AmpliPi when working is awesome. So none of this is criticism, just ideas for improvement that likely are already in play.
So if I may recount my UX:
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Power cuts and randomness will cause a need to reboot each wall panel with a pin, so a pin sits in top of each wall panel.
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Use of the pin became almost biweekly frequency, for 4 panels on three floors, so I kinda stopped bothering.
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Radio stations should likely default to a set that most users will never need to reprogram, as I got fed up of reprogramming the stations, less often than the pin reset, but still too often.
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RF dongle input into the back of the amplipi proved (a) likely to break due to cable weight, and (b) noisy like mains hum, so I gave up with that too.
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Happy to swap out the panels if a better UX needs better panels.
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Phone app remains tough for twit users like me, zones vs sources vs media player per zone/source combo. It's a matrix so I wonder if the controls should look like retro toggles in a 6xN matrix? Or just attach AI to it all...?
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And AI, hmmm. I have been knee deep in AI for a few years now, so it kinda became my go to as a whole home audio source, so if the Amplipi phone app could help AIs to do zone-switching, and media play/transport controlling, well...
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All things are becoming AI, eh? But the AmpliPi's old school amps and switching etc looks like it could be a perfect compliment to AIs, or am I missing something here?
I may be dreadfully behind, as a long term user, here? The above UX efforts have made it hard for me to contemplate re-engineering AmpliPi myself. I'm a very antique electronics engineer by profession, but instead of fixing the software in the AmpliPi I suspect my AIs would point me toward a solution that replaces AmpliPi completely, or offers to create an entirely new insta-build software load?
Not sure what to do here. I want to remain a loyal customer, the staff at AmpliPi are always so kind, but it just feels like I need to rethink my Whole Home Audio, all over again, for the what, 5th time, forklifting it all.
Then, with so many options for cheap wireless speakers, that already have AI in them... Where is all this heading? Was the AmpliPi mainframe-like strategy just to late to market, and never likely to be the WHA strategy that wins out?
Sorry to be a downer here, I'm just really, really old, and thus perhaps left behind a bit, too..?
AmpliPi when working is awesome. So none of this is criticism, just ideas for improvement that likely are already in play.
So if I may recount my UX:
Power cuts and randomness will cause a need to reboot each wall panel with a pin, so a pin sits in top of each wall panel.
Use of the pin became almost biweekly frequency, for 4 panels on three floors, so I kinda stopped bothering.
Radio stations should likely default to a set that most users will never need to reprogram, as I got fed up of reprogramming the stations, less often than the pin reset, but still too often.
RF dongle input into the back of the amplipi proved (a) likely to break due to cable weight, and (b) noisy like mains hum, so I gave up with that too.
Happy to swap out the panels if a better UX needs better panels.
Phone app remains tough for twit users like me, zones vs sources vs media player per zone/source combo. It's a matrix so I wonder if the controls should look like retro toggles in a 6xN matrix? Or just attach AI to it all...?
And AI, hmmm. I have been knee deep in AI for a few years now, so it kinda became my go to as a whole home audio source, so if the Amplipi phone app could help AIs to do zone-switching, and media play/transport controlling, well...
All things are becoming AI, eh? But the AmpliPi's old school amps and switching etc looks like it could be a perfect compliment to AIs, or am I missing something here?
I may be dreadfully behind, as a long term user, here? The above UX efforts have made it hard for me to contemplate re-engineering AmpliPi myself. I'm a very antique electronics engineer by profession, but instead of fixing the software in the AmpliPi I suspect my AIs would point me toward a solution that replaces AmpliPi completely, or offers to create an entirely new insta-build software load?
Not sure what to do here. I want to remain a loyal customer, the staff at AmpliPi are always so kind, but it just feels like I need to rethink my Whole Home Audio, all over again, for the what, 5th time, forklifting it all.
Then, with so many options for cheap wireless speakers, that already have AI in them... Where is all this heading? Was the AmpliPi mainframe-like strategy just to late to market, and never likely to be the WHA strategy that wins out?
Sorry to be a downer here, I'm just really, really old, and thus perhaps left behind a bit, too..?