@dafiend You are of course correct, a well-done compressed audio file at a high-enough bitrate is enough for most of us. I could't tell the difference between Wimp FLAC and Spotify Ogg when I tried to compare the two. I could hear a difference between 320kbit ogg and 320kbit mp3 though, Google Music vs. Spotify. But that was a specific track and I was looking for the difference. I still believe that lossless is the way to go. Especially with streaming services. It used to be bandwidth and storage space that forced us into using mp3 and similar compressed formats. Today, I can stream FullHD Video at around 12mbit/s without any trouble and store an almost infinite amount of data on a micro SD card the size of my tiniest fingernail. There is little reason to compress to lossy formats. Yes, the difference might be minimal, but so is the additional effort involved. We went from low-res (<128kbit/s) mp3 purchases and streaming to the now-standard 320kbit, maybe soon FLAC will be the "new normal"
This thread is about something else though: I believe in the Squeezebox system, and I think it should have everything Sonos gets. I looked at the Sonos system a while ago, read a few reviews and thought "That's it!" Despite the high price, I was willing to buy into that system. However, I then went and actually listened to their speakers...and I was not impressed. I asked my parents (they moved flats and I promised them a nice-sounding internet radio setup) and they also went and did a testdrive of the Sonos. After just a few moments of streaming a normal internet radio station they turned away in disgust. That was on the top-of-the-line Sonos Play 5. On the other hand, my Raspberry Pi withHifiberry DAC and a set of decent (Harman Kardon Soundsticks III) PC Speakers immediately impressed my parents, and I had to build three little Pi-Based radios for them, Kitchen (Logitech Stereo Speakers), Lounge (My fathers high-end HiFi) and Bedroom (old 2.1 CD System). Now, the Sonos System also offers a speaker-free component, the Connect. This however is outrageously priced. I does the same as my PiCorePlayers, but it has a far too high Standby power draw and comes at almost 350. It also can't handly HighRes Audio, which my Pi can (although I don't need that functionality..°°) So, to cut a long story short: I want the Logitech Media Server to survive, and I want it th thrive. Sadly, official support is not so great. The official Spotify app is pretty much dead, the Wimp plugin is not exactly wonderful (but Michael did add FLAC) and the Deezer Plugin is lacking essential features and has bugs (see the thread about skipping issues below). I'd glady pay for LMS, I'd gladly pay for new Plugins, I just want this system to keep running and get better. If they want to turn off Mysqueezebox.com, well all the better. It might be better to have all the plugins running on LMS directly. Sadly, there is no way to directly influence how things go here. Michael does his best, but he's just one guy, and has far too many things on his hands. Triode has worked wonders with his Spotify Plugin and especially with Squeezelite, and others have also contributed in a fantastic fashion. However, there is always the risk of things just stopping. The Google Music plugin Hechtus started is great, but development suddenly stopped and there has been no word from the Dev in months... That's why I try to bring things like this Deezer Elite here, hoping someone will pick it up and run with it. I'm not a coder, I try to support devs by donating and doing testing and bug reporting, that's all I can do. That, and hope this doesn't die but instead rises to it's place, as a better Sonos that even comes at a better price! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CommanderROR's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=59408 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=102121
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