On November 16, 2017 at 11:23, Audiophiliac said...
I see your points. I think the marketing behind it is that people already are using the apps on their devices to listen to their music. Whether they are at work, at the gym, shopping, using the cheesy bluetooth speakers around the house, driving, etc. They use the Pandora app to listen to Pandora. They use the Spotify App to listen to Spotify. Apple Music for the Apple geeks. This basically gives them a simple way to do what they already do, but play it anywhere in the house.
It is not as cheap as you would want it to be. Yes, a 12 channel amplifier with 6 Chromecasts or Airport Expresses might accomplish a similar result. I suppose if you combined the cost of the 6 Chromecasts, 6 Airports, which comes to what, a little over $800? Add your favorite 12 channel amplifier, and you might be around the same ballpark, not to mention the mess of power cords, audio cables, etc. you would be forced to deal with. :) Plus you would have to choose Airports OR Chromecasts....you get both with VSSL. Plus Spotify Connect, which must not work via Airplay or GoogleCast?
Anyhow. I am not here to defend or promote the product. Just looking for other opinions. I am sure it is the right tool for the right clients. Just like everything else, it has its place. Interesting concept for sure. Of course in 3 years when Airplay2 comes out or GoogleCast2 rolls out and is not backwards compatible, you are left with a much more expensive paperweight than all the 30-pin iPod docks that got left behind in the wake of Apple's forward thinking. :)
That pretty much sums it up.
What I would also add is the fact that VSSL has six local ( dedicated to ea. zone ) analog line-level inputs , two " global " line level outputs and two analog inputs, so it's a pretty capable audio matrix. Even though It has definitely improved since the initial release, there are still some bugs and minor issues that some may find annoying.
Here's what I like about it :
- sound quality
- ease of use - use your favorite music app ( Pandora,Spotify, iHeart Radio etc. ) to stream / control house audio
- seamless spotify connect integration - it's super fast
- built-in airplay (x6 plus party zone )
- built-in chrome cast (x6 plus party zone )
- local / dedicated analog line-in for ea. zone.
- Control4 IP driver
Here's what I don't like:
- Inabilty to combine / divide streaming audio zones " on the fly " . There is something called " party zone " which basically allows you to create a group of rooms that will be visible as additional airplay or spotify connect zone, but changing rooms in that group requires using VSSL app. With all fairness this is limitation of any music app NOT the device itself. Unfortunately combine / divide ( streaming audio ) via Control4 driver does not work either
Overall it works really well if you have muliple users with their iPhones/androids etc., and they all want to listen to their own music in their own rooms. " Party zone " is a nice work-around but may not be sufficient for some people.
