Steven Stone tells us there is ANOTHER sub-$400, iTunes-friendly music server, the Logitech Squeezebox Duet! For some reason it really bothers me that these high-end audiophile guys are so indelibly married to iTunes. It's like, if they can't use iTunes, the deal's off - they just won't ever have a music server. Whatever, guys. It's not the be-all, end-all of software, ok?
He describes the Duet and ponders, "Does it leave the Apple TV in the dust? The short answer is, 'different horses for different courses'. For many music lovers, it makes perfect sense to own both." What's that? Own BOTH? I guess when you're a high-end reviewer with boxes of uber-expensive equipment stacked everywhere waiting to be played with, having TWO networked music systems is no big deal. To me, it makes no sense at all. Anyway, on to the Duet. Mr. Stone says, "you are led through the installation process by a very well-designed instruction set." He is impressed that SqueezeCenter offers access to a number of internet music sources, and that firmware updates can be sent directly to the Duet. He sets the Duet up via wifi and if he ran into any networking glitches, he failed to mention them. He does say that to access your own iTunes library, you must have a computer powered up 24/7 and this could be a significant drawback for some people. Mr. Stone was very enthusiastic about the Controller, though - "easily ranks among the best I've ever grasped." And he likes the fact that the Controller becomes a stylish digital clock when residing in the charging cradle. He had no problem with the menu system of the controller and again he notes that the response time is "remarkably fast....as fast as the hard-drive-based AppleTV." Also impressive was the range of the Controller. Indoors, it was usuable even 65 feet from the access point, and he went over 100 feet down his driveway before the Controller lost connection. There was a glitch with the Duet not picking up all of the iTunes artwork. Logitech told him that Apple recently changed their artwork library specs, and they expected to have a firmware fix shortly. Mr. Stone seemed to be most impressed with the internet radio capabilities of the Duet, which seems strange because I thought iTunes had that feature, too. Maybe it was the inclusion of the Live365 and Radio Time plugins in the Duet system, because he seemed to really enjoy listening to commercial FM stations from around the country. Or maybe he just likes disc jockey banter and intrusive ads. As for sound quality, he equates the Duet with the AppleTV - mid-fi sound from the analog outputs, but from the digital output, it was the equivalent of his other transports. In the big finale - which one would he choose, the Duet or the Apple? He cops out again and says BOTH. Maybe he wants to run a computer 24/7 AND fire up his hi-def projector to hear some music. He says the Duet is the "radio king", while the AppleTV is great for watching YouTube videos. For an audiophile, he certainly seems very happy with low-bandwidth music and video playback. Anyway, both reviews were very positive, and should serve to put the Duet on the radar of many audiophiles. -- Pale Blue Ego ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pale Blue Ego's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=110 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=49614 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
