Squeezebox Duet questions
Cemil Gandur -- Fri, 09/04/2009 - 14:05
Sorry for the basic nature of these questions, but I'm trying to understand before getting my feet wet.
1- As far as I understand it, the Squeezebox has digital outs, which means I can plug its output into my DAC, bypassing the Logitech's internal DAC. Is that correct?
2- Does the Logitech support hi-res files? ie 24/192
3- If my DAC has optical, USB and COAX digital inputs, would I be better off running the media server through the Logitech then digitally connecting it to my DAC? or would I get better sound hooking up to the DAC directly using the USB port via a computer?
4- What is the power supply requirement on the Squeezebox? Is it a universal 120/240V wall wart? or is it a 120V only (US model)
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1. Yes, you can output via coax or optical, and get the best sound quality, by going through a good external DAC. 2. The squeezebox 3's that I have only support 24/48, although the new version of SqueezeCenter software supports playing 24/96 files by downsampling them to 24/48 on the fly. I am not sure if the duet support higher res, but my understanding was that for native 96khz or above you would have to move up to a Transporter. 3. I think you are better off going out the squeezebox through the DAC. The squeezebox is a single-purpose system designed to do what it does very well i.e. stream digital music. It also of course has the nice screen or remote. If you use your computer to play the files directly to the DAC you need to ensure that the computer is not modifying the outgoing bits in any way, which can be complicated depending on the OS. If you truly have a dedicated media server then perhaps this isn't an issue. 4. Sorry I can't answer this. You can probably get more answers on the logitech web site: http://forums.slimdevices.com/
There's a new Squeezebox coming out that will support 96/24 - called the Touch that will list for $299. It can also be used as a menu/selector for other squeezeboxes in your system.
The highest bit rate supported by Logitech devices is 96/24 but the internal architecture of the Touch will support 192/24 and may be enabled at a later date.
The Squeezebox products use universal digital wall wart supplies - Channel Islands Audio makes an analog power supply for the Duet and I have personally used a home-brew 9 volt analog power supply successfully with the Duet, so using it in a 240 volt country shouldn't be an issue.
There is no way to know which connection method will give you better sound - too many variables - with some media servers direct from USB to your DAC will be best. Depending on the rest of the system using the Duet as a bridge between your computer and your DAC may offer some sonic advantages due to isolation, but it may also introduce more jitter and timing issues.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Details on the SB Touch: the touch has two crystals, one which handles 44.1 and 88.2 and the other handles 48 and 96. The frequencies are: 22.5792 MHz for 44.1 and 88.2 24.576 MHz for 48 and 96 I'm not sure what this means for future ability to handle higher res files (176 and 192).
The SB devices all come with universal power wall warts, etc. You can use them anywhere, if you have the country specific plug/adapter.
I bought the Squeezebox, and I found initial installation a breeze. It was pretty much an automated process to get some radio stations going and my Macbook Pro to talk to the handheld device.
On a music level, what would be a good subscription channel from the 4 or 5 taht are offered? I listen to Jazz 80%, the rest being Blues/ROck/Soul and a bit of classical in between. I do not have access to free trial where I am, so I'll have to rely on recommendations for that.
On the system level, I am having some issues: My Apple laptop no longer sees my Windows network, for reasons I have yet to figure, but I am sure the issue lies with the Windows boxes - this was an issue before the Squeezebox. After getting that to work, I intend to get a NAS to store my music and need to figure out how to get my laptop to read the music files on the NAS as I want to use the laptop as a controller.
Also, I haven't figured out how to get iTunes to talk directly to the Squeezebox, without going through the Squeezecenter.
Any help on these would be greatly appreciated.
You will always have to use Squeezecenter to access your iTunes music files - that's just the way it works.
Have you tried opening up your network icon in your folders? I often have to re-connect using the World icon. Go to the connect as button in the upper right and it will ask for your password and then if you get it right you should have full access.
As far as subscriptions I've made my own stations via Rhapsody. Also check out the provisions for finding Internet Radio stations...
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Thanks Steven. I found that my two Windoze networked PCs are also not seeing each other, so I am sure the problem is there. Interestingly, they can all use the internet through the same hubbed ADSL. I guess I have to reinstall their local peer-to-peer network configurations.
