Philips NP3900 Streamium Network Music Player

I bought the Philips Streamium NP3900 for two main purposes: to play music from my ethernet-connected external hardisk (or NAS, as it is known to technophiles :)), and to listen to internet radio stations, both over my home wireless network. I had a cheaper, simpler, older internet radio before that performed these functions, and it got a lot of use over the past few years, so now I felt like an upgrade, primarily because I wanted better sound than the single-speaker older radio gave me. Enter the Streamium NP3900!

Why did I buy this device?
I looked around the internet for solutions that fit my requirements, and that means I looked at Logitech, at Sonos, at Sony, and a few others. The equivalent Sonos device was more expensive, and did not have a screen nor a decent remote control (unless you happen to have an Android or iOS device, which I do not have), and the Logitech radio (although cheaper) had inferior speakers, and could not stream from my NAS (thankfully, I looked this up online before buying!). Sony did not have anything I liked (although I tend to like Sony products, especially in audio). The Streamium line did however have everything I wanted, and so I settled for that. I chose the NP3900 because it has the best price/quality ratio: superb speakers for such a small devide (it is not very big!) and at 35 Watt RMS output, it can fill my entire (large!) L-shaped living room with beautiful music. The smaller brother has fewer speakers, and a lot less Watt, so it'd be too small for me, and it is not that much cheaper either. The more expensive devices are too bulky and too sophisticated. And also too expensive. In my opinion therefore, this is the Goldilocks device in the Streamium line.

Positives
- Great sound! It is the best sounding audio device I have ever owned, although that is not saying very much. The tweaks Philips made to the sound processing of compressed audio (as you get from MP3s and internet radio) really liven up the sound, and it this is very audible when switching the 'full sound' option on or off. The device also comes with 'living sound' which is meant to project sound beyond the normal forward-oriented range, to fill an entire (not rectangular) room. Since the device is placed in one corner of my L-shaped living room, this feature is the one I love most, and I always leave it on. Again, the effect of 'living sound' is very noticeable when you toggle it on and off. The response and clarity of the speakers is very good, although I haven't tried to tweak the bass yet with the sound settings. The woofers are at the back, so it will work best when placed to a wall or panel.
- Ease of use. Really no manual required. Touch screen works nicely, although slowly (press and wait two seconds), and the (rather bulky and somewhat complicated remote) works perfectly. The remote really makes handling the device easy, although it takes a few days of getting used to. It has shortcuts for practically everything 'though, so it's the best way to use the device. There's also an app for Android/iOS devices that I can not test, as I do not own such a beast. From screenshots, I gather it looks very much like the LCD screen, which is a bonus. When you are listening to a stream (from NAS, computer or internet), then switch off the device and later on switch it back on, it continues playing almost immediately, which is a great feature that my old radio did not have. It has an alarm clock function for those who would want to confine this player to the bedroom, although it really is a bit too much of a sound system for this purpose; you'd be better off with a cheaper Streamium player if the bedroom is the intended place to use your radio. Oh, and there was a firmware update right after I bought it (Dec 2011), which the device downloaded and installed nicely, using informative displays to appease any worries that something would break.
- Display. The display is a touch-screen that shows images clearly, and displays album art or a radio station logo if available. You can also use the display to show slideshows of pictures on your computer or NAS while music is playing. This works very well, but is a bit of a gimmick as the screen is a bit small for this to be really useful. It's a nice touch however, if you like to revive some memories of holidays long past while ambling around your living room, listening to music. The brightness of the display can be set to your preferences (from dark to bright in about fifteen steps), with different options for the on or off state. In the off state, a clock is shown by default (white on black, very nicely readable and unobtrusive), but you can have the display off as well.
- Look. In my house, it blends in nicely, being unobtrusive and cool but elegant. It is black and very dark grey, and is essentially a bunch of speakers covered by a slightly glossy black metal speaker grille, and the touchscreen. There is a little black antenna at the back that you could probably also leave folded back, although I like it up. A radio needs an antenna :).
- Spotify. The Streamium line has a built-in Spotify client. Only for paying customers of Spotify however, so I have not tested this feature, but I guess this is a great addition for anyone on Spotify.
- Format support. The player handles all common formats as well as FLAC (a lossless compression format, used by audiophiles and nice for classical music) streaming. I use it only for MP3 and FLAC for streaming (no iTunes stuff for me :)).

Negatives
- No play queue available. My old radio had a play queue, to which I could add songs, albums, or artists. The Streamium does not have this feature (or it is tucked away deeply and I have not found it). Perhaps a firmware update could take care of this at some point. It's not a deal-breaker anyway.
- Slow response of the touch screen. This may upset impatient people; there's about a second delay between pressing anywhere on the screen, and the display changing because of the press. There's a beep (that you can switch off) that acknoweldges your press, 'though. Because of the delay, I keep the beep on, so I know I just need to wait when I pressed the screen. The beep also responds to remote control commands, which is a nice touch. Commands issued by remote happen immediately, again showing that the remote is the way to use this device.
- No battery-operated function. I guess you can't have it all. As far as I could tell, only the Logitech has this option (at additional cost).

The other reviewers seem to have had issues with power cords, but all was fine with my (continental European) model. Everything in the box, and setup was a breeze. There's only one thing to do really: connect the power cord to the device and a wall socket, and follow the instructions on the touch screen.

Overall, I recommend this device if you want good sound from a wireless internet radio/Spotify/NAS/computer source music player. It is well made, has superb room-filling sound for the size, and comes at a decent price point compared to the competition!

I bought this item in the hope that the issues with the power leads would have been resolved. It appears that hope was not enough. A 240V 'figure of eight' power lead does not fit into a 12V 3A DC socket in the back of music player. At the moment I am in two minds whether to return it to Amazon and hope that the replacement has the correct power lead, or spend more money and get a correct power lead myself from somehwere like Maplin. When I do finally get the system powered up I will let you know how it goes.
BTW - I phoned up Philips customer services who didn't want to know - and told me to contact Amazon who was my retailer. I pointed out that as the manufacturer the fault lay with them and could they send me the correct power lead direct but it was like talking to a brick wall (albeit a very polite brick wall).
Ended up buying a power lead from Maplin (for £34), powered up Streamium, and in summary I was disapointed with it. Software loaded fine, found my computer and NAS drive fine, but the controller is slow to respond, searching for specific tracks is not that easy (in fact it is frustrating) and varies depending on where the music is saved (computer of NAS drive), and whenever I stopped a track the whole thing just hung until I unplugged it and then restarted it. To be honest the slow response to commands was enough to make me want to return it, even before it started crashing. I think everyone these days is used to slick graphics and instant response like you get from smart phones - but even the streamium controller on my Android seems jerky when I used it.
In the end I have returned it and just bought myself a Sonos Play5, which although I have only had it one day, is already way better than the Streamium (albeit about £100 more). It has all the same features but they all work so much better.

I got this piece of gadget for my partner for his birthday, and he is very happy about it. Looks great, sound is really good, set up was really easy as well. Had a little problem with the first delivery- the cable was wrong and speakers didnt work either. Amazon did a great job, after filling the return form they sent second one straight away giving me a whole month to arrange a return of faulty item. All in all i rate this item 5 stars for easiness of set up. 5 stars for functionality. 5 stars for looks