audio-talk

Wondering what to do.... probably looking for a mostly off-the-shelf system to store & distribute - SWMBO listens to a lot of internet radio (mostly Arabic, French, Spanish & Greek - she's a linguist). Would still like FM, even if its just routed in as a feed.

Got about 600 CDs to rip as well...

Confused....

I use a squeezebox classic and my laptop. Has loads of radio stations on the sb, no fm though. And decent sound quality.
Cant go wrong. I use the sb classic rather than a touch as i can see the display from across the room. Have to use lms on the laptop.
Simples

A Squeezebox is a very good way into computer audio.

Pity they are not made anymore.

DTB is the local expert in your area on this subject.

You don't need any Logitech gear though . Buy a Raspberry pi and load picoreplayer (free) and away you go. Okay the audio from the stock audio out isn't supposed to be great in hi fi terms - I use one like this in the kitchen and it's fine. But you can add a USB DAC, or connect directly to the Pi. Hifiberry do surprisingly affordable DACs, I'm sure Dave will chime in shortly. Or you can go mad. Use the Squeezebox or Squeezer apps on you phone or tablet, job done for a few quid. You can even use a pi as the server, though it might be a bit of a struggle if you want to run a number of players.

Dunno what you want to spend, this would be pretty much plug n play-

http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/comp ... erver.html

Isn't that pretty much what Vortexbox does?

My digital system is built around the squeezebox but I am reconciled to when it conks out - squeezebox holds the data - and Phantoms doing everything else and, as Ali told me how a few years ago ( I was sceptical ) its all controlled with an app on my phone. Neat. and rather good.

I'm really after an integrated system with, if possible, multiple streams.

SWMBO listens to a lot of Arabic & other Middle-Eastern stations that sound more like someone using a Dremel to disembowel a weasel than music to my ears...

Centralised control via Android /whatever is essential, plus a console for when someone else has hidden the tablet...

Price is not the main issue - a system that a technical neophyte (SWMBO) can use and which is completely reliable & good quality is paramount...

Ta for the thoughts so far - my instinct would be to go the Pi route, but it might be too complex for SWMBO...

If you want multiroom capability, check out Sonos, should be easy to use.

+1 sonos is probably the closest to plug n play with multi room capability product you can get

Just been to Richer Sounds in Spitalfields... had a demo of the Sonos stuff

Its pretty good. Eye-wateringly expensive. But good. And simple enough that SWMBO will get to grips with it - handles any DLNA server (which I already have) and the friendly Android app that loads ll the services & controls the streams.

Sooooooooo. expensive, though. Individually, the bits aren't too scary, but after just a few rooms the bank will be foreclosing on the house...

Dave? Can this stuff inter-operate with the PiFi?

Having used Squeezebox for many years I'd look at RasPi builds and run the lot using something like PiCorePlayer and use LMS as server.
The RasPi players are happy running on LMS, and LMS is the strength of the Squeezebox way of doing things.

You can get integrated amplifier boards that fit on the Pi too, so you could build standalone all in one box solutions if you wanted.

Ali Tait wrote:Dunno what you want to spend, this would be pretty much plug n play-

http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/comp ... erver.html

That looks like it would be a good addition to my system.. i like things simple...
Thanks Ali..

Comes with different size hard drives I believe Steve, give David a shout.

What they all said! Lots of different ways, I like SB and Vortexbox.

Right. Just ordered a Pi-DAC+ from IQaudIO and a case for it - using a Pi 3 running Squeezeplug on Max2Play.

I'm going to use VB and maybe Squeeze Ctrl or Squeeze Commander (open to suggestions) for the tablet & phones.