Plz help me to configure Squeeze box touch

[prash2k01]

hi Thad..is it possible to play audio files from SBS->wifi router which is not connected to the internet->SB touch->amp->spkrs
??

 

[sarge_in]

In that case people can install SB server on a NAS and use stock remote or Android application to access the music library. It is not a deal breaker.

JMT
Kevian

Yes, that is an option on some NAS (but not all). But when I was exploring the options a year back, the NAS-installed options had limitations and were not known to be very stable and scalable. If you want all the bells and whistles SB provides, having their server running on PC is highly recommended. I don't know if that has changed since then.. Anyone trying this route of installing the SB server on NAS, I would recommend reading through their forum for other user experiences.

 

[sarge_in]

All valid points, and shows that different people have different needs, situations and budgets which can be met by different products.

But I do think that Sonos and SB compete in the sense that anyone looking at this kind of play-music-wirelessly-from-PC-or-NAS application will almost surely come across these products and then choose based on features and cost.

As for the PC, I just have laptops that may or may not be on all the time. And I shut (or sleep) all of them down at night well before I want the music still streaming, so for me no-PC was a fairly important aspect. May not be for others, of course.

Anyways, didn't mean to turn this into a SB vs Sonos thread - just meant to state that there are other options out there that satisfy the OP's original requirements even though they are more expensive.

I think that Logitech have captured the mid-range audio streaming market. There are cheaper gadgets, and Sonos is very much more expensive. I don't think that Sonos and Logitech compete.

Given the amount of forum time that I put in, you can imagine that there is just-about-always a pc turned on in this house. My Squeezebox was bought to link that PC to the hifi. Actually, I'd rather do that with a cable, but that is not possible here.

So, having a PC on is a deal reason, rather than a deal breaker, for me.

More and more commercial kit seems to be hitting the domestic market. I do feel that a lot of that is marketing rather than necessity (eg how many NAS makers remind you that your PC is a perfectly good file server before you buy?) but hey, if that's what we want to buy...

It looks as if there is need for research if anyone wants to buy NAS to work with a squeezebox, before spending the money.

 

[anm]

this has links to nas that can run squeezebox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeezebox_Server

 

[GeorgeO]

The ReadyNAS Duo from Netgear comes ready to play with the Slimserver s/w. I've been using one, with a 2TB internal HD for the past 2-3 years, and it works very well for me. This is well established, stable and has many satisfied users.

 

[ajay124]

George,Umapati,others

The SB Touch works extremely well while streaming music from Windows PC/Apple or a NAS from brands like Netgear/QNAP/Buffalo. Perfect for folks who have a good modem/router/isp. But a Computer+SB Touch uses up plenty of bandwidth, leaving room for possibly one more computer being used for normal surfing.

To keep your broadband free for other requirements, you need to use an external hard disc drive. Online forum talk seems to suggest that Logitech is working on a software update to fix issues which users have been facing with a USB drive. The problem seems to be that the Squeezebox server downloadable on a Computer/NAS is a 'full version', but for a USB drive there is a 'mini' version built into the Touch. The mini version seems to work fine as long as the USB drive has limited amount of data on it but it becomes sluggish and unresponsive as you add more.

This is the issue that umapati is going to face. Well you have to face it buddy. Because you bought the drive in a hurry, without doing elementary research on the net . I am only telling you what I have read on SB forums. Experience will be a better guide. But I feel that until Logitech updates the SB server on the Touch to a full version, you will need to restrict data fed into the USB drive to 10/20 % of it's 2 TB capacity.

Other issues which need to be known are that the USB drive to be used with a Touch, should have it's own power supply. If it draws power from the Touch through the USB connection, then it might place an even bigger load on the Touch. The drive should also have a power down option when not in use. And if you have a 'power supply' fixation ( like me ) then you may feel that the power line of the USB drive is degrading the SQ . My SB Touch came with a US plug to which I thoughtlessly connected a converter. The first audition was bad. Another cheap mass market product!. But then I removed the converter and connected the Touch to the universal wall socket receiving power from an online UPS. Bliss. And yes! The SB Touch needs a few hours of burn in before it opens up and you realise that Logitech has a winner on their hands.

The option which some folks (who seem to have understood all the nitty gritties) appear to be preferring, is a 16/32 GB SD card. A minimalstic SD card for Linux based systems. The Touch seems to have issues with SD cards which are heavily loaded with Windows friendly softwares. Kingston seems to be preferred to to Sandisk. A 32GB SD card will place less load on the server built into the Touch. It will not require a power supply which could degrade SQ. And it would be handy to use.

