OSD MX880 GEN2 4 Zone Amplifier 8Ch x 80W, Class D, Front Panel On/Off Buttons, Distributed Audio

I've been pretty happy with this amp. I'm using it to control several outdoor speakers around my yard and pool area.Some tips for those of you that say the app doesn't work:- You're probably using a VPN, and the device can't be discovered when connected to a VPN even if you allow your VPN client to access local network resources. The app's logic seems to take your current IP address, which if connected to a VPN would be a non-routable IP address on your local network, and then attempt to scan for the device. So turn off your VPN, then scan for your Nero Max 12. Once you've discovered the IP Address, you can manually set it in the app settings and you can then re-connect to your VPN. This caught me up when I first got the Nero Max 12, but has never been a problem since I discovered the solution.In addition I was able to find a way to hook this into my Home Assistant setup and truly tie it in with the rest of my smart home. To do this, you can use the Home Assistant "Monoprice 6-zone amplifier" integration, and enter "socket://<nero IP address here>:8080" during the integration setup. This is a completely undocumented feature that took me some tinkering to come across. The only thing you cannot control with Home Assistant is the mixer, which is fine because it's not something that you always want to tinker with. So just use the phone app for the mixer configuration when you setup your speakers and use home assistant to control the zone power and volume for each zone channel.Another pro tip for people looking for a way to stream music across your multi-zone audio system. It's as simple as buying a device that can stream and connecting it to one of the Nero's source inputs. For me, I purchased the Audio Pro Link 2 (available on Amazon) and connected it to my Nero using the optical input source. This works flawlessly for me and have been very happy. You can also hook the Link 2 up to Google Assistant and then add it to one of your speaker groups if desired. Spotify sees it and streams to it perfectly and then it's just a matter of turning on the zone(s) I want to hear my music over outside.One other thing to note that is not documented anywhere in the manual that I came across when tinkering. There is a network configuration page where you can setup a static IP address for the device if desired. This seems to be for the rs232 controller that's baked into the amp. Simply goto http://<IP Address of Nero>, and the user & pass is 'admin'. I have no need for any of the advanced configuration there since I setup a DHCP reservation for the device on my home network so I have a consistent IP address for the device, but wanted to share the findings.One more thing to mention is that for me at least, there is no wifi antenna as depicted in the product images, just an ethernet port. That was not a big deal for me, because my Nero is racked in my home network rack and I directly connect the device to my network switch over ethernet. I didn't attempt to see if it has any wifi capabilities, but as mentioned in the previous paragraph, it appears you could potential setup a wifi connection using the advanced configuration page (I found this documented in the MAX12 connection and quick guide PDF).Finally, if you really want to geek out, you can connect to the device over telnet and send commands over command line. I did find all the commands documented in a manual (MAX12 connection and Quick Guide). Just run 'telnet <your nero IP address> 8080', and then you can start running direct RS-232 commands, which you can read about in the aforementioned manual. This could maybe be useful when building a custom automation via a script or some sort of a custom integration, and is basically how the Home Assistant integration works.

I read all the reviews on how hard this would be to set up and use the App. Setup was pretty straight forward. The product is ethernet wired only. There is no Wifi, so you will need to have it wired direct to your router. Don't get confused with Groups and Zones. The zones are the 6 zones that you have wired to the amp. The groups are only if you are running more than one ODS Nero Max 12. You will need to go into the App and into the connect / Info upon setup. Mine was able to find the Nero under Group 1 when I selected Auto Device IP. You will need to initially set the zone volume levels, treble and bass settings for each zone. You can do this when you name the zones. All zones sound pretty good. In each zone setting you can set the default source that you want to run on. I put all zones on source 6 and ran it off of a google chromecast connected to a HDMI extractor feeding an optical output. I connected the chromecast to my google home. Spotify sees it when connect. I can use my Google home to turn on and off the music. You will need to app to turn zones on and off. The system rocks with all zones playing.

Lots of bad reviews on here mentioning the app doesn't work. First of all, I have 3 of these now, 2 of them are wireless and I use the app to control them. You have to connect them directly to an ethernet cable. If the app is not discovering the unit, you can use an IP scanner to find the amp, and put in the IP address manually. Every time you turn the unit on, you wait 20-30 seconds for it to come online on the app.The sound quality is great. While it could be more fluid, like the more modern streaming systems, it works every time if you set it up correctly. Also, you can actually call them on the phone, and a person answers and provides you direct support about anything. I was impressed.

I have this setup with a few AirPort Expresses that drive each zone via AirPlay. I like how it shuts off each zone if there is no active input so I don’t have to worry about any hums or hisses.I do have an issue where if I turn the volume down enough, the zones will turn off. I’m sure I just need to fiddle with the dials on the back to set the sensitivity.I’ve had this for almost two years and it works flawlessly every time I go to cast music. There is a fairly audible click whenever a zone powers on, but it doesn’t bother us.

The media could not be loaded. Mine didn’t come with a remote. The app is primitive and won’t allow adjustments needed to make usable. Spent a lot of time getting everything set up for a pool party that turned out to be a poop party with no awesome music!Constructing a user friendly app can make all the difference. The app was not functional at the time of this review, wasted a lot of time researching solutions with no resultsTry any other product!