which streamer?

Gareth82

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Hi everyone, i am hopefully in the new year going to be adding a streaming system to my Hi Fi and would like some advice and help on which would be best to go with. I have five options to pick from and i'm stuck on which would be the best value for money and give me the best sound quality and reliability. All of my music would be stored on a Nas Drive.

Option 1: Logitech Squeezebox Duet Reciever (with squeezebox controller)

Option 2: Logitech Squeezebox Touch

Option 3: Sonos BR100 Zonebrdge & ZP90

Option 4: Cambridge Audio NP30

Option 5: Marantz NA7004

Also, would i get better results by adding a DAC to any of these options?

Thanks
 

amcluesent

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Which NAS? To use Squeezbox it'll need Squeezbox Server installed and for the others, apart from Sonos, a DLNA server. Sonos just needs a network share.

NB unless you have an iOS or Android handset, you'll also need a Sonos 200 controller if you go down that route.
 

Gareth82

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Thanks for the reply. I haven't bought the NAS drive yet, i will get one which would work with which streamer i end up choosing. I would like to get which ever system provides the best sound quality and reliability. The Squeezebox looks like the cheapest option but i know that people have had problems with the reliability sometimes.
 

Gareth82

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Thanks for the reply. I haven't bought the NAS drive yet, i will get one which would work with which streamer i end up choosing. I would like to get which ever system provides the best sound quality and reliability. The Squeezebox looks like the cheapest option but i know that people have had problems with the reliability sometimes.
 

amcluesent

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Best value for sound quality and functionality is the Touch. Peeps have problems trying to connect a USB disk rather than a proper NAS or have crappy wi-fi.
 

Gareth82

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Thanks for the reply. I have a Virgin Media Super Hub with 30meg connection. Do you think i would get any problem running a touch with it? Would one of the Synology Nas drives be the best to go with the touch?
 

Gareth82

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I have done abit of searching on the Squeezebox Touch forum and have found that although you can run the SB server on a NAS drive, most people recommend runing it from a PC/Laptop.

Has anyone had any experience in using a NAS drive and had any issues with dropouts, sonud quality or compatability?

If i do have to run the SB Touch with a server from a pc/laptop then i think adding up the price of buying the SB Touch, a new PC/Laptop and then possible a external hard drive that i would maybe be better getting a Sonos system or maybe one of the streamers from marantz or rotel.

Any views comments would be great as i thought i'd picked the right option to take and now i'm not so sure.

Thanks
 

Gareth82

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I have done abit of research on the SqueezeboxTouch Forum and it seems that everyone recommends to not use a NAS drive and instead use a PC as a server. When you add up the cost of the SB Touch, a PC and external hard drive it seems that maybe it's best to go for either a Sonos system or one of the Rotel or Marantz streamers.

Has anyone had sucess with using a NAS drive with the Touch as i thought it looked like the right choice but now i'm not sure. It seems that there are reliability problems and they are alot more complicated to get working right.
 

Scissor_digits

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I've had no issues with streaming from my NAS to my Touch over Wi-Fi apart from the odd occassion when playing hi-res files it has stopped for a few seconds to rebuffer. I'm going to experiment and move my NAS into my living room and connect to Touch via ethernet/switch to test.

The only caveat for Synology as I mentioned in a previous thread is they do now recommend a NAS with at least 256MB of RAM (mine has 128MB) to run Squeezebox Server although when I look at the resource monitor when streaming I never see any CPU or memory spikes
 

Gareth82

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Ok thanks for the tip. I'll make sure i get a NAS with a good ram to make sure everything runs smoothly. I will try to stick to a wired connection to hopefully cure the buffering that some times happens during music playback. Thanks
 
A

Anonymous

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I can only comment on the SB Duet vs Sonos as I've owned both.

There is no comparison, the Sonos is in a different league - mainly in terms of stability / reliability.

Although this is reflected in the price, and as someone has mentioned if you don't have an IPhone or Android phone you will also need the CR200 which will add another £250.

As far as as DAC goes, you should get the streaming side sorted first, you can always add a DAC later. The sonos for example has it's own DAC which I use and find good, but also has both optical and coax dig out.
 

Gareth82

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Thanks for the reply. To be honest i am mostly looking at the Touch because of cost and because it is good value for money. I do really like the look of the Sonos stuff and know that it doesn't suffer from any reliabilty problems. I do already own a iPhone so wouldn't need the Sonos controller.

In your opinion, having owned both the Touch and Sonos, would i be best to go for a Touch or pay the extra and get a ZP90. I really would like to have the best sound quality and reliability. If i do get a Touch i could always get a sonos system at a later date.

As regards to a DAC, i wouldn't be getting one of these untill next year so would have a while to listen to whichever i buy and could then decide if i should get a Dac or not.
 
A

Anonymous

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I can't really comment on the Touch as I only ever had the Duet....

However, I did get the impression that Logitech treated Squeezebox owners as unoficial Beta testers, with a lot of their software updates actually making reliability worse. When I first got the Duet (controller and receiver) I thought it was a good system - seemed to do what it said on the tin most of the time. By the end though I didn't know what was going to happen everytime I picked up the controller - would it work, or wouldn't it... This became infuriating and so I decided to go with Sonos. Cost is what made me choose SB over Sonos in the first place, but in my case the saving just wasn't worth the hassle.

They may have improved on the Duet with the Touch though, as I say I can't comment on that.

What I can tell you is that the Sonos system is fundamentaly different in that it creates a dedicated wireless network, this is what makes it more realiable. And I would say if your planning to implement multi-room audio in the furture it's definately the way to go.

all the best.
 

Gareth82

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Thanks for the reply. Like you did with the duet, i too was thinking of going with the Touch mainly because of the price and it seems like the cheapest way to get into streaming.

The thing is that looking around on line, the Sonos ZP90 is only about £70 more than the touch, so where as before i was dead set on the Touch with Nas, i am now thinking that would it be best to wait a little longer and get the Sonos. Like you said, it is the best thing to use if i wanted to go multi room in the future and the reliability is great. The Touch looks like good value for money, but as always, cheep isn't always best. By what i understand as well, the Touch will only work with certain NAS drives where as the Sonos works with any.

I guess it would be best for me to decide if i would be going for the whole multi room way in the future and then decide from there as if i am only going for a 'one room set up' then the Touch would be best.
 

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