After I get that sorted, next step will be to install a NAS and start ripping CDs on it. I intend to use my Macbook to control that. Is iTunes the best solution, or are there other programs out there for this, which would also support hi rez if I get there eventually? Would I have to through Squeezecenter again, or will they be able to speak directly to the Squeezebox?
My iTunes 9.0 supports 96/24 through firewire and Toslink. For higher rez I listen directly to the music files bypassing iTunes via the Mac's preview function - click ONCE on the music file you want to listen to - then hit your spacebar and a large player window appears on your monitor.
As far as libraries go, I keep a duplicate of my iTunes library on my NAS - I copy it "by hand" not via an automated program.
Also due to iTunes using a different art catalog library that is separate from the music itself, I must embed each and every song with its own art so that Sonos and Squeezebox will have art. I have a simple script in iTunes that does this, but each song must have its art embedded, which does take some time (3 sec per song). Then I copy the entire album over to my iTunes library on my NAS.
Unfortunately, you will always need a SqueezeCenter program running to have access to your iTunes library on your Squeezeboxes. You could have the SqueezCenter program on your NAS (That's what the Music Vault does) but a plain-vanila NAS that isn't running Vista Home software won't be able to run SqueezeCenter.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
There are NAS's that you can load SC on; not all of them are WHS NAS's. Netgear comes to mind. The slimdevices forum has lots of info on the subject.
I presume you can listen to normal rez music going through the Sqeezecenter using the Mac as a 'controller'. I am hoping that in the next couple of years, we will have Squeezebox versions that support hi rez, in which case there will no longer be any need to hook up the laptop to the DAC with a cable ? I am trying to avoid that particular situation, if I can.
My Mac HD is about 500 GB - that's not enough for me, even if it was dedicated for music. There's also all the other stuff sitting on the Mac too. I intend to put all the music on the NAS and configure the Mac iTunes to read the NAS for the music library. Is that not practical / feasible?
As far as putting the cover art into iTunes, I have been copying a picture on the net and pasting it into the relevant section in iTunes. Takes me way more than 3 seconds per song !! Any chance to get a copy of your script? :)
Sorry to keep bombarding you with questions - I really appreciate your help.
Yes, you can, and I do listen to normal rez through the squeezebox using the SqueezeCenter on my MacPro. I keep my music files on one 500 GB HD that is separate from all my other files. Since the MacPro holds 4 HDs in its bays, i can devote on HD to nothing but music files. On a portable or MAc Mini an external HD would be needed to accomplish the same goal.
I too often have to copy art from Amazon or some other website to iTunes since the iTUnes art library is not terribly complete. When you paste art you are embedding it into the particular track that is playing or selected. Other tracks on the same CD are not getting the art embedded - for that you will need to do the same thing to EACH track - which is what my iTUnes script does.
Here is a link to some third-party software and plug-ins you may find useful.
Here is a link to SqueezeCenter plug-ins.
Here is a great link to an album cover database that has many things you won't find easily otherwise.
Her's my script for embedding art:
(*
"Embed Artwork" for iTunes 7 or better
written by Brian Webster
- v1.1 sept 25 2006
- added routine to check for a selection, account for de-selection of tracks (D.A.)
- v1.0 sept 25 2006
- initial release
*)
tell application "iTunes"
if selection is not {} then
set sel to selection
with timeout of 300000 seconds
repeat with aTrack in sel
repeat with anArtwork in artworks of aTrack
if downloaded of anArtwork is true then
set theData to data of anArtwork
set data of anArtwork to theData
end if
end repeat
end repeat
end timeout
else
display dialog "Select some tracks first..." buttons {"Cancel"} default button 1 with icon 2 giving up after 15
end if
end tell
Copy this whole thing into your scripts editor in iTunes - that the funny little symbol to the right of your top menu.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Thanks Steven for the super complete help !
Hi,
I just have a simple questions regarding the squeezebox duet. I hope someone can help me!;-)
If I purchase a squeezebox duet and an extra receiver can I listen to the same music (from computer for example) at the same time on my stereo and my tv in different rooms thanks to the 2 receivers?
Thanks,
Kate
If all you want to do is listen to the same music that's playing on your computer, you can do that with the $99 Airport express and i-Tunes.
If exact synchronization between two music streams in two different rooms is your goal, you could have TWO airport expresses or two Sonos units (which have provisions for the same music at two locations).
