when it comes to what you can listen to and how you listen to it. Starting with the streaming services and internet radio, these worked well and the Roomplayer proved forgiving of lower resolution content. When it came to streaming music from our library, the results were excellent with the Roomplayer's ability to handle high resolution audio up to 24-bit/192kHz setting it apart from much of the competition. The streaming proved seamless and precise, with a connection that remained robust as long as your network and mains wiring are stable.

The Roomplayer acted as a very capable digital streaming source when connected to our HiFi system via coaxial or optical digital and the onboard DAC was very effective when using the analogue outputs, resulting in a tonally balanced and detailed sound. This was equally true when we wired speakers to the Roomplayer and used its own built-in amplification. The sound remained balanced and detailed with a slight warmth that we rather liked. We used the Roomplayer with some JBL Control Ones, along with a pair of B&W 602 bookshelf speakers and the Roomplayer showed that it could take advantage of higher quality speakers.
The Roomplayer delivers quality audio with flexibility and convenience.
The use of speakers not only meant that you could pair the Roomplayer with speakers of your choosing but it also meant the system was capable of a level of performance far in excess of the competition. Of course there's far greater stereo separation for a start but a more detailed and precise sound, with a well delivered mid-range and a controlled top end. The amount of bass will depend on the speakers to a large extent but the Roomplayer includes a subwoofer output if you want to create a 2.1 system which would be handy if you're using smaller speakers.

In terms of the multi-room capabilities the Roomplayers worked extremely well, with the Powerline connections remaining stable and the app control proving very effective. We were able to send music to either room with ease and control playback and volume but also at a much higher level of quality than much of the competition. The Roomplayer may not be cheap but it certainly achieves its intended purpose of providing high resolution streaming music and a multi-room capability all combined with easy setup and an intuitive and well designed control app.

Conclusion

Pros

  • Great sound
  • Easy to setup
  • Powerline built-in
  • Excellent build quality
  • Nice features

Cons

  • No built-in WiFi
  • No USB audio
  • No speakers
  • Pricey

Simple Audio Roomplayer Streaming System Review

Should I buy one?


If you're looking for a music streaming system then the Simple Audio Roomplayer might well fit the bill. First of all, as the name might suggest, it's very easy to setup and whilst it doesn't include built-in WiFi, the use of Powerline technology makes for an ingenious solution. Secondly the remote app is well designed, attractive and intuitive to use; making accessing your music libraries, controlling the Roomplayer and even other rooms very easy. This multi-room aspect is also well implemented and again is easy to setup and control. The Roomplayer is nicely specified in terms of connections, although a direct USB audio connection would have been useful considering the Roomplayer's high-end audio aspirations.

However the build quality is excellent and the design contemporary and understated; making the Roomplayer an attractive addition to any system or home. Depending on which Roomplayer you buy, you will have the option of connecting it to your existing system or adding speakers. The lack of any built-in speakers does put it at a disadvantage to comparable systems, making it less convenient, but it does allow you to choose your speakers thus giving you the opportunity to upgrade the sound quality. In this respect the Roomplayer proved very capable with a tonally balanced and detailed sound that retained a degree of warmth. The Roomplayer proved effective in whichever output configuration we chose and the streaming was seamless and stable.

What are the alternatives?


When it comes to multi-room systems the obvious competitor is Sonos and in this sense Simple Audio has the edge because it can handle high resolution audio whilst Sonos is restricted to CD quality. The Roomplayer is also easy to setup and control, just like Sonos, and the use of Powerline makes for an interesting alternative but the lack of built-in speakers makes it less convenient. Samsung and LG have also been making inroads into multi-room systems with their M7 and H7 packages. These are wireless like Sonos, easy to setup and include built-in speakers but the sound quality is superior on the Roomplayer. Ultimately it will come down to your requirements and budget because the Roomplayer isn't cheap but if sound quality is important then it should be on your short list.

Scores

Build Quality

.
9

Performance

.
.
8

Networking, Internet, Streaming quality

.
.
8

Features

.
.
8

Set up, Menus, Remote

.
9

Value for Money

.
.
8

Verdict

.
.
8
8
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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