For those who didn't notice: Logitech discontinued the whole Squeezebox line. So there is no more affordable high-res network audio player on the market.
Probably you have flow of free money there in LA, but here on the East Coast we have to work hard to afford toys. It does not matter if $6000 or $600 can be saved from smart decision. I do not intend to pay for single function device more than price of full featured computer along with decent DAC. Audio-only media player makes sense to $200-250, but never for $600 (Olive O2M) and even less so for $1000 (O3HD, which is closer to SB Touch in functionality).
Quote:
Originally Posted by ap1 /t/1428155/squeezebox-no-more#post_22382582
Probably you have flow of free money there in LA, but here on the East Coast we have to work hard to afford toys. It does not matter if $6000 or $600 can be saved from smart decision. I do not intend to pay for single function device more than price of full featured computer along with decent DAC. Audio-only media player makes sense to $200-250, but never for $600 (Olive O2M) and even less so for $1000 (O3HD, which is closer to SB Touch in functionality).
Not at all...but you said "affordable" and if the thing works well then $600/700 doesn't seem out of the park. I've used a lot of media players in the past and I've never had a computer work as efficiently, as problem-free and with an easy-to-use interface as a device like Sonos (which I currently use)--alas no hi-res support.
The 03 has storage and a drive. I didn't think the SBT had that.
In any case...one fewer audio media player. And, we all vote with our hard-earned dollars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian B /t/1428155/squeezebox-no-more#post_22382732
Not at all...but you said "affordable" and if the thing works well then $600/700 doesn't seem out of the park. I've used a lot of media players in the past and I've never had a computer work as efficiently, as problem-free and with an easy-to-use interface as a device like Sonos (which I currently use)--alas no hi-res support.
The 03 has storage and a drive. I didn't think the SBT had that.
In any case...one fewer audio media player. And, we all vote with our hard-earned dollars.
I can care less about drive - unless it can rip SACD and DVD-A. One can attach $100 1TB drive to SBT though, still cost you less than entry level Olive. Recently I went to one of high-end audio stores to hear new speaker model. I tookj a flash drive with 24/96 FLAC records with me. That dealer had one of Olive devices in his store, but it ignored these high resolution audio files. I am not sure which exactly model it was, but I would expect from any modern media player designed for high-end market be able to handle these files.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ap1 /t/1428155/squeezebox-no-more#post_22382759
I can care less about drive - unless it can rip SACD and DVD-A. One can attach $100 1TB drive to SBT though, still cost you less than entry level Olive. Recently I went to one of high-end audio stores to hear new speaker model. I tookj a flash drive with 24/96 FLAC records with me. That dealer had one of Olive devices in his store, but it ignored these high resolution audio files. I am not sure which exactly model it was, but I would expect from any modern media player designed for high-end market be able to handle these files.
Don't know of any legal hardware device that can rip SACD and/or DVD-A, do you?
If you already have a file server then a device other than the most basic Olive makes sense. The Olive won't play files off a flash drive (that I know of), so you need to transfer them to the machine or have it stream from a network device. You can transfer SACD, DVD-A or up to 24/192 files in FLAC format directly to an olive and it will play them fine--I have done so myself.
Well, "not particularly great" from a business standpoint could mean, "didn't sell too well."
Frankly, Squeezebox and Logitech never seemed like a good fit to me. They were a computer accessories company, not an audio company, and certainly not a "high-end" audio company.
I do agree that Logitech and the Squeezebox never was a great fit, but I think Logitech bought out Slim Devices to make some quick money and do to poor advertising may have never panned out. Hard to associate Logitech and music streaming together. On the other hand I own 3 Duet receivers and a Touch, I use them all over my house, one for my Home Theater, one Garage, one Deck, and my touch for my 2 Channel room all controlled through my Ipad and the Squeezepad app. Works wonderful no issues. I went to my local high end Audio shop and was looking for a possible upgrade and the salesman said what for the Squeezebox is better than Sonos because Sonos is not High res. I guess when the time comes and my Squeezebox takes a shat I like the Olive or Wyred 4 Sound, but much more money.
I'v been quite impressed with the sound quality of my WD TV live HD thing playing FLAC straight off USB sticks. Though it's not bit-perfect playing 24/96 etc as it down samples them to 48 Khz... it still sounds very good though. I never did notice any difference between a 44.1 CD rip or a 24/96 download of the same song when I did have bit-perfect playback with a Xonar ST soundcard.
There is an alternative. I consider it inferior to the Squeezebox but it does work. It is Grace digital. It is an internet radio unit but it will connect to a software media server and do the same job as the Squeezebox but with a bit more fuss and a tiny screen. Amazon has one for $89. I have one in my exercise room system.
One thing I like about the Squeezebox players is the SPDIF output, I tend to use fancy outboard DACs rather than rely on the internal DAC of the squeezebox. I don't know what other players out there that can work with my Squeeze Server (a/k/a Logitech Media Server) have SPDIF outputs, I imagine that some do.
I also like the kinds of things you can put on the Squeezebox display. When I am not listening to music, I display local weather conditions from Weather Underground using a plugin for the server. So, when I'm watching TV I can take a quick glance at my Squeezebox and see the temperature and tomorrow's forecast. Etc. I use Squeezebox 2 and Squeezebox 3 players, I have four of them around my home in various systems.
You can also use a PC or tablet to play content from a Squeeze Server, there's an app called Soft Squeeze for PC, Mac, iOS (I think) Android and Windows Phone.
Messed up my post, but I'd be interested in the "community". Are there forums? I have the Squeezebox connected to my Peachtree GrandPre, using the GrandPre built in DA. Anything that would let me get more out of it would be great!!!
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