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Average user rating:
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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5.0 stars
"Make your Hi-Fi connected"
Pros: * Incredible sound
* Great experience thanks to the several lines color display
* Album arts available for Rhapsody and UPnP as well as internet radios logos
* Can play Itunes tracks tks to Twonky SW bypacked
* Strong WiFi streaming performanceCons: * NP1100's useful quick jump function not available
Summary: Set-up :
* LastFM, Pandora and Napster not available
As the NP1100, set-up is more than easy and it takes around 2min from scratch to start playing your favourite internet radio station. At the opposite of the Logitech devices like the Boom or the Duet, you don't need any computer to set-up your NP2500 and to listen internet radio and Rhapsody on your Hi-Fi system.
Philips also bypacked with that device Twonky media server which allows you to access all your Itunes DRM free library from either a MAC or a PC running with Windows.
If you have Vista, installation is even simpler as device is recognized as a UPnP media player automaticaly. Just need to allow it and you can access all tracks located on your HDD.
Rhapsody :
Once entered your account credentials (if you don't have, you can still enjoy a 30 days full access for free) you can access your complete favorite tracks/albums/channels. All major Rhapsody functions (search, channels, top tracks, ....) are also available like you would have on a PC.
The multiple line display enhances greatly the navigation. On top of that, album arts are displayed, which makes the NP2500 a must have for all Rhapsody members.
Internet radio :
Immediatly accessible once device is connected to your WiFi router. No need extra set-up or registration / payment.
A huge amount of internet radio stations is available and most important they are playable and your nasty FM radio noise is gone.
Buffer is correctly managed, as well as the WiFi performance ? it makes NP2500 hick-up free compared to most of the cheap internet radio devices. One feature Philips should look at is the sizeable buffer like on the Logitech Boom.
An intuitive interface in order to find easily your favourite broadcast. Once started, stations artwork/banner is displayed.
Philips is working here with Vtuner in order to keep links updated. You can go on Vtuner site to check if your favourite stations will be available.
You can also connect the Club Philips website in order to choose your favourites in a more easy way.
UpnP :
Philips apparently hired a marketing genious as they have understood that iTunes users (a rather big population) would not change their media manager SW. They have consequently bypacked Twonky Media server (running on MAC and Windows OS) which makes all your DRM free tunes available.
For WMP11, once you have shared your library (no need to install any other piece of SW), everything can be played on your NP2900 as well as artworks.
Philips also learnt from NP1100 and increased the list of format supported. NP2900 is now supporting : MP3 ? M4A ? AAC - WMA (including MSFT DRM protected) ? FLAC lossless ? OGG ? WAV lossless ? PCM lossless .
Only black spot is the fact that Philips forgot to port the quick jump function from the NP1100 to the NP2500 in order to navigate more easily in the long list. Only basic search function is available.
Sound :
Philips bring here a special attention to the sound which makes that device more sexy and aligned with the expectations we have towards this historical sound machine designer.
A digital output is available for those really taking care of the sound quality.
A new feature called ?Full sound? has been implemented to regenerate the compression losses.
Rest of the design is well executed as NP2500 is free from standard issues found on other devices (WiFi background noise, pop sound, rattling,?.).
Other features :
An alarm clock function has been ported. You can then wake up with your favourite radio station wherever you are in the world.
A bracket is provided in order to hang it on the wall.
Remote control is quite messy but after a while you can find your way and then access quicker the core functions.
Philips Streamium NP2500:
