[insomniac]

It seems like Slim Devices' Squeezebox is generating a lot of discussion here lately and I have to admit that I'm very intrigued myself. Might just have to pick one up.

But what separates it from many of its direct and indirect competitors? The ones that come to my mind first include:
- Sonos
- Roku
- Olive
- even Apple's Airport Express
I'm sure there are several others I'm forgetting or just don't know about. I know most of these companies make products that are slightly to very different from Squeezebox, but they all seem to accomplish similar goals.

Is it the versatility of the Slim Server software? Or is it something hardware related?

 

[tyrion]

I have the Airport Express and use it with a Bel Canto DAC2. It's a great little device. However, it must be used with Apple's itunes software. That's not a big problem unless you want to use a codec for your music other than mp3, wav, alac, aiff and aac. Again, not a problem as I have used alac for a while now.

From what I can tell about the sb3 is that you can use many more codecs like flac and ogg. I am not positive about this but from what I've seen on the website and read here, you can use a remote to control it and do not have to use a computer like with the AX. You can also stream internet radio, pandora.com and others with the sb3.

That's my basic understanding. Hopefully some others will provide more detail.

 

[insomniac]

Thanks, tyrion. Can any other software out there play ALAC files? Or are you locked into iTunes?

The Sonos seems very competitive from a hardware standpoint, although more expensive. Their remote control is just killer.

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by insomniac Thanks, tyrion. Can any other software out there play ALAC files? Or are you locked into iTunes? The Sonos seems very competitive from a hardware standpoint, although more expensive. Their remote control is just killer.

That's a good question. I've never tried to play ALAC on anything other than itunes. In fact, that's a question, I should've asked before I ordered my sb3. I know it plays AAC so hopefully, I won't have to re-rip all my cd's.

I know even less about the Sonos than I do about the sb3.

 

[PsychoZX]

I believe the Squeezebox can handle ALAC just fine.

 

[Grahame]

A good not-too-technical review of the SB3 is on the Register Web site

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03..._squeezebox_3/

I have an SB / SB2 based setup - see details of the rig I took to the recent Bay Area meet - and peoples reactions in the impressions thread. (see posts 42, 59, 50, ...)

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=165859

For me, it was a variety of things - separation of the software based back end - from the hardware font end. Use of open source software etc etc.

A lot of things seemed "right" and just made sense to me. Having started with a Rio Karma, I already had ripped my CD's to FLAC. YMMV.

Plus how can you not like a company that has an objectivist CEO who checks out power supplies?

http://www.seanadams.com/smps_vs_linear/

G.


Voltron has just taken the plunge. It'll be interesting to see what he thinks.

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PsychoZX I believe the Squeezebox can handle ALAC just fine.

That's good news. I was not looking forward to ripping all my cd's again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grahame Voltron has just taken the plunge. It'll be interesting to see what he thinks.

Somehow I think he is finished with his court appearance. He should have that thing up and running by now with a full review and pics.

 

[jriihi]

One of things good with squeezebox 3 seems to be something called sound quality.. more info can be probably read here http://forums.slimdevices.com/forumdisplay.php?f=7.

 

[episiarch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by insomniac Can any other software out there play ALAC files? Or are you locked into iTunes?

You're not exactly locked into iTunes. QuickTime's ALAC support can be called by other software, so other clients can in fact play ALAC if they know how to interface to QuickTime for it.

The Squeezebox backend (SlimServer) uses this trick behind the scenes when an ALAC file is requested: it calls QuickTime to decompress the file, then it streams the result to the Squeezebox as FLAC, which the Squeezebox plays natively.

I am using this feature and can testify that it works.* But if I pause playback, the tune resumes from the beginning. So it's not a 100% perfect solution.

*[size=xx-small]And to those curious enough to ask, yes, different Squeezeboxes on the same network can play different ALACs simultaneously.[/size]

 

[Grahame]

Quote:

Originally Posted by episiarch You're not exactly locked into iTunes. QuickTime's ALAC support can be called by other software, so other clients can in fact play ALAC if they know how to interface to QuickTime for it. The Squeezebox backend (SlimServer) uses this trick behind the scenes when an ALAC file is requested: it calls QuickTime to decompress the file, then it streams the result to the Squeezebox as FLAC, which the Squeezebox plays natively. I am using this feature and can testify that it works.* But if I pause playback, the tune resumes from the beginning. So it's not a 100% perfect solution. *[size=xx-small]And to those curious enough to ask, yes, different Squeezeboxes on the same network can play different ALACs simultaneously.[/size]

A brute force solution, if you have enough storage

, to the pause-restart-FFWD-REW issue is to transcode all your ALACS to FLAC
(overnight, right

?) . Native support for positioning in FLAC files - no re-ripping required.

Big thread on just this issue in the Slim devices forums here

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=20693

 

[episiarch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grahame A brute force solution, if you have enough storage , to the pause-restart-FFWD-REW issue is to transcode all your ALACS to FLAC (overnight, right ?) . Native support for positioning in FLAC files - no re-ripping required.

Pretty open to that, actually. Do you have a script or tool that does that?

What I'd really like to do (I think) is rip with EAC and let some daemon compress copies to FLAC, ALAC and LAME/APS at its leisure. That'd be sweet. But didn't Bangraman (or was it Blessingx?) post a thread about that recently in which nobody had a really good solution?

Edit: now that I've read that thread on the Slim forums, I see there's something called dbpoweramp that seems to do this. Hmm.

I already gained spousal permission to build a dedicated music server, so when I do, I may very well put something like this into effect. Thanks for the pointer, Grahame.

 

[PsychoZX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by episiarch Pretty open to that, actually. Do you have a script or tool that does that?

You should be able do it with Foobar2000 and the ALAC plugin.

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/...howtopic=40971

 

[Grahame]

Quote:

Originally Posted by episiarch Pretty open to that, actually. Do you have a script or tool that does that? What I'd really like to do (I think) is rip with EAC and let some daemon compress copies to FLAC, ALAC and LAME/APS at its leisure. That'd be sweet. But didn't Bangraman (or was it Blessingx?) post a thread about that recently in which nobody had a really good solution?

Check out the links to MAX in my edited post re: the discussion on ALAC/FLAC

or here

http://sbooth.org/Max/

Looks like MAX is shaping up to be a viable solution for Mac users to this issue.

 

[episiarch]

Even more good pointers. Great! Thanks.

 

[mkozlows]

Quote:

Originally Posted by episiarch But if I pause playback, the tune resumes from the beginning. So it's not a 100% perfect solution.

I'm about 90% sure you're just using the remote wrong. When you pause it, if you press play to unpause it, it'll start from the beginning; if you press pause again to unpause it, it'll continue where you are. This has always seemed weird to me, and I don't understand why it's that way, but there you are.