Sooloos Control 15.....worth the money? CONCLUSION

[dhyantyke]

Do you want the best sound possible, with a little work from you required, or do you want absolute ease and convenience with less emphasis on sound quality?


Convenience route: squeezebox/touch/sooloos/sonos is the route to go. Advantages and disadvantages to each system, but in general, the squeezebox option is cheaper and the pricing goes up from there. The big multiples (eg power city etc) all have the squeezebox, other systems available from Cloney & Kronos I think.

Fran

If you have a DAC or a CD Player with a digital input you can take the digital output from the Squeezebox and you have the sound quality that you have at present with the flexibility and options of the Squeezebox.

Rocker
Squeezebox accessing my computer or NAS wirelessly and run through my cdp or dac can really produce as good sound as a 'wired' connection?? My brain struggles to compute this(oops,pun.)

[Rocker]

Rocker
Squeezebox accessing my computer or NAS wirelessly and run through my cdp or dac can really produce as good sound as a 'wired' connection?? My brain struggles to compute this(oops,pun.)

As I understand your question: how can 'a computer-wireless or wired network-Squeezebox-digital out into your DAC' sound as good as a CD in the CD Player? The short answer is that I don't know how but it comes in pretty close. And many would say that the computer source is the better option. To me the computer option is close enough to make it my default way of playing music. My CD Player is no slouch but using a very basic digital cable I can hear very little difference between the computer files and the CD. And I did spend a fair bit of time swapping back and forth.

But the real benefit of a Squeezebox [or a Sonus etc.] is the ability to create playlists. Suppose you infrequently listen to folk music, simply create a playlist called Folk adding whatever folk songs you want to hear from that playlist. Or any recordings that Mark Knopfler played on or produced. Or whatever is your fancy. An even more valuable function is the random option on the Squeezebox. I heard songs that in all honesty I never knew I had in my collection using this function.

And you are welcome to call to chez Rocker any time for a listen. This offer is open to everyone on this forum of course.

[dhyantyke]

Rocker
Squeezebox accessing my computer or NAS wirelessly and run through my cdp or dac can really produce as good sound as a 'wired' connection?? My brain struggles to compute this(oops,pun.)

As I understand your question: how can 'a computer-wireless or wired network-Squeezebox-digital out into your DAC' sound as good as a CD in the CD Player? The short answer is that I don't know how but it comes in pretty close. And many would say that the computer source is the better option. To me the computer option is close enough to make it my default way of playing music. My CD Player is no slouch but using a very basic digital cable I can hear very little difference between the computer files and the CD. And I did spend a fair bit of time swapping back and forth.

But the real benefit of a Squeezebox [or a Sonus etc.] is the ability to create playlists. Suppose you infrequently listen to folk music, simply create a playlist called Folk adding whatever folk songs you want to hear from that playlist. Or any recordings that Mark Knopfler played on or produced. Or whatever is your fancy. An even more valuable function is the random option on the Squeezebox. I heard songs that in all honesty I never knew I had in my collection using this function.

To the first part, : ok: Baby steps:- a cable from my computer to SqBox: next, a cable from SqBox to dac etc. SqB will make sense/order of the computer stored music: Yes? With wires involved I can imagine it somehow.
To the second part : yes, both points well taken and definitely part of the attraction.

And you are welcome to call to chez Rocker any time for a listen. This offer is open to everyone on this forum of course.

Would love to take you up on that as seeing the physical objects and a guided tour a great aid to getting it for me. Unfortunately I'm 'down the country' but maybe....
Thanks for that.
DT

[james]

Have a look at ...

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/faq

james

[james]

I started to write a long reply but it got deleted for some reason [and I can't go back to it] but here we go again ..

Three options
a) computer runs software to play back files, output is either analogue to feed into your amplifier [from computer soundcard] or digital [spdif] to feed your dac [another option is output via usb into a usb-spdif bridge and then to your dac].
Connections and control : computer is connected via a cable to your hifi [either analogue or digital depending on the output you are using]. You control things via the keyboard / mouse or maybe remotely via an iphone app [or similar for other mobile phones].

b) standalone box e.g sooloos [but many other brands including some with built in amplifiers]
System is controlled by whatever interface is supplied by manufacturer. It will usually have a remote control [but maybe not for sooloos which has quite a large screen]

c) Squeezbox : computer stores music and connects to squeezbox either by wire [network cable] or via wireless. Squeezbox connects to hifi either via analogue or digital connection [squeezbox has both outputs].
System is controlled via squeezbox remote control. There is also an iphone app.

james

[james]

[continuing my reply] ..

Some thoughts ..

a) A computer system should be capable of being at least as good or even better than a cd player since it has a perfect copy of the cd [it reads the cd multiple times when ripping it to get it right -- on the other hand the cd player can sometimes have problems reading something, if there is a scratch, and it makes a correction/approximation/interpolation which is an error]
b) metadata [i.e. the name of the cd and track names etc] is a pain expecially for classical [e.g. beethoven symphony 5 conducted by karajan can be listed under beethoven or karajan -- you have to edit it my hand .. also you may find the name of the cd is in french or german]
c) you need to make backups of whatever system you use to store your music
d) the cheapest option for music is still to buy cd's on the internet and rip them yourself

FWIW I use a screezbox into the DAC of my CD-player. I run the squeezbox software on a special NAS server which is on 24/7 and is designed to use very little electrical power [and it also has two discs to provide some security].

james

[dhyantyke]

Have a look at ...

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/faq

james

James, just had a read through that link..lots of good info and very easy to digest. Thanks. DT

[dhyantyke]

[continuing my reply] ..

Some thoughts ..

a) A computer system should be capable of being at least as good or even better than a cd player since it has a perfect copy of the cd [it reads the cd multiple times when ripping it to get it right -- on the other hand the cd player can sometimes have problems reading something, if there is a scratch, and it makes a correction/approximation/interpolation which is an error]
b) metadata [i.e. the name of the cd and track names etc] is a pain expecially for classical [e.g. beethoven symphony 5 conducted by karajan can be listed under beethoven or karajan -- you have to edit it my hand .. also you may find the name of the cd is in french or german]
c) you need to make backups of whatever system you use to store your music
d) the cheapest option for music is still to buy cd's on the internet and rip them yourself

FWIW I use a screezbox into the DAC of my CD-player. I run the squeezbox software on a special NAS server which is on 24/7 and is designed to use very little electrical power [and it also has two discs to provide some security].

james

James, thanks again for your very comprehensive replies. I'm getting a sense of the lie of the land!! Regards, DT

[dhyantyke]

Thanks to everybody for the feedback. Obviously NOBODY said 'yeah, go for it!!' . So I'm currently looking into other options (cheaper) and possibly better sounding than the sooloos. (I plan on test driving the jkenny components as part of the research.) I will post fyi when I get to the end of the exploration and hopefully get something up and running. DT[/quote]

[Fran]

Good stuff - keep us posted along the way!

I suppose, nobody is going to say "go for it" because there's just too many variables!! Some people shudder at the thoughts using a laptop for music, some want a fancy GUI that looks good irrespective of how it sounds. Some want something the missus can use for internet radio, etc etc etc.....


Too many variables.... but the more ways of doing it you read about, the better informed you are, and more likely to find a solution that will fit your needs.

Fran