Overview; Getting Connected; Internet Radio; Connecting To A Wired Network - Cambridge Audio StreamMagic 6 User Manual

Overview

The Stream Magic 6 is able to receive and play back media from several distinct
types of source. Here we have attempted to give an overview of the various types of
service available and the terminology you may encounter.
These are 'radio' stations broadcast over the internet. Currently the StreamMagic
range can access about 20,000 internet radio stations all sorted by us into
Location, Language and Genre. The list of available stations is constantly
maintained and automatically updated to your unit via the internet. If you register
on the StreamMagic website (www.stream-magic.com) you will also be able to
browse the stations and set presets on your units from your PC.
You can also add stations to your units that are currently not in the Stream Magic's
Radio database, suggest new stations to us and more. There are also links and
help for setting up third-party Streaming Services from a wide variety of other
suppliers. Other Stream Magic features will be launched in the future, check the
website from time to time to see the latest developments.
Streaming Services are similar to Internet Radio but come from other suppliers and
often have an element of interaction with the user. Because Streaming Services
generally allow the user some choice over the content they listen to, they are also
licensed differently to iRadio by the music companies and often each service only
has arrangements in certain countries and may also charge a subscription for
membership.
Examples of such services are Aupeo!, Pandora, Rhapsody, SIRIUS/XM, Live365
and others. All allow some control of the content from 'play me something that
sounds like U2' to the ability to select and play whole albums of your choice. Some
also offer the ability to download content for use off-line as well.
The Stream Magic 6 supports many of these services, navigate to Streaming
Services on the unit for a list or even better check out our website at www.stream-
magic.com for more details of which services are available in your area, what they
do and how to sign up. These services come from third parties and although we
support connections to them they do not come from us and we are not responsible
for their service in any way. Your account will be with the service, we are merely
acting as a website to make the connection simpler and more convenient plus we
support the correct software on our unit to allow playback and browsing of their
content.
The Stream Magic 6 supports a wide range of compressed formats; MP3, AAC,
WMA and Ogg Vorbis CODEC types are all supported, plus for true audiophile
use it also supports either uncompressed PCM (in a WAV container) or losslessly
compressed FLAC, both can contain from 16-bits/44.1kHz from CDs right up to
24-bit/96kHz for better than CD quality from suitable download sites.
For this to work your server will also need to support the CODEC you wish to
play as some have limitations and may not serve FLAC for instance. Always check
that the server you wish to use also supports your favoured CODECs.
Also for lossless/uncompressed formats both the server and network connection
will need to sustain the high bitrate necessary.
It is not recommended to use Wi-Fi connections for content above 16 bits
44.1/48kHz if lossless/uncompressed.
The Stream Magic 6 also supports USB Media from USB Flash-disks or USB
hard-drives and has two USB1.1 ports for this purpose. Here the Stream Magic 6
simply browses the folders present on the media attached and displays them. Only
content that the Stream Magic 6 can play will be shown. This feature is provided for
convenient access to temporary storage devices.
It is however highly recommended that UPnP is used for continued use of stored
media as the UPnP system is able to support album art, sophisticated content
Podcasts are archived audio recordings downloadable over the internet. Often
podcasts are recordings of previous live broadcasts or episodic content.
The Stream Magic 6 supports various third party podcast services, navigate to
Podcasts on the unit for the list available in your area. In addition the Stream Magic
6 supports your own personal choice of podcasts where you know its URL (weblink)
via the Stream Magic website, see later section.

Getting connected

Basic connections
Network connections
Before you can use your Stream Magic 6 for iRadio/Streaming you must have the
following:
provider (ISP).
connection (10 or 100 M bits/sec via an RJ45 connection).
If you wish to play 24-bit/48kHz or 24-bit/96kHz content from a UPnP server,
beyond most Wi-Fi networks capability.
In many cases the broadband modem, router and wireless access point will be a
single combined unit supplied by your Internet Service Provider or bought from a
computer store.
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) data encryption then you will need to know your WEP
or WPA key so you can get the Stream Magic 6 to communicate with the network.
Before you continue, make sure that your wireless access point or router is
or has an (default) Auto setting. In Auto the Stream Magic 6 looks for a each
connection type and selects whichever is present. You can also force the unit to
one or the other connection type, see later Settings section.
Plug one end of a network cable (Category 5/5E straight through Ethernet cable)
into the LAN port on the back of the unit.
Only connect the LAN port of the player to an Ethernet port that supports
10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX. Connecting to any other ports or jacks, such as a phone
jack, can damage the unit
The Stream Magic 6 should automatically connect to your network as below via
DHCP; this means it will be given an IP address by your router automatically.
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