Experiences with SlimDevices Squeezebox.

Dmitrydr: Have a look at the squeezebox site. The squeezebox was apparently developed in consultation with an audiophile club of some sort.

Harry is right that you can get good sound out of it if hard wired. The latest software and firmware upgrade has helped eliminate the bugs. I have it working now at a level of quality and reliability so that my modified TEAC VRDS transport doesn't get any use, and just gathers dust.

You need to add a decent DAC. Replacing the cheap switch-mode power supply with a stiffly regulated one is good. But better is opening it up and putting Black Gate caps wherever possible.

The main thing is, if you are a music lover you will love being liberated from having to waste time on those silly bits of aluminium and plastic, not to mention their horrible little cases, and just sit back and select the music you want with a push of a button. I am as anal an audiophile as most, but the functionality of the squeezebox has yielded the biggest boost to my music enjoyment of any purchase for many years.

Redkiwi:
i agree with everything you have said regarding the freedom of using ones computer as a soundserver. It just makes listening so much easier. Is the sound as good as my modified Wadia 270se?? No. But the convenience makes listening to tunes incredibly easy and enjoyable.

While I think the squeezebox is an excellent product, i think the wired USB solution with the Ego Systems Waveterminal U24 is better for me. The wireless aspect is unimportant to me, and I love the reliability, lack of dropouts or other problems, and the ability to use iTunes as my interface instead of the Slimdevices server.

I think both the Squeezebox and the Waveterminal will see a fair amount of action in my system.

I do have a question for you Redkiwi. When you speak of modifying the squeezebox with Black Gates...is this primarily for people using the analog outputs....or do you think this will have an impact for those of us who are using the digital output to a dac?

harry

The principal reason I raise the Black Gates point is that I had a local guy who is pretty experienced with CDP mods look at the squeezebox and his opinion was replacing a few caps with Black Gates and improving the diodes was going to be more beneficial than replacing the external power supply. In the end I decided to do both. The context for that was only to upgrade the digital out performance and not the analogue section. In total the sound became faster, more extended at the extremes and there was better stage depth, presumably as a result of better detail retrieval.

I am tempted to try the Waveterminal. The only thing that keeps me wedded to the Squeezebox is that devices like the Waveterminal require me to have a monitor going somewhere close if I am going to select music from the listening chair.

Redkiwi:

I'm addicted to having my powerbook on my lap at all times, so the monitor is a non-issue to me!!!

harry

lol - i often do the same in front of the stereo i must admit - usually buying something on a'gon