Evanston45 Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 Hi folks, I’m brand new to the forum we are building a home with 8 zones of speakers (2 speakers in 8 rooms). Two questions I have: 1. Does C4 have native Amazon music option? I prefer Apple Music, but sounds like I would need to AirPlay it. Which leads to my second question: 2. Isn’t any music app on my phone going to require airplay? Meaning if I open Amazon music on my iPhone, I still have to airplay, right? Or do folks open C4 app and then there is an Amazon music app within the C4 app? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmj4 Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 8 minutes ago, Evanston45 said: 1. Does C4 have native Amazon music option? Yes...native support is built in. However, programming for it (button press starts specific playlist or album) is not available. You do have the ability to search through all music and playlists on a touch panel or the mobile app. 8 minutes ago, Evanston45 said: 2. Isn’t any music app on my phone going to require airplay? No. If you're wanting to play something that doesn't have a mini/streaming app within C4, then yes (MLB app comes to mind). However, you can search and control all sources w/in C4 very easily. See screenshots below from SiriusXM and Qobuz: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 14 minutes ago, Evanston45 said: Hi folks, I’m brand new to the forum we are building a home with 8 zones of speakers (2 speakers in 8 rooms). Two questions I have: 1. Does C4 have native Amazon music option? I prefer Apple Music, but sounds like I would need to AirPlay it. Which leads to my second question: 2. Isn’t any music app on my phone going to require airplay? Meaning if I open Amazon music on my iPhone, I still have to airplay, right? Or do folks open C4 app and then there is an Amazon music app within the C4 app? Thanks! So as mentioned - the c4 controller has some apps built in (pandora, Spotify, SiriusXM, TuenIn, etc). With various degrees of control within control4 you won’t need your phone at all. If you want to use a service that is not built into the C4 controller then yes you can use your phone to airplay it to C4 (they call it shairbridge). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evanston45 Posted August 28, 2021 Author Share Posted August 28, 2021 Ok, great! So if I airplay Apple Music via sharebridge, can I select multiple rooms? Or does AirPlay only allow one room to be selected at a time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 2 minutes ago, Evanston45 said: Ok, great! So if I airplay Apple Music via sharebridge, can I select multiple rooms? Or does AirPlay only allow one room to be selected at a time? Can shairbridge to multiple rooms assuming your set up includes multi room set up. You mention 8 zones - so I am assuming at least you have an EA3 or EA5 + C4/Triad Amps + C4/Triad Audio Matrix? If so then yes you can shairbridge an audio source to 1 room or multiple rooms at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff W Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 The Shairbridge can be configured in two different ways 1) Global/Generic Airplay, meaning you airplay to "Airplay 1" (or whatever name you give it) and any room can select that source and play whatever music is playing to it. 2) You can 'hardcode' a Shairbridge driver to a specific room, so that when it detects music playing, it will automatically turn on that room's audio zone in C4. When the music stops playing, it can automatically turn it off. I typically just go for option 1 so the clients can choose whatever airplay (You can have up to 16 airplay's I believe) they want in whatever room they want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evanston45 Posted August 28, 2021 Author Share Posted August 28, 2021 Thank you. We haven’t purchased a C4 yet…still building the home so I’m doing my research. I’m not sure I followed the previous post about “AirPlay to AirPlay 1, then any room can select that source”…when you AirPlay, the device just turns on. Unless there is something that C4 adds that I’m not understanding. For example, on my phone I can AirPlay a video…it gives me two TVs to choose from. I can pick either, and BAM, the tv starts playing the video. But I can’t AirPlay a video to two TV’s at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff W Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 You can have up to 16 Airplay drivers installed per system. Each driver can be custom named and visible in the GUI. You can give generic names for each of the airplay drivers or give names like "Dad's airplay" or "Kitchen Airplay". If you want, you can assign "Dad's airplay" just to one room or assign "Kitchen Airplay" (Your custom name) to the kitchen itself. If you named one of the 16 drivers "Airpaly 1". Any room can select it as a source and listen to it. Disclaimer, in order for the last two posts to work, you do need an audio matrix and an amplifier large enough to connect all the sources/zones. (The audio matrix is what allows any room to listen to any of the connected sources). msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evanston45 Posted August 28, 2021 Author Share Posted August 28, 2021 Got it. Thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 I was a big Apple Music fan but ultimately moved to Tidal in order to get really good integration with Control4. There are a number of posts (and views) on which streaming services play best with Control4… For what it is worth, my view would be: 1. Tidal and Deezer have by far the best integration. 2. Amazon music and Spotify are far behind. 3. Apple Music is the worst (ShairBridge is worth having but gives you nothing like the integration of Tidal / Deezer). C4 User 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanITman Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 Big Sonos user here and I like the integration. We mainly control through Alexa or Sonos app and then room joining or session management through touchscreens and remotes. Works great. It also supports every major music service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanITman Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 Not to mention great airplay support and in-app (Spotify, Amazon) support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff W Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 Personally, not a huge fan of Airplay either, we install it on the systems so it's available for the clients. But what I love about Control4 is the wide range of streaming services that are available through them. They have something for everyone! The best part of using the built in streaming services is the easy to use menus/layouts, especially on the touch screens. For example, TuneIn has over 25,000+ free radio stations from around the world. It's so nice to browse through the touch screens and drill down through the menus and find your favorite radio stations. Or you can press and hold and make it a favorite on the room screen! It's awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control4Savant Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 10 minutes ago, Jeff W said: Personally, not a huge fan of Airplay either, we install it on the systems so it's available for the clients. But what I love about Control4 is the wide range of streaming services that are available through them. They have something for everyone! The best part of using the built in streaming services is the easy to use menus/layouts, especially on the touch screens. For example, TuneIn has over 25,000+ free radio stations from around the world. It's so nice to browse through the touch screens and drill down through the menus and find your favorite radio stations. Or you can press and hold and make it a favorite on the room screen! It's awesome! Wide range? Systems like Control4, Savant etc. are limited in service options more than just about any other streaming system available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted August 29, 2021 Share Posted August 29, 2021 On 8/28/2021 at 1:48 PM, South Africa C4 user said: I was a big Apple Music fan but ultimately moved to Tidal in order to get really good integration with Control4. There are a number of posts (and views) on which streaming services play best with Control4… For what it is worth, my view would be: 1. Tidal and Deezer have by far the best integration. 2. Amazon music and Spotify are far behind. 3. Apple Music is the worst (ShairBridge is worth having but gives you nothing like the integration of Tidal / Deezer). I use Tidal and Spotify - but I prefer the Spotify semi-integration. The reason for that is that the way that I play music is generally searching for albums by artist. I find the UI for that is much better in the Spotify app. So I find what I want in Spotify and then I switch the device in the Spotify app to the desired room in my house. I will agree that this becomes awkward if I want to play to multiple rooms because then I have to go into the C4 app and and add additional rooms which takes a few seconds, especially with the ponderous C4 iOS app. I also like the curation that Spotify does for daily mixes and I will sometimes listen to these as well. I also dislike the album duplication issue in Tidal. (see ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.