Saturday, August 11, 2012

Streaming music in the home using Logitech's Squeezebox Touch

Like many hifi enthusiasts, I have been dreaming a lot about digital audio lately.. having my music all in a high quality digital audio format e.g. FLAC or Apple lossless at my beck and call anytime and anyday from any device in my home.

For the longest time, this wasn't possible or involved a lot of dough to achieve. But now - with devices like Logitech's Squeezebox Touch or SBT in short (which I just bought from Amazon.com for around USD230) - the dream is finally becoming a reality for not a lot of money.

My configuration in my home is to put all my music into my NAS - in this case a Synology DJ212 running the SB Server software - and stream the music to my hifi system using the SBT. The SBT is connected to my NAS currently using the WIFI connection (in the future I will use Ethernet only for greater sound purity), and the SBT is connected via a coaxial digital cable to my DAC. I am also able to use the RCA outs on the SBT to connect directly to my amplifier.

How do you access the music you might ask? Well, I am using the free Logitech Squeezebox app to select which tracks I want to hear, arrange playlists etc. My Synology NAS also has software that allows me to access and play songs on my iPhone or iPad (using Synology Apple apps).

Check out my My Logitech Squeezebox un-boxing!

Will network streaming audio eventually replace my CD player? Eventually, maybe and only if you have a very high quality DAC like Naim's nDac. However a quick comparison shows that CD still has a slight edge for me in terms of timing and PRaT.

For me now - I am enjoying both mediums i.e. the convenience of network streaming via my SBT/NAS and also spinning CDs!

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