

Nexus Q - The world's first social streaming media player - uptown
http://www.google.com/nexus/#/q

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calinet6
If this is a audiophile-quality device that seamlessly supports streaming from
almost any device, then it could be worth the $300 price tag.

Right now the only real high-quality solution for remote streaming is Apple's
AirPlay, and it has its limitations. The biggest problem is that it's locked
down to Apple products and software; except for Airfoil, which improves
matters greatly. But you still need an Airport express or AppleTV to stream to
that you can hook up to your stereo.

But if we have an open lossless streaming/device API, then that's a great
advancement. Hopefully they've thought that far ahead, hopefully it's open,
and hopefully we can see other devices and platforms interoperable with it. We
need an open media streaming API, and I truly hope that's what this is.

Also given that it's got an integrated class-D amp, and it appears the
speakers
([https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_q_tri...](https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_q_triad_speakers))
made by Triad should be excellent and (hopefully) efficient little monitors,
though $300 is still a bit steep (Paradigm mini monitors at $199 would be a
better set). The combination could sound quite good. If not that, then it has
integrated optical out to throw into your own DAC or receiver.

I think there's an audiophile or two in Google and this is the product of
that. Not a bad thing!

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bherms
While the amplifier may be "audiophile-grade", 12.5W per channel is pretty
weak.

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calinet6
Class D amps are enormously efficient and have good clipping characteristics,
so 12.5W is plenty for most speakers and rooms.

Fun fact: 95% of your music stays within 1W of your amplifier's capability at
comfortable listening levels.

~~~
bherms
Did not know that... It's been a while since I've really read up on my
electronics info. Right now I have the EMPTek E55Ti towers (50-200W
recommended) and the Onkyo TX-NR818 (135W per channel).

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abruzzi
I honestly don't see what makes this worth $300 over an Apple or Roku for
$100. Aside from the amp and a couple very small features, it seems to do the
same thing. They call it the first "social" media player, but what exactly
makes it that? If it's the party/playlist mode, I have that on my first gen
AppleTV. If it's the playing from mobile devices, Airplay does that. All in
all it doesn't look like a bad product, just priced way out of whack with the
competition.

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tonfa
Can your guests share drm'd files with AppleTV or Airplay?

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bri3d
Absolutely, as long as they're in the Apple ecosystem. iTunes DRMed music and
movies will play wonderfully on an AppleTV over AirPlay. That DRM capability
is Apple's justification for the cryptography present on the AirPlay protocol,
and for requiring device manufacturers to be certified and pay them money to
get the necessary keys.

It sounds like Google have the same concept going on, but with the Google Play
ecosystem and at 3x the device cost.

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jiggy2011
Surely the killer app for this would be to turn it into a capable games
console?

Elsewhere in google IO they showed the nexus tablet running a few games such
as an FPS etc. The only problem is that I really don't want to play an FPS on
a tablet.

One of these with a decent controller however..

~~~
johno215
Interesting.

I wonder if instead of dedicated hardware controllers, the touch screens on
phones could be used as a substitute.

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jiggy2011
You could, but then you may as well just run the game on a tablet.

