Product Reviews

It's easy to create a digital music collection on your computer, but it isn't ideal if your PC lives in the study and your hi-fi system is in the sitting room. If you have a wireless network, however, the Philips Streamium SLA5220 might be the answer. It can connect wirelessly to your PC and play your tunes through a regular audio output suitable for connecting to your stereo system.

The Streamium won't look out of place next to a smart hi-fi either. It's made from stylish silver and grey plastic, and has an illuminated display. It has no buttons - all of its functions are controlled by a supplied infrared remote control, and its only

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connections are for power and a single 3.5mm mini-jack audio output.

Simple to set up

Some wireless products can be tricky to set up, but the Streamium connected easily to both open and encrypted test networks. The biggest headache came when entering a network key - though you should only have to do this once. Philips supplies an audio cable that leads from the mini-jack output to two RCA plugs, suitable for most hi-fi line inputs. If you have a standard pair of amplified speakers, you can use their 3.5mm mini-jack lead instead.

Philips' Media Manager software, which creates an index of the music files on your PC and serves songs requested by the music player, is supplied. But you can't use the software to control the Streamium remotely.

We were impressed with its clear sound, but it has no optical or coaxial outputs suitable for connecting to the digital inputs on a high-quality amplifier. Browsing, selecting and playing music is straightforward, but we received a "Server connection down" message each time we tried to playback internet radio.

These irritations aside, the Streamium is easy to set up and use, providing a stylish way to integrate digital music into your living room hi-fi.