Logitech Squeezebox Network Media Player

Exceptional sound quality in a polished package

Strengths: 24-bit Burr-Brown DAC is lovely. Display is large and detailed. Interface is slick. SlimServer software is written in Perl, and can be modified to suit your preferences.

Weakness: None; you can rewrite the software to fix any weaknesses!

I will split my review into several sections. SOUND QUALITY: This was the primary reason why I purchased the SqueezeBox. The difference between its sound output and my standard Sony CD player (from Best Buy) is as clear as night and day. Even my wife could tell the difference. The cheap DAC in my Sony CD player sounds harsh on the high notes, and it becomes tiresome to listen to female vocalists...
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I will split my review into several sections.

SOUND QUALITY:

This was the primary reason why I purchased the SqueezeBox. The difference between its sound output and my standard Sony CD player (from Best Buy) is as clear as night and day. Even my wife could tell the difference. The cheap DAC in my Sony CD player sounds harsh on the high notes, and it becomes tiresome to listen to female vocalists for several hours at a time. However, the SqueezeBox's 24-bit Burr-Brown DAC smoothed out all of these digital artifacts, and made it enjoyable to listen to all of my music.

Even the build quality showed that no shortcuts were taken. The RCA line-out connectors are gold plated.


INTERFACE:

This feels very slick and well-designed. When you hit the end of a menu, and try to go farther, the display visually makes a bump to indicate that it received your command but cannot proceed. That is a very nice touch. You can also change the font size so that you can see the display from 20 feet away. Navigating my CD collection has never been easier.


CUSTOMIZABILITY:

In my opinion, this is the SqueezeBox's strongest advantage over its closed-source competitors. I am a programmer, so I can go into the server software and tweak anything I need to. Also, other hackers have created wonderful plug-ins that do all sorts of neat things, such as displaying the weather forecast when the unit is idle. Finally, I have even managed to make the server software run on a tiny Network-Attached-Storage device with a 133MHz processor and 32MB of RAM (which consumes a paltry 10 watts to run).


CONCLUSION:

With the great DAC built-in, this is better for a stereo application than any of the high-end sound cards on the market. If you are looking for a way to play the music from your computer (tip: use lossless rips from your CD's), look no further.

By hertztough - Apr 29, 2008

Love it!

Strengths: Easy to install. Configures right out of the box with minimal instructions. Music selection could be done from PC or with the remote control.

Weakness: None!!!

We recently looked into buying high-end speakers for our PC so that we can really enjoy our mp3s. But the office space is already stretched to the limit so finding room for extra speakers was next to impossible. The Squeezebox provided an absolutely marvelous solution to our problem since it does not have to be located any where near a PC and we already have a great home theater system!!! The...
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We recently looked into buying high-end speakers for our PC so that we can really enjoy our mp3s. But the office space is already stretched to the limit so finding room for extra speakers was next to impossible. The Squeezebox provided an absolutely marvelous solution to our problem since it does not have to be located any where near a PC and we already have a great home theater system!!! The Squeezebox not only allows you to play mp3s stored on a PC, but also to listen to Internet radio.
We tried both wired and wireless connections and the Squeezebox performs very well in either case. We found the remote control to be as easy to use for changing/ selecting music as doing it from PC.
One thing to keep in mind - if you leave the Squeezebox server running on your PC in an open FireFox window, FireFox will gobble up all the memory on your computer. However this is really a FireFox problem. If you keep the Squeezebox server running in the background there is no problem.

By can0twait - Jan 19, 2008

Awesomer than expected

Strengths: Easy to install, sounds excellent.

Weakness: A bit pricey, but ultimately worth it.

I did a bit of research on this before I bought it. Reviews on other websites said that it was very difficult for them to install. From my experience, it's really not. I followed the instructions step-by-step and got it working in about 15 minutes with no problems whatsoever. Sound quality is excellent. I hooked it up to my home theater system's receiver and now I can listen to my music in...
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I did a bit of research on this before I bought it. Reviews on other websites said that it was very difficult for them to install. From my experience, it's really not. I followed the instructions step-by-step and got it working in about 15 minutes with no problems whatsoever.

Sound quality is excellent. I hooked it up to my home theater system's receiver and now I can listen to my music in glorious 5.1.

I actually picked this up to use it with Pandora's internet radio service. I have not actually set this up yet, but still plan on doing so down the line.

By pepsidave14 - Jun 18, 2008

Logitech Squeezebox

Testseek.com has collected 29 expert reviews for Logitech Squeezebox and the average expert rating is 86 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.
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By testseek.com - Feb 11, 2013

Logitech Squeezebox Classic

The Logitech Squeezebox Classic lets you easily access any song in your music collection, from any room in your home. It delivers pure digital sound without the hassle of shuffling through CDs. From its simple remote control, Squeezebox gives instant access to any music on your computer, plus hundreds of crystal-clear internet radio stations. ... PROS: (1) Audiophile quality audio transport using...
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By productwiki.com - Aug 23, 2008