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The future for a current Squeezebox user

I've been contemplating this question for the past year and a half or so since Logitech has essentially discontinued its Squeezebox line (at least, the Squeezeboxes as I once knew them).

I've been using Squeezeboxes since the pre-Logitech Slim Devices era, about the past decade or so. I have a sophisticated home system using them. I have the Logitech Media Server running on a Linux box running an enterprise-grade Linux distribution, and this houses nearly a terabyte of FLAC files. I have a Transporter connected to my big rig. Four rooms are connected to a Squeezebox Classic, and the guest bedroom and garage have a Squeezebox Radio. All are connected via wired ethernet. And I control them through either a web browser (served by the LMS on the Linux machine) or the Squeezepad iPad application. It's a slick system and works great.

The question is, where do I go from here? I don't feel the need to move on to anything else in the immediate future, but I'm concerned that this may eventually leave me stuck with a dead product line. What other options are presently being developed that might provide a migration strategy? I want to continue using the Linux machine as the music repository, and continue using FLAC as my primary music file format.

Thanks in advance,

Michael
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mapman's avatar
mapman
22,483 posts
 
Steve,

NEtwork streamers targeting audiophiles would seem to be ripe turf for some good new products these days. Its something that would get my attention.

What media servers will that be tested with and why no wireless network connection?

Thanks.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Mapman - I will test it with different Mac and PC computers and portable devices. The computer used should have no effect on SQ.

Wireless limits to 44.1. You can always add an Apple or other device and cable to make it wireless.

Steve N.
bsme85
151 posts
 
I believe internet radio sampling rate is limited to 44.1, but...
My Jriver Id Ethernet DLNA renderer ($295) can also operate wirelessly with PCM sample rates greater than 44.1 (i.e 96,192). This is confirmed when my DAC connected via usb to the Id shows the higher sampling rates.
I do plan on replacing the Id in the future it with a device with non-switching power supply and without a fan and not limited to USB output only.
sufentanil's avatar
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sufentanil OP
782 posts
 
As a follow-up to resurrect my thread from several years ago, I just recently built a Roon endpoint using an Intel NUC8i3BEK kit, added 8GB of memory and a small M.2 SSD to it, and installed Roon's ROCK system.

Very straightforward for around $300 total, and I'm getting high-resolution (up to 192K) transfer from Roon to my HT receiver via HDMI.  I can also now use multi-channel audio for the first time.

Roon works OK with my Squeezeboxes, as well, but it's forced to downsample some of the high-resolution audio files.  Not with the new unit that I built.

So at the moment the combination of Roon (hosted on my Linux server where Logitech Media Server used to be) and a home-built Roon endpoint using an Intel NUC purchased off Amazon is my current solution to streaming audio.

Michael
mlsstl
1,444 posts
 
@audioengr -- I run LMS on my server and have several Raspberry Pi based players configured as Squeezeboxes. All of them connect wirelessly to the server and have no problem playing 192K/24 music, whether from Qobuz or my local collection.  

Also, LMS is continuing to be updated regularly. I'm running an October 2, 2020 release of version 8 and have a notice that a more recent version is now available. LMS continues to a very good, very flexible music server with tons of features.  Even though Logitech no longer sells the hardware players, there are many current alternatives available that work perfectly with LMS.
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