While we wait on Logitechs UK pr business to send us our evaluation sample, Automated house visitor Tim Morris has sent us his own evaluation of the new Squeezebox Duet (search for it on eBay) streaming audio system…
I didn’t seriously think about networked music players up until my devoted CD deliver broke down in January 2006. I got an email for the Roku Soundbridge from somebody I’d done service with before. I looked into it as well as discounted it swiftly as it didn’t support WPA encryption.
I went trying to find options as well as the choice for high quality players boiled down to two choices, the Sonos as well as the Squeezebox. The Squeezebox won for me for a number of reasons:
At the time the ZP80 as well as bridge didn’t exist so I’d have had to get two ZP100s. As my server sits in my workshop one of them would be absolutely redundant
If I did want to boost the number of zones I don’t believe the fit together network would have coped. I’d have one player at one end of the house, as well as the other three 50m away in the primary house’s media rack with two outside walls in-between full of foil backed insulation
The colour of the ZP100 just wouldn’t have fitted in with my all-black devices rack
The thing that lastly swung it for me is that I’d seen many articles on the Meridian Unplugged forums relating to the high quality of the Squeezebox comparing favourably with £1500 CD transports when playing lossless music. There are Sonos individuals on there as well however as far as I understand there isn’t a back to back test of one versus the other. I downloaded as well as installed the software application as well as put a software application player on my desktop PC. After a couple of days of fiddling I gotten my very first Squeezebox (V3). It didn’t take me long to choose on a data format. As storage is affordable now I made a decision to utilize FLAC lossless, for two reasons: 1) the Squeezebox supports it natively so you can stream compressed audio across the network, as well as 2) since you can recreate the original WAV data then you have a best archive, as well as only ever have to rip your CDs when which will always be the time consuming part in establishing networked music. If a new a lot more effective codec comes out for a portable player you can just transcode your entire collection without adding any type of additional artefacts.
One of the things I truly like about the Squeezebox was that in addition to the IR remote I might manage it with anything that has a web browser. In the past two years I’ve utilized an iPaq 5450, Nokia N91, Nokia N95 (all utilizing the handheld skin) as well as a lot more just recently Nokia N800s utilizing a custom-made skin originally created for the 770 web tablet, as well as the strange PC too. The PC stays the very best method to produce as well as handle playlists. I’ve considering that prolonged the network to four zones – three in the primary home replacing an iMerge Soundserver feeding QED MusiQ multiroom amplifiers.
I had a vibrant discussion one evening with AutomatedHome’s Editor Mark, where we were both adamant that our selected options were the best. I couldn’t see the requirement for the costly Sonos remote when I might manage my music with so lots of different devices. I was wrong! If the Sonos controller is anywhere near as great as the new Squeezebox controller, it is faster, a lot more intuitive as well as just just much easier to use. If you can utilize an iPod, you can utilize the new controller. My luddite sibling chosen it up as well as utilized it without direction – I had to spend half an hour speaking with utilizing the Nokia N800 as a controller. The web interface still has its utilizes for example when setting advanced choices at both the server as well as player level. The web pages are still excellent as well as they’ve done a great deal to enhance upon the speed of loading, only refreshing what they absolutely have to when moving between sections. The primary controls (play, avoid track, volume) operate without any discernable lag whatsoever when utilizing either the controller or the web interface.
I saw a few on the internet evaluations of the Squeezebox Duet as well as it didn’t promptly tickle my fancy. It wasn’t up until I saw the video at MacWorld that I made a decision to get one. regrettably I couldn’t just get a controller at the time, as it looked unlikely that stocks of the separate controllers as well as receivers would show up up until late April at the earliest I spent the additional £80 as well as gotten the full Duet system (Total expense for one node £280)
Video of Duet fromMacWorld
I handled to miss the cut-off for shipment for shipment before the Easter weekend by half an hour, so I believe it was the longest wait I’ve had for a UK shipment – 6 days! It was nevertheless worth the wait.
They’ve continued a pattern that started with the very first Logitech top quality SB3 – if they aren’t utilizing a style firm in Cupertino to create the packaging they’ve informed the one they do utilize to make it look like Apple packaging with a great red contrast. The whole thing looks as well as feels like it must have a piece of fruit on the back with a bite taken out. They’ve even well weighted the charging stand to stop it tipping over as you pull it out. The menus are similar in operation to an ipod too, as well as you can search albums showing a thumbnail of each cover as well as it tons the art nearly as swiftly as you can scroll even with my Athlon XP+ 3200 heavily packed with 5 hardware players, 2 software application players running as well as with either the remote or a web browser open for every gadget (the web browser puts the exact same demand on the server as the remote does, just like version 7 of the server software application it updates in genuine time so I’m simulating 7 players as well as 7 controllers). in spite of what you may have checked out there’s no lag at all. part of the style short was undoubtedly to make it comfortable to utilize with one hand.
Setting up SqueezeCentre (the new name for version 7.0 of the server software) is a breeze. It installs a web server on port 9000, with which whatever is controlled. when installed it runs you with a wizard that needs to understand where your music as well as playlists are stored, as well as whether or not you want to integrate the database with iTunes. It then scans your folders for music as well as artwork. On my fairly little collection of 350 discs it takes 8 minutes. The very first thing I would suggest you do while it is scanning is make your very first customisation. The controller, receiver as well as traditional are thin clients. Although they can decode different different data types natively, as well as manage the screen etc. a lot of of the difficult work is brought out at the server end. In the advanced tab choose the performance choice as well as set the concern of both the server as well as the scanner to -20 (the greatest available). It doesn’t have any type of effect on any type of other programs or services running on my server.
