Audio and video entertainment has, over the years, expanded its reach in homes. Once, it was enough to own an entertainment console that occupied a corner in the living room or study.

Today, entertainment systems are taking up smart space in practically every area of the home. Apart from speakers and LCD displays in every room, today's technology brings you water-proof jacuzzi compatible models that are quite popular. The various options and models available in the market today make setting up these systems as easy as using a plug-and-play device on your computer.

A multi-room entertainment option gives you the flexibility of being able to control your audio playlist and video files from anywhere in the house using the optional remote control or even a PDA. You could have your mobile phone commanding all the controls of your in-house entertainment by just installing the multi-operating system-compatible software. You could even play different audio/video in the different rooms or areas using your cell phone where the systems are set up. It's that simple.

The concept of multi-room entertainment does away with the conventional style of having just one dedicated music- or home-entertainment system nucleus placed in a good listening area in the house. You could still have your listening-and-viewing zone and complement it by plugging in the multi-room systems into your existing system.

The fact remains that such systems usually take away the element of listening purely to music and make it sound more like background music – rhythms that's run continuously while you go about your activities at home.

This style of listening is quite common these days and therefore, most multi-room systems support or prefer compressed format files for saving disc space and easy streaming. Background music, which these conventional systems are intended to provide, does not really require the amount of detail that is available in the original CD format.

With the kind of popularity such compressed format players are enjoying, it is quite evident that people do not have the time to listen to music pulsing from high-end systems.

A portable Mp3 player is what everyone wants these days; something that plays in the background while you're working out, at the office or driving back home from work. Synchronise your computer files with your portable device in a matter of seconds and you are ready to hit the road. And once you get home, all you need to do is plug this player on to your dock and play the same compressed format through larger speakers.

Though these convenient systems provide you with entertainment on the go, they were not truly designed for home entertainment or hi-fidelity use. They are not quite the replacement for a good CD collection and a great CD player. If all the electronics in a 5kg-CD player that plays no other format could be replaced and sonically matched by a feather-light Mp3 player, it would be great news for music lovers, but that's not the case at present.

Portability and compressed formats are a big compromise with quality and they take the life out of music. It's not about being obsessed with your sound equipment; rather, it's about knowing the difference between music and background noise. It's true that compressed audio formats do not sound like they lack quality when heard on good-quality headphones, but that is not the case when these low-quality signals are amplified and played back on large speakers.

A standalone sound system that sets one back by a few thousands dirhams doesn't appeal to most people anymore because the portable audio/video market has made it really convenient for people to listen to their favourite music. Sound quality has taken the backseat and ring-tone formats are the thing these days. Most of us seem to have forgotten the pleasure of sitting back and listening to a good quality recording of B.B. King or Fourplay in a dimly lit room from a great set of speakers.

However, there are a few drawbacks to investing in a high-end audio streaming solution. An ideal multi-room system would keep the music format 'Open Source' so that even CDs copied on their original format could be played from a common source without loss in quality. This, however, means hardwiring the individual room units because this high-bit rate transmission is best done without the wireless option. The number of wires in this case increases and so do storage options.

The hard disc with the music needs to be at a central location because a single CD would contain about 700 MB of information which these multi-room units won't be able to handle at present. Keeping music pure therefore means investing in a high-capacity hard disc for your computer, and hardwiring all the multi-room components. Commercial drawbacks aside, these components appeal to music lovers
who have a big collection of music and would love to keep their collection as high definition as possible.

One company in particular that caters to the demands of high-definition digital streaming is LINN. It is known for its high-end digital audio-visual products and its dedication to keeping music as pure as possible. LINN's digital stream players offer lossless transmission of audio data using hard-wired connections from a source computer. These players are 'Open Source' meaning that they support any audio format.

As long as the formats are playable on your computer, they are supported by these players. The players come with various specifications and offer seamless connectivity with any existing music system set-up.

The digital streaming player models available from LINN are 'Kilmax', 'Akurate', 'Majik' and 'Sneaky'. These products guarantee playback detail and definition that is comparable to any LINN CD player. The advantage of using such a system is the flexibility it provides with respect to music management in addition to its multi-room capabilities.

Ahmed Anwar of the Dubai Audio Center feels that products such as these are the future. When paired with the right audio equipment and speakers, these stream players provide you with years of enjoyment with the convenience of full Wi-Fi control at your fingertips. After all, what really matters
in the end is that we enjoy the music.

– Philip Shane is a Dubai-based audio enthusiast. When not checking out audio systems, he is busy test-driving the latest automobile.