Tír Na HiFi

Query about squeezebox and the quality it produces. Heard it in Fran's and was very impressed.
How does the quality compare to a dac (beresford or dacmagic rdac etc) plugged directly to a hifi. I assume the dac should be much better as it is increasing the quality delivered to the hifi. Not sure if Fran was just playing hi quality recordings on the night in question but the as stated already the sound was fantastic. Didnt know anything about these yokes prior to frans training course but like the idea even using it beside a pc in a study but connected to the hifi in the room. I assume you can just plug it out and connect to another hifi elsewhere in the house or shed and bobs your uncle. Can it play stuff from your itunes library or youtube or is there some process required to get it into a format or defined to a library? Sorry for all the simple questions.

Quality from the analog outputs is a bit above OK. Improving the power supply improves the analog outputs a good bit. A good add-on DAC does definitely improves it (improved power supply makes no difference to digital out to a DAC).

The way they work is that you have to have a PC where all your music is, turned on and with a bit of software called squeezeserver installed (free to download). You can import your itunes library, you can let squeezeserver create its own library (which it does without moving any files) or you can browse by the folder structure already in your "my music" folder.

So the software runs all the time in the background - its fairly small and won't tax any machine. Versions are available for all versions of windows, linux and apple.

The actual squeezebox itself is under the control of squeezeserver - its kinda like a middle man between you (and the remote) and squeezeserver running on the PC. You can connect the squeezebox either via wired or wireless network. Set up is easy but you will need the passwords for your wireless.

So when you want to browse through say, artists, when you press the down button to move through the list, the box gets the info to display from the server, if you press play, box asks the server to send on the info along the wired or wireless connection. The box itself then receives the data, changes it to music or digital stream and you hear it via a hifi. Likewise you have access to internet radio as well, works exactly the same way.

Only connection restriction is that you need to receive the wired or wireless connection. So out in the shed might be a problem if its too far from the router. Connection is as easy as hooking it up to spare inputs on an amp or DAC, or you can listen via headphones (theres a headphone jack but don't know what quality is like)

The older squeezebox classic (the one you heard with the quads) I think is still available (was also called squeezebox 3). Its now joined by a plethora of variations, the duet, touch, boombox etc etc etc. I have a duet. Its similar, but a bit sexier. The "box" is just a nondescript box, but the duisplay is on the remote control. So artwork etc etc is all on the remote. Also you can use this one duet remote to control several squeezeboxes. Oh thats another thing - you can have lots of these things all running from the one PC.

Sure you know where I am if you want to try it out or see the different models.

Fran

Oh yeah a few other things I meant to say. No difference in SQ between the SB3/classic and the duet. I actually prefer the classic - just find the menus easier to use - and it costs less. I think some of them might do hi-res files now, but I'm not sure.


Fran

I just got a Squeezebox Touch and am feeding it to my dCS Scarlatti. I'm astonished at how good it is! I bought a FLAC file



from Deutsche Grammophon at the Universal Music Store and streamed it from my PC: fantastic! I burned it to a CD (which should be equivalent to the original CD, now deleted) and I couldn't persuade myself that I heard any difference between that and the FLAC streamed through the Squeezebox. The Touch is 96/24 capable but I only have a few sample files of that resolution or 192/24 (which Squeezebox Server on your computer will convert on the fly to 96/24). I'm also very impressed at some MP3s I've had kicking around on the PC: they've never been through the big system before, and I can't get over how good they sound.

And there's internet radio too, but not all of that sounds good!

If you have an iPhone, theirs an app called ipeng that lets you control the squeezebox using your phone, turns I suppose the squeezebox into something more like the duet, neat.

Steady on Ciaran and David. Cheapo Nokia touchscreen phone here and I would be expecting that scarlet thingy to turn my childs blowing on the tinwhistle into a crescendo of beautiful saxophones with a 100 piece supporting orchestra quietly in the background.
Fran you played a lucinda williams track through the squeezebox into your amps and out onto quads. The sound from that was very good.

Being a skintflint here I was wondering would the squuezebox give similar quallity output as the beresford dac you currently have.
If that is the case I dont see any reason for casual listening to bother with a basic dac as the squeezebox seems to offer more versatility.
Is that the case?

I think you did mention something about having to rip your cd's onto pc for squeezeserver. Is that a better option for quality rather than importing your itunes library?

I took the plunge went for a classic. Has to be worth a punt for the price, after being so impressed by Frans. Will post when I try it out

Ciaran just a question on the dac. Is it squeezebox into cd player which has dac and then on to amp?
I was only joking re your scarlatti its an incredible piece of kit.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Squeezebox analog outs are *probably* on a par with the bereford outs. They can probably be improved with a better power supply.


But honestly, you'd be better off not getting the power supply and putting a bit more to it to get a good DAC. The one I had I would recommend really highly... I did it DIY which made it cheap. But the guy does assemble them for sale.

http://www.audiosector.com.

Peter Daniels is his name, you won't get anything about it on the website, but email him and ask him what the story is.


Fran

EDIT: I think it was about 320 or 340$. There was a fella selling a completed one on diyaudio recently for about 200 I think...... want me to go look?

Fran

Hi Fran Yes please re the secondhand one, I would be very interested in that. Thanks again as per usual for your help Tony

Just found it... but its sold.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/swap-mee ... mbled.html

Fran