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Squeezebox replacement ideas

tommy1

pfm Member
Hi all.
My squeezebox classic has started playing up so looking for ideas please.
Currently i have all my Cds ripped in flac on a hardrive in another room, its hard wired into my listening room where i have a squeezbox classic running through my cambridge 851 cd players dac into amp and speakers.
I realise the SB is getting on a bit now so what would be your recommendations for a hassle free replacement.
Thanks.
 
The Raspberry Pi with an Allo DAC would be my initial suggestion if you want something that works in a similar vain to the Squeezebox.

After that, there are many streamers available with or without DACs included plus many very good external DACs available. I would recommend auditioning.
 
Auralic Mini every time.

You can store all your ripped files on an SSD that fits in the underside of the unit so no need for any external storage. Fully compatible with Tidal, Spotify, Quboz, Roon etc and one of the best apps in the business - as long as you have an iPad / iPhone.

Also sounds tremendous with a very decent built in dac though can be used just as a transport if you want to use your Cambridge 851’s dac instead.
 
Hi all.
My squeezebox classic has started playing up so looking for ideas please.
Currently i have all my Cds ripped in flac on a hardrive in another room, its hard wired into my listening room where i have a squeezbox classic running through my cambridge 851 cd players dac into amp and speakers.
I realise the SB is getting on a bit now so what would be your recommendations for a hassle free replacement.
Thanks.

Make one, here's a link to show you how to do it. I'm listening to the one I made as I type this.

https://forums.slimdevices.com/show...erry-Pi-LMS-questions-for-a-complete-beginner
 
A squeezbox Touch is a massive improvement sonically on the early Squeezeboxes, if you can find one, then buy it. If not the Chromecast Audio is a good cheap alternative, but again given it has now been discontinued so you might struggle to get hold of one. Beyond that, Raspberry Pi based solutions are probably the best and most cost effective answer. With streaming the important thing to remember is that the external DAC will drive sound quality and there isn't much difference sonically from one device to another provided they are competently engineered which almost all are these days.
 
Auralic mini has a fab user interface, great sound, built in dac/preamp plus you can either connect your hard drive directly or insert a hard drive into the unit.
 
Thanks very much for all the suggestions.
I should have added that im not at all clued up in techy stuff. In fact im a total half wit. I had to get somebody else to do all the setting up for the SB and for ripping my CD collection. I would like to continue to use the DAC of my 851cd player if possible and just use a remote to scroll through and select tracks from hard drive, as i currently do (or did before SB started playing up.) I haven't kept up with anything streaming wise since i had SB installed. I did briefly try a SB touch in my system (playing through the DAC of my previous Cambridge 840 cd player and couldnt tell any difference sound wise (sorry!), and as i preferred the screen on the SB classic i sold the touch on.
 
Hi all.
My squeezebox classic has started playing up so looking for ideas please.
Currently i have all my Cds ripped in flac on a hardrive in another room, its hard wired into my listening room where i have a squeezbox classic running through my cambridge 851 cd players dac into amp and speakers.
I realise the SB is getting on a bit now so what would be your recommendations for a hassle free replacement.
Thanks.

Raspberry Pi is a good idea. If you want a touch screen you can do something like:
https://volumio.org/product/sos-solution-volumio-touch-player/
or
https://archimago.blogspot.com/2017/03/howto-building-and-installing-raspberry.html
 
To be honest I think the SBT with a decent dac will easily equal the Bluesound in sound quality terms. The main difference is the amount of user input needed. The SBT was an innovative and forward looking product and I still love it but it has now been superseded by my Touchscreen Pi and Dac Hat which I now use within my Roon based system. PiCoreplayer is equally as good if you wish to enjoy LMS and it's bountiful plug ins. If you want a more lifestyle orientated plug and play system, the SONOS or Bluesound is for you.
 
So many SBT fans - still not sure why nobody seems to be offering a direct (current) equivalent?

(And whilst I fully appreciate the pi route has the desired effect and is low cost and relatively straightforward to do, it isn't exactly plug and play out of the box).
 
So many SBT fans - still not sure why nobody seems to be offering a direct (current) equivalent?

(And whilst I fully appreciate the pi route has the desired effect and is low cost and relatively straightforward to do, it isn't exactly plug and play out of the box).

I can think of only a portable transistor radio.

Anything connecting to a computer or router needs to be configured, no?
 
I suppose so yes (I came from having SB2 so it was no effort really).

But I am thinking what is there that is a streamer/dac with nice graphic display controlled by a remote (or on the touchscreen itself).
I don't want to control it from the phone (I had a SB Duet too, but soon sold it).

Maybe I just haven't looked hard enough...
 
I suppose so yes (I came from having SB2 so it was no effort really).

But I am thinking what is there that is a streamer/dac with nice graphic display controlled by a remote (or on the touchscreen itself).
I don't want to control it from the phone (I had a SB Duet too, but soon sold it).

Maybe I just haven't looked hard enough...
I think Audiophonics do ready made and Nativ if you are after that kind of thing.
 


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