While I'm thinking about this, what would be really good for me is a REMOTE touch screen, with tone controls for Roon. That is, doesn't have to have a DAC or S/PDIF. It has to be a remote Roon controller, with the ability to configure simple tone controls along with volume.
After 15 years, the Squeezebox Touch Remains Undefeated!
As I reorganize my listening/movie electronics I'm rethinking my streaming solutions. My HT receiver (Anthem MX 540) doesn't take USB audio, and HDMI audio is limited to 16 bits, so I was thinking of moving my Logitech Squeezebox Touch to the living room, among other options. Honestly I have too many options to count here, and don't want to get into them in this thread, but as I was thinking about the SBT I thought to myself: "You know, since the beginning of music streaming, this really is the best streamer ever."
Now I know a lot of you will take issue with that statement, but I don't really mean that literally and in all senses. Since 2010, when I think it was released, streamers with better DAC's and lower jitter have certainly arrived. I don't think Tidal or Qobuz or Roon even existed back then. The Squeezebox Server software was pretty amazing and last I knew was being maintained as open source.
What I mean by "best" here is that in addition to really class leading technical performance for 2010 the SBT also had the perfect form factor. About 5 1/2" wide and 4" tall with a big bright touch screen, and maybe 3" deep. Small and perfectly functional, with analog, and S/PDIF outputs, as well as Wifi and Ethernet jacks available.
This unit was an absolute powerhouse of features, usability and aesthetics, For under $300. While streamers today have even better measured performance, the aesthetics and usability IMHO fail. I love the screen, and the ability to walk to it and pause or skip without wondering where my phone/tablet are.
Some of this can be recreated by using a Raspberry PI with touch screen kit, but sadly it lacks very good Roon integration, so I'm not ready to go that way yet.
What do you think? Are there other streamers that have filled this gap as well or better?
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squeezebox and pandora- still the best at creating custom radio stations. Spotify mixes, ehh, not really close second. Tidal, Amazon, and Qobuz. That's how I rank them for the "no commercial, just turn on the radio experience." oh yeah, that Logitech was the only streamer that I have that 100% of the time connected and played music as easily as turning on the radio. straight to a preamp, touch the screen and it was on. no "you are offline". no troubleshooting is it the app on the phone, the streamer, the dac... just touch and play. How many minutes have you wasted trying to get sound out of your system? I have 5 "locations" in a very modest house that I may turn on the radio in a day. adds up to a lot of frustration, and Ethernet cabling! |
@erik_squires What touch function did the Squeezezbox screen have that your cellphone or tablet does not have? And using cell/tablet you don’t have to be in front of the Touch panel. |
Hey @ibmjunkman - Features, it’s similar, but that it stays in one place always showing the track is priceless. I never have to find the SBT, it’s always on the rack. I don’t have to fish it out of my pocket or turn it on, or get to the right app. In terms of screen size, as small as the screen was then it's still larger than any screens on a streamer I've seen lately. |
I took inspiration from the Darko article (link above). Lots of the parts were not available so I’m going to try this cheap screen and stand combo. At 5" diagonally it should be a little larger than the SBT screen. I already am using a Pi 5, but with Ubuntu. For this project I’ll flash a new microSD card with Ropieee. For those new to Roon, this works only cause I have a sepearate Roon server on my network. For my DAC’s I have two, the Mytek Brooklyn (original) and Topping DX3 Pro Total outlay for Roon compatible streamer, screen and DAC (assuming Topping): About $300 |
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