For playing games, especially action games you really want tactile feedback
(so that it's easy to judge the angle you are holding the joystick at without
looking at it etc). It also helps that good controllers fit well into your
hands for long playing sessions.

~~~
ConstantineXVI
TV is a better fit for same-room multiplayer. Could even do multi screen games
like with the Wii U. Trouble is the GPU is a bit on the weak side, it's fine
for the 4" Nexus but probably won't scale up to 1080p

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jiggy2011
The resolution on the tablet is 1280x800, so about 720p. The Xbox360 is only
720p and that has fared well.

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ConstantineXVI
So is the Galaxy Nexus (which this shares a SoC with), and it's considered
weak on there. It's unlikely blowing the output up from 4.7" to 47" will be
very pretty.

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eridius
Is this thing actually any different than an AppleTV + AirPlay[1]? It seems
like essentially the same thing at 3x the cost. I'd love to know if there's
anything I'm missing.

[1] I mean besides that this is for Android instead of iOS

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rektide
The Nexus Q maintains a playlist that can be collaboratively edited.

What this thing is not any different than is MPD, Music Playing Daemon. Which,
btw, is nine year old software.

Photo I took tonight of my 'social media streaming' output-only hardware:
[https://plus.google.com/113218107235105855584/posts/dgit2hfs...](https://plus.google.com/113218107235105855584/posts/dgit2hfs6SR)

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mattmaroon
$300, and all it will play is media I bought from Google and YouTube?
Seriously? I can get the tablet and an HDMI cable for $80 less and play
everything.

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thrownaway2424
Wrong. It will play all of your music, and all of your friends' music, that's
stored in Google Music, which is a free service for the first 20000 items.

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shinratdr
So will the tablet. He's not wrong.

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thrownaway2424
No. The tablet will NOT play all of your friends' music. Only the accounts
that are linked to the tablet.

~~~
shinratdr
Yeah that one feature is worth an extra $200-$240 alright.

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fumar
300 dollars is a steep price. I like that there is an amplifier in it. I also
think they are aiming for more of a luxury item. They kept stressing that the
Nexus Q hooks up to the best hardware in the house. Apple TV and Roku have a
lower price point. Google has to put in effort to differentiate Nexus Q from
its competitors. Besides, the Q looks very slick. The design language reminds
me of Sony.

~~~
bickfordb
It's an interesting iteration. The Q certainly looks much nicer than the Revue
hardware. The cost does seem high for a device like this without both a
remote, screen and a ton of storage.

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postfuturist
Looks like another overpriced Google TV. I already have one, and it isn't
supported very well. Never again.

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cicloid
So the Google TV is dead? And their answer was a Apple TV/Boxee Box competitor
for 300USD?

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PhrosTT
I am so glad I didn't build this. Had a similar social/dj/playlist idea except
obviously the hub would just be a phone plugged into speakers. I'm sure many
people thought of the same thing.

I think it's worth the $300 tho. I don't really have time to always download
fresh music so making a party playlist is like 4+ solid hours of work for me.
Or I can let guests fight over the input jack and inevitably the girls' top 10
dance party garbage wins the war of attrition. This makes that whole "hey let
me show you this awesome music video" thing a lot more group friendly.

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zmmmmm
It's really hard to think what is in there that could cost $299 - you can buy
a pretty good full on tablet for that price and sit it permanently in your
living room connected with HDMI to your TV / stereo, and with some simple apps
it can stream content from other devices as well.

~~~
nl
It has a 25 Watt amplifier and is made in the US[1]. At a guess, compared to
the $100 Apple TV the amp adds $50 to the retail price, made in the US adds
$75 and the rest is because of the lower volume.

[1] [http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/06/one-reason-for-
nexus-...](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/06/one-reason-for-nexus-qs-
high-price-manufactured-in-u-s-a/)

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jfoutz
Pausing and resuming across devices is awesome. Not sure if it's $300 awesome.

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rektide
This is a ubicomp play, pure and simple, and they kept it bare bones. A) Less
chance of confusing people with "apps" or anything fancy. B) Locked down to
the Play Googlesphere.

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robterrell
This competes with Sonos, not Apple. Wifi connected audio units with powered
amps, synchronized into playback groups, tablet-based controller, starting at
a $300 price point? But with video, which Sonos doesn't have. Sonos does have
audio input (so I can, say, connect my TV's audio output and broadcast it
throughout the house) but otherwise, Sonos had better up their game.

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rch
I really like the device, and the queue appears to work exactly as I would
want it to. I'm looking forward to owning one.

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rektide
No.

Anyone who has ever run a MPD server and turned on the Avahi advertisement has
run a social streaming media server.

DLNA and AirPlay come close, except they don't have editable playlists (just,
loadable ones).

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brd
Does anyone have any information on APIs being available for this? It
certainly has potential but out of the box its a cool toy at best.

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jonhendry
iPod HiFi? + video?

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uptown
$300? Pass.