On the squeezebox forums many owners complained that they could not get exact synchronization on two squeezeboxes in different rooms, but the latest iterations of SqueezeCenter may have solved that issue.
I would check the Logitech Squeezebox forums for a definitive answer...
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
2 Squeezeboxes: I get what I consider perfect synchronization, if the both the main unit and the "slave" are on when I start listening. I'm using SC 7.33, the most up to date "official" (not beta) version.
Need some help on an issue related to a popping sound that I have been having in playing FLAC files via the Squeezebox Duet. Basically, when a new song starts to play, I get a "pop" sound. I tried the least compression and the highest compression FLAC and I get the "pop" regardless. It is loud when listening at a reasonable level. This doesn't happen on WAV or MP3.
My set-up is Squeezebox Duet -> QNAP -> Monarchy DIP -> Paradisea DAC -> Onkyo HT Receiver.
Running out of GB space on the hard drive and would hate to have to swap out for a bigger drive and go through the trouble of transerring files back to the new drive (and the $ savings as well). Anyone have this problem and figured out a resolution? Looked through various boards and doesn't seem like anyone else has had this issue.
I've been getting this popping sound too! My setup is Ubuntu Server (WiFi) > Squeezebox Duet > Bel Canto DAC3
Yesterday I took my setup to a mates house and the popping stopped occuring. The only thing that was different was I was using his squeezebox's power supply in my squeezebox, rather than my own. So popping may be down to a bad external power supply unit for the sueezebox, but I haven't had time to confirm this yet. The only other thing it could be, would be something wrong with my house's wiring.
If you find a solution, please, please let me know. I will let you know how I get on at this end.
I have a netwok attached harddrive (Buffalo Linkstation Pro) on my ethernet network with all my music files ( more that 250 Gigs). iTunes is running on my main computer mapped to my network drive. Will I have any issues seeing the files on the network using my squeezebox? Can I configure scqueezecenter to point to the network drive?
Hello Parcifal
THat's the way I have my system set up. It should work fine. The only fly in the ointment is that you will HAVE to keep your computer on to run the Squeezecenter software.If you turn your computer off your Squeezebox will not be able to connect with the Ethernet drive. You will still have access to Internet music services however, even when your computer is off.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
When playing a FLAC-file on my squeezebox Duet, it stops after about 30 seconds and starts again after 15 seconds, thus breaking up the song in several pieces. I have a wired connection between a NAS running SqueezeServer and the receiver. Anyone knows how to solve this?
Regards,
Tony
Check your settings in SqueezeCenter. Make sure it is doing the FLAC conversion, not the renderer.
I convert FLAC to WAV before the files are sent to the Squeezebox.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Squeezebox server 7.5.1 and media player 11.0
My entire cd collection is ripped to media player in full-up WAV format for fidelity. Anywhere from 1 to 4 tracks are missing from a good percentage of my collection. I am told this is the result of DRM. I don't buy it. If you look at the scan logs SBS does in fact read all tracks on the CD.
any ideas???
How odd.
Are the files present on your hard drive? Are they missing only from the SC library list? Are they in an iTunes library?
I would check my settings and then do a re-scan in SC.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
yes the files are in fact present on the hard drive. these were clean rips to media player 11. I do not have an ITunes library. They are missing from SBS. What settings are you talking about?
thanks in advance, TonyP
The settings are within Squeeze Center. You need to designate the location of your music files in Squeeze Center settings. Without a library setting the program doesn't know where to look for your files.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Sorry, double post
Have you tried doing a "full rescan" of your library, and not a "new and changed music" rescan?
Sometimes this solves these types of problems.
BTW, on the Slimdevices forum, it's reported that the hardware of the Touch can play 192k files, but that the Touch drivers and SBS software aren't setup for it. Some fairly extensive rewrite of the computer code for both is needed for it to work. Don't know if Logitech will ever do it.
Again, the cd's are all in MP11.0 and SBS but certain tracks are missing from the SBS inventory. Anywhere from 1-4 tracks could be missing. If you review the scan log files it in fact scans all.
Ok, I'm stumped.
I'm thinking the good folks at the Squeezebox forums would be the next place to see if anyone can help you.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Thanks Steve. Do you think it has to do with DRM at all?
How do I link up with Squeezebox forums? Is this the actual Logitech website?
Here's my link:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications