ROKU Soundbridge M1000 Review

AndyOcUK · 14 Nov 2006 at 12:29

ROKU Soundbridge M1000

Thought I'd post this review I've done for the website here....GREAT bit of kit!!

Firstly, these are ROKU players which Pinnacle have been granted licence to distribute in europe, hence the Pinnacle/ ROKU branding.

I have been using the Roku M1000 with the following for the past week

LINN LK1 PreAmp
LINN LK100 Power Amp
LINN Mimik CD
LINN Kan Mk 1 Speakers
LINN K20 Speaker Cable

This is my main HiFi and is set up downstairs with my PC upstairs.

Being a HiFi Nut I was very sceptical about the performance and sound quality of these types of devices but still took the plunge.
I have to say that the performance of this little device is astounding!

5 minutes to set up to my wireless router via Windows Media Connect.
5 Minutes to navigate the initial set up menu, Organise tracks, screen brightness, Font & Text size etc.

The sound quality is great but this clearly depends on the speakers and Hi-Fi kit its being connected to. It was a little behind my LINN Mimik CD deck with regard to separation but that's a £1K CD deck and this is a sub £160 Soundbridge so with that in mind, performance is fantastic at this price point.

+ VERY strong signal.
+ No Signal Droputs.
+ VERY fast at detecting tracks.
+ EXCELLENT display & Menu System.
+ Excellent, Intuitive, Stylish Remote.
+ Great Internet Radio - (PC doesn't need to be on for this to work)

Anyone pairing this up with a half decent HiFi will be over the moon with it. It also worked great in my kitchen over the weekend with some small powered PC speakers.

Does EXACTLY what it says on the tin!

In short.... Awesome.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...rodid=AV-000-PI

AndyOcUK
OcUK Tech Dept

Codmate · 14 Nov 2006 at 18:36

Have you compared this to a Squeezebox3 & were you listening to a lossless format or did you try a variety?

SAM81 · 14 Nov 2006 at 18:40

sounds great, really like the idea of these

AndyOcUK · 15 Nov 2006 at 13:02

Codmate said:
Have you compared this to a Squeezebox3 & were you listening to a lossless format or did you try a variety?

Tried a variety but obviously FLAC, WMA Lossless sound best. I use dbpoweramp to convert.

AndyOcUK

Codmate · 21 Nov 2006 at 20:30

I've been looking into getting one of these, as they are cheaper than the SqueezeBox3, but it looks as though they are significantly worse, and I'd advise anybody to spend the extra on the Slim product.

Cons of the Soundbridge when compared to the Squeezebox3:
Wireless card is only 802.11b.
Maximum security supported is WEP, meaning you have to compromise your entire network (by not using WPA2) to use one!
No native FLAC decoding.
Small buffer.
Lower-quality DAC
Resamples *all* audio to 48khz - no bit-perfect reproduction is possible! Madness!
Doesn't support MP2 streams or files.

Yes - it's quite a bit cheaper - but for good reason looking at the specs!

Personally I'm getting a second Squeezebox for my bedroom T-Amp setup and possibly a Transporter for my Quad setup...

Dandle · 27 Dec 2006 at 11:12

Sorry to dig up an old thread but I'm now looking to replace my Roku M1000(as my new wireless network only supports WPA and the M1000 doesnt). The new M1001 does support WPA but Roku have cut down the sound quality of the newer unit compared to the M1000. So I'm currently looking at the Squeezbox 3 is there anything better in the price range of £200-250?

Codmate · 27 Dec 2006 at 15:22

Dandle said:
Sorry to dig up an old thread but I'm now looking to replace my Roku M1000(as my new wireless network only supports WPA and the M1000 doesnt). The new M1001 does support WPA but Roku have cut down the sound quality of the newer unit compared to the M1000. So I'm currently looking at the Squeezbox 3 is there anything better in the price range of £200-250?

Not that I know of.

It's definitely worth visiting the Slim devices forums to make sure that a Slimserver based set-up is right for you.

It's a great system, but can be a little flaky if you try to do certain more advanced things, such as synchronize Softsqueeze instances with real Squeezeboxes.

The actual Squeezebox3 is a great unit IMO. Tiny footprint, lovely Burr-Brown DACs, everything is FLAC compatible etc etc.

Grab one now before Logitech mess them up!
(Logitech just bought Slim devices

)...

Dandle · 27 Dec 2006 at 17:29

Thanks for the reply. Ive just placed an order for the All-Black Squeezebox 3 seems to be the best device for what I want in the price range according to all the sites Ive read.