[BigEat]

Has anyone seen the Sooloos Music Server? It looks slick and a lot like the new Mac desktops. At $12,000 it ought to serve coffee and rub your feet, but there is one interesting point. How do you get the music on the system? On the website, there is no mention of sending in your CDs but the company specifically states that the Sooloos is preloaded.

If anyone actually owns one of these, I would love to hear some impressions etc.

Anyone else heard anything about this beast?

 

[amp26]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigEat /img/forum/go_quote.gif Has anyone seen the Sooloos Music Server? It looks slick and a lot like the new Mac desktops. At $12,000 it ought to serve coffee and rub your feet, but there is one interesting point. How do you get the music on the system? On the website, there is no mention of sending in your CDs but the company specifically states that the Sooloos is preloaded. If anyone actually owns one of these, I would love to hear some impressions etc. Anyone else heard anything about this beast?

The local dealers take the collection and load it on to the device. The touchscreen unit has a slot-load drive which can be used to import CDs. If you call the 800 number you can find out the closest dealer if you want to play with it in person. An integrator posted this:

YouTube - Millionaire Toys

 

[Jon L]

I played with one a little bit. I must say the user interface is beautiful and elegant, a far cry from my foobar setup (without album art).

However, I prefer my music library and playlists to be RIGHT there on the screen at once in small fonts for quick browsing/changing like in Foobar. In Sooloos, one has to go through the album basically one-by-one, unless you search for a certain phrase or word, etc.

Anyway, I wouldn't pay anywhere near the price Sooloos is charging for these, but the fashion-conscious Hollywood Hill types with deep pockets will likely buy them anyway.

 

[cconnaker]

I have an article about them on my site, here is the link:
The Bentley of Music Servers | Computer Audiophile

 

[Bizzel]

A music server that you, yourself can't load music onto? That's a novel idea. One of HP's TouchSmart PCs would be spot on for this, and about $9,000 cheaper to boot.

 

[cconnaker]

You can load your own music on the Sooloos. If you can afford the option they will do it for you. Or am I missing something?

 

[happyangryhappy]

Is there anything like this software wise where you could build a small server and use a small touchscreen as an interface?

 

[cconnaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by happyangryhappy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is there anything like this software wise where you could build a small server and use a small touchscreen as an interface?

There are many options here depending on how much you want to spend.

 

[tyrion]

There is a write up about it in this months The Absolute Sound. For a lot less you could get a base Mac Mini, Wavelength Coesecant Dac (or other), 500gb external drive and moniter and have a far better setup in terms of sq, assuming what the TAS article said about the internal DACs of the Sooloos (didn't like them) is accurate.

 

[cconnaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion /img/forum/go_quote.gif There is a write up about it in this months The Absolute Sound. For a lot less you could get a base Mac Mini, Wavelength Coesecant Dac (or other), 500gb external drive and moniter and have a far better setup in terms of sq, assuming what the TAS article said about the internal DACs of the Sooloos (didn't like them) is accurate.

I disagree 100%

The Sooloos requires no skills at all. For many people setting up a Mac Mini to work as well as the Sooloos (not to mention a touch screen monitor) would be a nightmare. One 500GB external drive does not compare to the raid 1 Sooloos drives with almost no downtime. If you add an external DAC on the Sooloos this is one heck of a system. I do agree this is one heck of a price for many people though.

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cconnaker /img/forum/go_quote.gif I disagree 100% The Sooloos requires no skills at all. For many people setting up a Mac Mini to work as well as the Sooloos (not to mention a touch screen monitor) would be a nightmare. One 500GB external drive does not compare to the raid 1 Sooloos drives with almost no downtime. If you add an external DAC on the Sooloos this is one heck of a system. I do agree this is one heck of a price for many people though.

Do you believe the Sooloos will sound better than a Wavelength Cosecant or Bel Canto DAC2 or 3 as examples. The TAS people loved the device but said you will want another external dac. Setting up the Mac Mini is as easy as something can be. You plug in the dac, choose in sound settings and attach any kind of drive you want. Done. $3500 for the Cosecant, $600 for the Mac Mini and $300 for a TB (on the high end price wise). About a quarter the cost with a high end DAC. If you want to pay $12,000 (plus $3,500 for the Cosecant or $15, 500) for a touch screen (I use a remote with my mini, and a raid set up on the hard drive, be my guess but a nightmare to set up the Mac, not a chance.

 

[cconnaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you believe the Sooloos will sound better than a Wavelength Cosecant or Bel Canto DAC2 or 3 as examples. The TAS people loved the device but said you will want another external dac. Setting up the Mac Mini is as easy as something can be. You plug in the dac, choose in sound settings and attach any kind of drive you want. Done. $3500 for the Cosecant, $600 for the Mac Mini and $300 for a TB (on the high end price wise). About a quarter the cost with a high end DAC. If you want to pay $12,000 (plus $3,500 for the Cosecant or $15, 500) for a touch screen (I use a remote with my mini, and a raid set up on the hard drive, be my guess but a nightmare to set up the Mac, not a chance.

Hey Mike - I am considering the overall package and adding an external DAC. I think these two are apples and oranges. I do agree that you or I could have the Mac mini setup in about 5 minutes for $3,500 and sounding great. Based on the people I know with the kind of cash to purchase the Sooloos, they could pay to have the Mac setup, but wouldn't even know how to reboot it.

Anyway, good discussion at least.

 

[happyangryhappy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cconnaker /img/forum/go_quote.gif There are many options here depending on how much you want to spend.

What are some of the options you mention? I use a Nokia N800 on my squeezeboxes as a similar remote interface, but it has its drawbacks. On the other hand, the idea of using a dedicated PC as a server straight to my dac with a touchscreen monitor as an interface might be a better option.

 

[amp26]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you believe the Sooloos will sound better than a Wavelength Cosecant or Bel Canto DAC2 or 3 as examples. The TAS people loved the device but said you will want another external dac.

Keep in mind that the crowd the device targets will almost surely have full external A/V setups anyway. The Sooloos is meant to fit into an existing high-end system IMO, which is why Crestron & AMX are supported.

The kind of person that spends this type of money is the kind with a $15k turntable, so the external DAC they use will be whatever their ears think sounds best. (Or whatever their dealer is able to sell them on

)

(If anyone is in NYC... I played with one of these at Innovative on E 58th St)

 

[BigEat]

Just saw the write up in Absolute Sound. Apparently you can load the music yourself like on any computer, or ship CD's to Sooloos and they will do it for you. Or, as a third alternative, you can tell them what you want, and they will go buy the CDs and put them on the Sooloos for you. I'm guessing the latter is just about the least cost effective option I can imagine.

I can't help think that I could buy a 500GB iMac and dedicate the computer strictly to music and do just about as well. Only problem is that if you use VLC on a Mac or a similar program to play FLAC files you probably give up the aesthetics of Sooloos (album art etc.) or even iTunes.

Absolute Sound has a companion article in their general review of Music Servers about "Rolling Your Own" music server. Some good suggestions as an alternative either built on a Mac frame or on a PC frame.