Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions New wireless axiom air product

I guess that most here who have setup to get notifications has got the email for the new Axtiom Air box for your home stereo system.

It does look like and interesting idea but I have quite a few questions that will need to get answered before i splash out the $560 for it.



Why does it have a volume knob on the front? don't most receiver / pre-amp units have volume control on them? Mine even has a remote control so you can not only select the source but also control volume from the comfort of my chair.

Why would they put the ethernet network plug on the front? All that sort of cabling would make far more sense to have on the back of the unit.


Right now I have a DIY intel NUC that I am running windows 10 and have Fubar1000 running on. I use an optical output from the back of the unit to an optical in on my Anthem for music.

It is a bit of a bodge sometimes but it does do the job most nights. I sometimes wish I had a better dedicated box when things are not running as expected. Like when the NUC decides it wants to go to sleep or Windows decides it reboot itself to upgrade when I am listening to something.

Is this effectively the AxiomAir without speakers. So it's a box with a Rasberry Pi and their DAC with software. I'd like to know a bit more of the inner guts. I didn't end up getting the AxiomAir so I have no real knowledge on how the software works. All my music is sitting in FLAC on a Synology NAS. I take it the box will find it and work. What I get hung up on is how the user interface works. I want something that looks good and is easy to find then queue up music. playlists and the such. If it does that well then I would buy.

Prototype?

I'm assuming the volume knob would be for the analog input. That is how it is on the AxiomAir. I too am surprised that once again, everything is on the front. But that is exactly what the Air looks like. That's the raspberry pi unit

I guess I was a little shocked at both the size and price considering that there is no built-in amp. In my dream world, I was imagining a much smaller box that could be hidden in a bedroom/den with an amp to drive a set of speakers. Basically a plug and play solution - ALL the guts from the Air without the speakers. No need for a separate amp. If this is truly worth $560, then the Air is a steal considering you are getting a set of M3 speakers AND a 75 w/ch amp. Just my 2 cents.

The Air may use similar drivers to the M3's, (maybe the outdoor ones?) But never confuse the two sound wise. The M3's imho are among the best little bookshelves for the money you can get, even better on sale. The Air sounds good, but not as good as the M3's with a good amp. Considering it's portable, battery operated, can take a sub, yeah its great.

I think the new amps, zones and all, someone from Axiom needs to explain the whole point of it all to those not maybe used to this equipment. I've set up similar things for small bars and stuff, but Axiom should probably chime in and do the proper intro to this new stuff and not have an idiot like me try to.

...Oh and I could just say this....flush mounted screw heads.....just say'n

Thanks for the clarification Newf. I was under the assumption that the Air sounded close/identical to the M3's - at least within the constraints of no separation between L & R.

You are right - the M3's are spectacular. I have a set in my living room and absolutely love them. Hence, why I was looking for a small all-in-one solution to drive them. Currently, I'm using an Apple Airport Express feeding an integrated Luxman amp. It just takes up too much room.

I wanna know what the min. purchase is to get the free pair of m3's. I've been looking for a small rackmount integrated and those zone amps look interesting. The inclusion (if legit) of m3's makes that a tough deal to pass up.

I can't wait to hear some justification for such a high price. I use Pi3+USB DACs with Kodi in many rooms in my house and it's less than 1/2 the price of this HUGE box.
If it were a multi-channel product, the price would be OK, but unless there is a big revelation, this is the first Axiom product for which I can't possibly find justification.
Very puzzling.

I don't understand how the RP1 is different than a $40 Chromecast Audio.