Just got off the phone with my brother, who is terminally ill, and starting to worry about stuff that his Mrs will be able to use when the inevitable happens. He’s quite happy pissing about with Raspberry Pi based stuff and hacked Kodi boxes etc, but SiL is the absolute personification of a technophobe and won’t touch any of it, she’s happy working the Sky remote, stuff like that. She won’t use a smartphone app, no use trying to show her, she just won’t, end of.
He wants a good quality all in one system that SiL will be able to use when he isn’t around anymore. One box, plus speakers. He has some nice Castle bookshelf speeks, so mostly we’re looking for the box.
It has to have a really decent CD player, a radio (including DAB), streaming from an iPad for while he is still around (SiL won’t learn how to do this), and maybe a usb stick input for mix tape type stuff he wants to put together for her.
He’s happy to spend a reasonable amount on this, it has to outlast him and provide good quality audio with an easy user interface. And it absolutely has to be reliable. He’s had decent HiFi in the past, so wants decent sound.
First thoughts are the Marantz type all in ones, but I’m thinking he might stretch to a Naim Uniti Star if the user interface is easy and the reliability is there?
First of all, I’m sorry to hear about your brother. There’s altogether too much death around at the moment.
A Uniti Star would do his but the CD mech is really there predominantly as a ripper so, weirdly it’s not that easy to use. Something that might work quite well is the T+A Caruso R. It’s an odd shape but it’s simple to use, has CD built in and sounds unreasonably good.
For less money, The Quad Artera Solus Play could work depending on exactly what the needs are. It uses DTS Play Fi, which is frankly a bit lacklustre for accessing your own library but streaming service access is pretty good. The build is amazing and it actually sounds really nice. Finally, in terms of things I’ve tested, the latest version of the Elipson Music Centre is a solid option. CD, tuner, streaming and AirPlay for under a grand. Yes, it looks like a Roomba but you can’t have everything.
I haven’t heard it yet but the Audiolab Omnia is likely to fit the bill too.
Really sorry to hear about your bro Rob.
I lost my younger brother over 4 years ago and there is a still a big hole in my life that he used to fill.
Don’t leave anything unsaid.
Thinking of you.
Thanks for your kind thoughts guys. My brother got diagnosed with stage 3 prostate cancer when he was my age (52) 12 years ago, and I’m sort of used/resigned to it to a certain extent if I’m honest, because it’s been going on so long. Tonight was a nice conversation with him because he was lucid, sometimes, depending on where he is in his medication regime, he can be pretty out of it.
Anyway, thanks Ed for those recommendations, I’ll have a proper look at your reviews tomorrow. I have to try and look at it through SiLs pov, something that might seem intuitive to us lot might be totally alien to her, so I might be asking for some more ideas if that’s ok?
I tell him I love him every time we speak. Sometimes I tell him to fuck off too, when he’s being a cunt. And he tells me the same when I am. And then we tell each other we love them.
Not sure that last sentence reads right? You get the gist though.
This. My sister has a Denon system based around a DM30 (I think) and with decent speakers it sounds fine. I think she has had it around 15 years and it just works. I would have no hesitation in going Denon.
. I’m just writing up tomorrow so I’ll inevitably be skiving on here.