Audiolab Omnia Hi-Res All-in-One Music Streaming System with CD Player Play-Fi, MQA,Roon Tested Black

I wanted to replace my Cocktail Audio X30 which was unfortunately at End Of Life in respect to updates, and recently the streaming services stopped working and wouldn't play any music, likely due to firewalls/services no longer supported. I wasn't able to find any solution given the manufacturers were based in Korea, and other support mainly in Germany. My experience with the Audiolab Omnia unit has been excellent, the Play-Fi app works really well with my Deezer account, amd certainly much better than having to physically log into the account on the Cocktail Audio system itself. The CD player is a great option as I still enjoy playing CDs, particularly most units are now stream only. A bargain also at 799 pounds compared to the original RRP, easy to install and sounds great!

Only LIKE : Fast Delivery, friendly driver, high quality packing, very high quality product. Can't beat this end to end service !! 👍No dislikes.

Disappointed that I could only use the CD player and Bluetooth functions. Couldn’t get the Play-Fi app to recognise the unit. I also felt that the CD tray was a little flimsy, certainly not as robust as the rest of the machine. Sound via CD is excellent, but regretfully returned the machine.

The Audiolab Omnia is a CD player with built-in amplifier and with limited streaming facilities. The build quality is superb, sound quality is excellent, there are more inputs than you are ever likely to need, and there is a beautiful and mesmerising LCD screen which can emulate classic analogue VU meters. Most reviews will tell you these things. What I am going to describe are some of the limitations and gotcha's, not to dissuade you from buying but to try and give a more comprehensive picture. If you are buying it to listen to CDs or PVC records (and there is a built-in phono stage), then you should be fine. Beyond that, there are restrictions.USB: the unit can play music files from an external USB memory stick or hard drive. Great, I thought, and inserted the one from my previous system. All the folders were listed, but none of the files were. Investigation revealed that it cannot handle FLAC files, only MP3 and WAV. What? Seriously, it's 2024 and it cannot understand FLAC? Hence the headline for this article - MP3 and WAV have been around since 1991 whereas FLAC wasn't developed until 2001, so perhaps it is 'too modern'. And that wonderful LCD screen... it can't display album artwork. Oh, and the music player always defaults to playing the exact same track when you select it...Streaming: I would describe this as fairly rudimentary. Very little is actually built-in to the Omnia, instead it requires an app called Play-Fi running on a separate smartphone or tablet. Play-Fi provides access to many services, although half of them are not available in the UK. The whole thing is incredibly slow and clunky. Let me give you an example: suppose you want to listen to an internet radio station (and there is an extensive list available). Switch on the Omnia. Let it boot up. It then flashes the power light whilst it searches for the wifi connection. Once it's found it, launch Play-Fi on your phone. It can't remember the last system it connected to, even if you've only got the one, so you have to tell it. Choose internet radio and select the station, we'll assume a favourite to save some time. Total time from switch on to listening to the radio is 1 minute 45 seconds. Compare this to, say, Yamaha MusicCast, where the equivalent process takes 15-20 seconds and you don't need a smartphone handy. On a more positive note, Apple's Music app and Play-Fi work together seamlessly.App: there isn't an app for the Omnia, per se. Yes, there is the Play-Fi thing but that just handles the streaming side and doesn't know anything about the hardware. For instance, you can't turn the Omnia on or off, or switch inputs, or change the tracks on the CD, or access the USB files etc. Instead, you have to use the combination of the remote control (which is nice and sturdy) and the Play-Fi app for a limited subset of features. Again, contrast with the MusicCast app, which can control all aspects of a Yamaha receiver.Equaliser: there is no equaliser on the Omnia, so you can't adjust bass and treble to compensate for variances in your hearing or the acoustics of your room. Instead, you have to listen to the music "the way the producer and artist intended", as they say. However, there is a balance control.Sub-woofer: some good news here. There isn't a sub-woofer output, but there are line/pre-amp phono outs and with a suitable Y-type RCA cable you can connect a powered sub-woofer and it works a treat.Hopefully the above reality checks don't come across as too negative. The thing which is disappointing is that most of the limitations could be fixed at the software level. However, the Omnia has been on the market for 2 years at this point so presumably they will never be addressed, at least not in this model.Suggestion: if you listen to radio a lot and mainly to the regular stations like Classic FM, BBC Radio 4, Talksport etc, consider buying a DAB adapter. There's a very nifty and simple one on Amazon called the TechniSat Digitradio 10 C, works really well and adds DAB+ (and FM) to audio systems which don't have these capabilities.

Great delivery. I’ve had some good hifi but this tops the lot.

I've been looking for an all in one as a second system for a while now. Tried the NAD M10 but hated how limited Bluos was, tried the Arcam SA30 which was a brilliant amp but awful streaming platform and had a demo of the Cambridge Audio Evo which had a brilliant streaming platform but didn't enjoy how it sounded. I finally settled on the Omnia which sounds superb and works very well as a streamer, CD player, DAC etc.The only thing that might put some people off is the lack of HDMI, a feature which all the others I mentioned have but that wasn't an issue for me as I'm happy to use optical from my TV.The Play-Fi streaming platform seems to get a lot of criticism but I've found it excellent so far. Easy to use and stable. This is a really well built, great sounding system with pretty much every connection (except hdmi). It also looks great and is built well and I would definitely recommend.

This machine is freezing in streaming mode. So therefore you have no control at all of the system . you have to switch off at rear to reset. very frustrating as I am only in my second day of ownership. Returned for refund as was faulty. bought a different product.