Customer Reviews for Squeezebox™ Duet
Squeezebox™ Duet
A network music system that lets you listen to and control the digital music you love in any room.
Average Customer Rating:
(2 Reviews) 2
Rating Snapshot (2 reviews)
5 stars
1
4 stars
1
3 stars
0
2 stars
0
1 star
0
2 out of 2(100%)customers would recommend this product to a friend.
Customer Reviews for Squeezebox™ Duet
Review 1 for Squeezebox™ Duet
Overall Rating:
Exceeded my expectations - which are always high!
Date:22 October 2010
By Mesuremax
from UK
Quality:
4
out of
5
Features:
5
out of
5
Performance:
4
out of
5
Ease of use:
5
out of
5
Ergonomics:
4
out of
5
Investigated music streamers after watching Gadget Show, choosing Squeezebox Duet with 2 extra receivers for a 3 room solution.
Decided against Sonos (far too expensive for what is only a marginally better solution) and Apple airport express (too unreliable, poor reviews, too few features, limited remote control options).
After a few teething problems while I got to learn the system, and while I figured out how to extend wifi reach into new areas of the house via an extender from the original router, have mastered the Squeezebox. Very simple to install, very simple to manage and use, and the internet radio and napster streaming services used constantly in the household. Recently downloaded some MP3s from Napster and forgot to transfer them to my itunes library, but the squeezebox foud them anyway.
A few areas of concern, but minor. Sometimes (not always) squeezebox cannot play when my PC goes into sleep mode - is this a pain or is this completely reasonable. And the remote control switches already suffering a bit after 1 month - volume control doesn't always work without extra strength button presses.
And the system is only as good as the internet and wifi strength/speed - we do get outtages from time to time.
And the system is only as good as the internet and wifi strength/speed - we do get outtages from time to time.
However, not only do I love it, but my wife who is a real technophobe loves it too - uses it without asking "how do I" type questions - and even she shows it off to her friends.
Highly recommended as a full house music system to throw away CDS into the garage with high flexibility, but without breaking the bank - why pay 3 times as much for Sonos?
I've used this product: One month to a year
4 of 4 found this review helpful.
Review 2 for Squeezebox™ Duet
Overall Rating:
Great first impression, now aging well!
Date:23 June 2010
By dreamingmusic
from Sandy, UK
Quality:
5
out of
5
Features:
5
out of
5
Performance:
5
out of
5
Ease of use:
4
out of
5
Ergonomics:
5
out of
5
I've been enjoying the noises that these excellent devices make for several months now. I have to say that the sound quality is excellent from the Receiver, and even the controller's headphones socket give a good sound through mini-speakers when I'm in the kitchen or working out of earshot of the main hi-fi setup.
I use an very old PC running the linux version of the server software to store all my music, and performance is never an issue, although I have used a wired ethernet for the receiver to guarantee performance. I've kept the versions up to date and must troubles I've had have been solved by a quick search of the forums and wiki.
Strengths
Sounds great - loads of detail (if your mp3 quality supports it)
Looks - its a quality item
Support
Features
Intuitive user interface
Huge range of internet music sources straight to your hi-fi
Portability of the controller (just grab your headphones and roam, or plug it through some speakers and enjoy where-ever your wi-fi will let you roam!
Sounds great - loads of detail (if your mp3 quality supports it)
Looks - its a quality item
Support
Features
Intuitive user interface
Huge range of internet music sources straight to your hi-fi
Portability of the controller (just grab your headphones and roam, or plug it through some speakers and enjoy where-ever your wi-fi will let you roam!
Problems...
Synchronising the playback across multiple devices (i.e. receiver and a PC or the controller) can be a bit hit and miss, as there is a tendancy for one or other device to gradually drift out of sync or (rarely) give up altogether. That said I've had it running in this mode over a long period (a party) and not had any trouble at all.
PC playback - point winamp or windows media player at it and control via the web interface and you'll have no problems.
Headphone socket - annoyingly my version does not switch between headphones and the speaker on the controller - but there's an app for that!
Synchronising the playback across multiple devices (i.e. receiver and a PC or the controller) can be a bit hit and miss, as there is a tendancy for one or other device to gradually drift out of sync or (rarely) give up altogether. That said I've had it running in this mode over a long period (a party) and not had any trouble at all.
PC playback - point winamp or windows media player at it and control via the web interface and you'll have no problems.
Headphone socket - annoyingly my version does not switch between headphones and the speaker on the controller - but there's an app for that!
Wi-fi strength does effect the response times of the controller and can impact playback if the wireless signal is low.
My advice is to invest in high quality music files (I ripped my CD collection to q10 oggs, but a lossless format is even better if you have the disk space). The extra detail that the Receiver is able to reveal when plugged into a reasonable hi-fi setup is well worth a few extra Gigabytes.
Overall I'm very pleased with this gadget. Only quibble could be about the level of expertise that is necessary to really get the best from this, but the latest server/firmware versions seem very robust and user friendly now. I can quickly get at any of my 1800 albums, and my wife is able to just as quickly switch to her favourite internet radio station.
Technical Expertise: Tech Savvy
I've used this product: More than a year
11 of 11 found this review helpful.
