All around his house, Michael Fereday has been streaming his favourite music
With the model number of DCH-M225, this D-Link offering combines wi-fi extender capabilities with Music Everywhere technology in a device that supports Windows, Mac, Android and iOS platforms. The device itself could easily be mistaken for a 3-pin power plug that looks as if it had been put through a bulking up session which results in body dimensions of 65 x 55 x 42mm (D x H x W).
Giving the device an onceover reveals a 3.5mm jack socket on the base, a small button labelled WPS on the right side and an LED light on the rear. Included in the box is a 150cm audio lead that allows the Music Everywhere device to be connected to an appropriate speaker outlet. Not surprisingly the WPS button is for linking to a wi-fi router, while the LED light will glow green to indicate when it is ready for action.
Along with the WPS option, D-Link offers a QR Mobile app that can assist when setting up this device. A QR code is provided in the Quick Installation Guide to help search for the appropriate app. Once installed on your mobile handset, this app runs a set-up wizard that searches for and identifies available networks including the all-important home network which needs to be selected.
Once a link has been established between the DCH-M225 and the home network, you can point your handset towards the DCH-M225 network and join the wireless network it has created. The resulting settings will be presented in a summary list. You then have the option to save this list.
Operating as a wi-fi range extender, this device needs to be plugged into a power socket located within a dead-spot area of the home network. While not offering the speed-demon performance of some devices, the DCH-M225 can perform at a reasonable rate, with speeds of up to 300Mbps possible. You could then leave and forget about the device.
Of course if you are intending on making use of the product's Music Everywhere capability then positioning could be more of an issue as the DCH-M225 will need to be in reasonable reach of the speaker(s) to be used. While the 150cm audio lead might be fine for some situations, you could be faced with needing to move the DCH-M225 to a location nearer speakers that can not be moved. If this happens then you need to be aware that the DCH-M225 will need to reboot itself, a process which could take between two and three minutes.
Music Everywhere allows you to stream music from a networked computer or mobile handset to speakers attached to the DCH-M225 device. In the case of the former method I was able to stream music from my work system using Windows Media Player. Having selected the tracks for streaming, I just need to use the Play To option to point the stream towards the DCH-M225 destination. Mac owners can make use of AirPlay to carry out the streaming.
Switching to my Android smartphone required the use of a different streaming tool. I opted for the DNLA supporting iMediaShare app. In order for the streaming to work, the smartphone needed to be on the DCH-M225 network rather then the default home network. As part of my testing I used a variety of standalone speakers and a five-year old tape/CD/Radio player unit. Audio quality, in all cases, was of a reasonable standard. Michael Fereday
A little fiddly to set up but this device does what it claims to do.