Setting up the remote is once again easy. when you’ve told it what region you’re in it scans for wireless networks as well as prompts you to go into a crucial if necessary. If your SSID is hidden then you can set up a network manually. If you have existing players they will appear on the screen, if you requirement to set up receivers you just plug them in. As they aren’t connected with any type of network the last few digits of the mac address appears on screen. One click is all you requirement to transfer the network settings to the receiver as well as get gain access to to it. It is likely that both units will requirement a firmware update directly out of the box. It is automatic as well as must take no a lot more than five minutes. It does support other wireless configurations. Peer to peer if you don’t have an gain access to point, or bridged mode where the receiver is linked to a wired Ethernet port as well as the controller utilizes the receiver to send its commands to the server. I’d suggest though that if you have a lot more than one zone, an gain access to point is absolutely the method to go. I have three Linksys WAP4400N units installed, as well as have had no issues with signal dropouts or throughput issues.
The UI takes no time in any way to get utilized to. The primary navigation buttons are house which takes you to the top menu, or from the primary menu to the “Now Playing” screen, add, which adds the currently chosen product to the present playlist (or if you are checking out a playlist removes it!) Play as well as Back which takes you up one level in the menu structure. These surround a click wheel with centre button. Unlike the iPod, the button is mechanical, however it rotates quite freely as well as has software application acceleration for browsing with long lists. It would be great to be able to customise the acceleration – maybe that will are available in the future. like with the Squeezebox traditional (the new name for the Squeezebox 3) you can set “screen savers” with a customisable delay, one for when music is playing as well as one more for when it is stopped. The default “Now Playing” screen, as well as clock seem to work extremely well. The backlight turns off after a individual defined period as well (unless it is in the charger as well as you don’t want it too). When you pick it up, or even nudge it the screen wakes up where you left off. in addition to your own music it is possible to listen to Web radio as well as membership music services, if respectable ones are ever re-introduced to the UK. There’s an simple to set up plug in which enables listening to all of the online BBC streams plus the regular archive in addition to a number of other stations from the UK as well as abroad. It is possible to set up several music servers ondifferent PCs as well as choose them from the remote, something that was next to impossible when controlling with a web browser. excellent for households where parents as well as children’s musical taste are especially divergent.
You can tell that there’s a lot more to find – it has a 3 axis accelerometer like the Wii as well as although not active yet a headphone as well as IR port (it’s not going to contend with Crestron or Pronto TSU9600 however it will be beneficial to switch the volume up as well as down on an amp in a “proper” HiFi room, or pull up a keypad to utilize lazy browse on a “Squeezebox Classic”). They’ve even handled to capture an SDcard slot as well as USB interface in.
I’ll have to discover somewhere to deploy the Duet receiver, or maybe it will discover its method to Ebay. I’m going to stick with the traditional for primary listening as I have a significant brick of a linear power supply gotten from Farnell to prevent changing noise from the plug top power supply (most people won’t notice it), as well as I utilize the IR blaster plug in to manage my Meridian G68. The headphone socket on the back of the traditional can be set to transmit IR signals with either emitters or an IR input port for power on as well as off, as well as volume up as well as down. regrettably the headphone socket on the Duet has been transferred to the controller. supplied you turn the screen off when playing music (again a source of noise, however only to those who are truly picky) the Squeezebox when fed with a linear power supply does seem to have the edge sonically when the digital output is used. That might be power supply noise (the receiver needs 9.0V as well as the traditional takes 5.0V so I can’t directly compare). The differences are nevertheless exceptionally subtle so if the receiver looks much better in your selected place I wouldn’t necessarily shell out the additional money as well as get a traditional instead.
There is no method of altering the kind buy from alphabetical by album name with the present level of software application when choosing to search by album. Not a large problem however with the N800 I tend to search with albums sorted by artist, year as well as then album name something that is still offered with any type of of the web browsing skins however not by means of the front panel of the Squeezebox which is what I must be comparing it with. You can still listing all artists, choose an artist as well as drill down to show all albums for that artist.
There is still significant prospective for customisation, however if all you want to do is set up it, link it to your iTunes library as well as set up the controller as well as players then it will be similarly at home. members of the forums have been working on a option that can be utilized as a turnkey option on a NAS. They’ve effectively got it working on ReadyNAS now so expect vendors to begin shipping it pre-installed before long. personally I would take a different route. A desktop PC from 3 or 4 years back (or maybe older) shoehorned into a quietPC situation with an effective PSU would make an suitable music server. Windows XP SP2 is extremely steady now supplying you leave it alone to do its job.
Conclusion – The Duet as well as Squeezecentre 7.0 is a huge enhancement in usability over the previous Slim gadgets offering. In my viewpoint they’ve succeeded in making what was the player of option for the tinkerer as well as technically minded appropriate for the mass-market. It plays music exceptionally well as well as the new remote does make it quicker as well as much easier to choose music. It will only get much better over time however it is already a top notch piece of kit, I keep in mind of all the doomsday predictions on the Slim gadgets forums when Logitech very first took over. None of them have come to pass so far – the software application is still open source (for the controller too), individuals are establishing plug-ins, as well as the product continues to grow.
Squeezbox Duet : Duet on eBay : www.logitech.com : forums.slimdevices.com
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