Thinking of buying a CD player - don't!
Nobski said:
Thanks for that codmate, it`s always nice to hear an objective assessment before spending the £s , especially as you have tried it with a quad set up
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I quess my ipod will be getting less use after I move and get a squeeezebox
The version of flac that I am using also has a graphical front end that will allow conversion / compression of wav files
link here . I`m using the windows version with installer, which works with EAC and accurate rip as just a combined ripper / verifier and compressor from audio cds,
link to suggested settings here, with eac just make sure you start the rip with shift + F6 rather than just F6 otherwise you will just end up with wav files ( got the t-shirt etc for this one
)
Thanks for the encoding tips - I'm certain they will come in handy over the next year or so!
Today I think I finished tweaking...
...actually no - that probably isn't possible with this thing...
...but at least I stopped tweaking stuff for a while.
I've got it set up now so that I have the same playlist for my kitchen and for my office. It's just amazing to have the same music in different areas of the house.
The volume and power can be independent of each other, so that I can have the squeezebox off in the kitchen until I go decide to down there, at which point I can power on the 'Kitchen Squeezebox' with a button on my firefox toolbar.
I'm currently controlling most important SlimServer stuff this way as it rather handily has an http interface. You just send your browser to a certain URL and the software will skip, jump to an item in the playlist, or do any number of useful stuff.
I've also got the LastFM and MusicIPMixer (formerly Predixis) plugins working nicely, so that I can follow my charts on LastFM (
http://www.last.fm/user/Codmate/) and generate mood-matched playlists.
One MusicIP tip is to download, install and run the MusicIP processing software before installing SlimServer, as SlimServer can then use the MusicIP library instead of manually scanning your collection.
If you already have SlimServer installed, you can clear its database by deleting \SlimServer\server\Cache\slimserversql.db (you will have to stop the SlimSrever service first).
I also highly recommend installing MusicIP as a service - do it like this:
After installing MusicIPMixer and running the scan and processing, close the application and open a command line.
Change directory to "\MusicIP\MusicIP" Mixer and then type "MusicmagicServer install"
Add the following value to your Registry using regedit (Edit, New, Multi-String Value):
Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\slimsvc\
Value Name: DependOnService
Value Type: REG_MULTI_SZ
Value Data: MusicIP Server
Then reboot.
The MusicIPMixer service will now start with the SlimServer - cool eh?!
There be some clever folks over at those SlimServer forums!
All this assumes you're running WindowsXP naturally.
As it's all open source stuff it's very cross-platform though, and I can imagine it being very tweakable anywhere. Hell - tweakable is the wrong word - the thing is entirely re-writable!
The plug-ins are in Perl (yes!) and there are easy ways to interface with SlimServer. I can see myself writing my own utilities, interfaces, skins, visualisers and even games (yes - the Squeezebox comes with a rudimentary Tetris clone!).
Basically the system is what you make it.
If it all sounds very complex and scary - don't worry - if you want to use it in a simple way, you can just switch it on, let it connect to your network and play music.
However, with the software being open source and so accessible, it becomes more than just a music player - it's a fantastic absorbing and brilliant audio techno-toy.
I have had it set up for slightly less than two days and I'm considering selling my CD players. Since you can connect a SqueezeBox (or Transporter) to an external DAC, why would you possibly need a CD player? The only thing to do then is replace the power-supply (if you worry about these things).
I've always been irritated by the mechanical noise of CD players when listening at low levels and now that problem is no more!
There are also jitter-correction benefits to playing music this way - rather than off a CD.
Another thing I haven't mentioned yet is the design of the SqueezeBox. I'm not one for prettiness. I've never been swayed by Apple's design aesthetic for instance, always choosing function over form. In this case however, I can't help but appreciate the style of this thing. It just looks great - and the fluorescent display is a marvel. It also feels pretty solid. I wouldn't want to test it - but it feels as though it would survive a drop from elbow height at least.
Bad stuff? Well, it does come with a 'wall-wart' type of power transformer which is never a good thing; and on the Quads I thought I could hear it. It's no worse than the power noise that comes from my current DAC and CD Player though (admittedly they are cheap Cambridge things - a CD4 and DACMagicII).
Also, depending on your configuration, SlimServer can get a bit confused if there are several music libraries on your system. This is pretty easy to sort out though IME. Just delete the SlimServer database and start again.
Oh - and if I power on my 'Kitchen Squeezebox' in the middle of a track playing on my synchronised 'SoftSqueeze', the track will jump back to the start. If the devices aren't synchronised this doesn't happen and they continue to play different playlists independently of each other quite happily.
My advice - don't buy any more CD transports (unless they are to go into your PC).
Oh yeah - and if you're ripping to mp3, change your ways. You'll regret it in the long term - I do!
If you can't tell the difference between FLAC and mp3 - first make sure you're listening to something acoustic (and well recorded).
Now listen to the cymbals. Listen to how they increase and decrease in volume. Get a mental picture of how smooth or jagged the transition in volume is. Now switch sources. If the transition is less smooth - the source has less resolution. On really poor sources hi-hats in-particular will degrade to just white noise.