Therefore the best solution would be to save your data on the computer or an external drive. And transfer 30GB of data on to an SD card for using with the Touch. 30GB should be good enough for 80-100 flac or apple lossless files.

 

[sups]

Thanks Ajay, thats a load of information. Just 2 questions from my side:

1. If I have a 16GB USB drive without any power supply and connected directly to touch, will it work nicely without sound quality degradation for FLAC/WAV files?

2. How is the sound quality when SBT is used as a source without any external DAC? You have a very good stereo setup. In that setup if you replace your CD player with SBT, is the difference like day and night? No doubt SBT cannot match performance your CDP, but just wanted to have some idea.

--sups

 

[GeorgeO]

Sarge

You are of course aware that a NAS can be programmed to start up and shut down at a defined time? Mine runs from 6.15 AM to 11.15 PM each night and uses less power than a PC.

 

[ajay124]

sups

The answer to both you questions would be to audition and resolve your doubts. But I can offer you what I have read, learnt and experienced.

When I connect any source to the wall socket being fed by an online UPS it sounds so smooth and good that I can no longer listen to music without it. Installing one, will pay far greater dividends than money spent on anything else. It's a game changer. Get an APC/Emerson online UPS, and it would be a far better upgrade than blowing up money on an entry level dac. Reasonably good dacs start from 35-40K. Really good ones from 100K+. Reasonably good cdps start from 50K-60K. Really good ones from 150K+

For the money, the SQ from the Touch is great. It's not CD sound. It's not vinyl sound. It's different. An entry level dac (read anything under 20K) would ruin the sound. Compared to CD Players and Turntables, streaming and converting bit perfect music is still in it's infancy, but promises great things in the future.

Are you having any issues with the way SB Touch handles your 16 BG drive? You would need to connect a 16GB SD card or an external drive with independent power to find out the difference.

 

[sarge_in]

The SB Touch works extremely well while streaming music from Windows PC/Apple or a NAS from brands like Netgear/QNAP/Buffalo. Perfect for folks who have a good modem/router/isp. But a Computer+SB Touch uses up plenty of bandwidth, leaving room for possibly one more computer being used for normal surfing.

To keep your broadband free for other requirements, you need to use an external hard disc drive.

OK, I am a bit confused. I don't understand how using SB will affect internet bandwidth? 1) If you are streaming local files, the setup is not using internet bandwidth at all. 2) If you are streaming online media, internet bandwidth used will be same whether you do it from computer or NAS. In fact, if the setup is correct you should be able to stream to SB even if you do not have internet access at all. Perhaps you mean local network resources or computer CPU usage being used by SB is slowing your other computer processing, which would of course be true and is a very good reason to offload SB server to a NAS.

 

[sarge_in]

Sarge

You are of course aware that a NAS can be programmed to start up and shut down at a defined time? Mine runs from 6.15 AM to 11.15 PM each night and uses less power than a PC.

George - Yes, of course. But I don't use that feature as I have 'other' processes running overnight . So just rely on automatic idling of hard drives when they are not being accessed. Still saves a lot of power as compared to a PC.

 

[sups]

Are you having any issues with the way SB Touch handles your 16 BG drive? You would need to connect a 16GB SD card or an external drive with independent power to find out the difference.

Thanks Ajay for the informative response.

I am planning to get SBT through a friend returning from UK (amazon UK pricing has dropped to 199 pound). So, trying to get as much information as possible. Unfortunately not possible to audition here in Pune. Information from people like you is a great source.

I will check your suggestion of UPS in my existing setup before finalizing.

 

[umapati]

Thanx a lot for all your suggestions and help.This has cleared my so many doubts.Yes, I hv purchased the hard drive in hurry.But I had no plan to buy Squeeze box first when I bought this hard drive.I bought it for storage of Music & movies which can be accessed by other family members when reqd thru their laptops..But after going thru this forum I decided to buy Squeezebox major for listening Internet Radio.Later I thought whether Squeezebox can handle it directly or not..and hence I put up this query...

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

hi Thad..is it possible to play audio files from SBS->wifi router which is not connected to the internet->SB touch->amp->spkrs
??

Yes ...

You do not need an active internet connection to play music SBS-on-PC -> wifi -> Squeezebox.

You do not need a running PC to play music internet ->router/wifi ->Squeezebox.

(if you have a Duet, you do not even have to have your squeezebox receiver turned on: you can play music from the internet on the remote!)

========================================

Lets be clear that the OP was speaking very specifically about a USB HDD attached to a USB port on a router, not about one attached to the Touch, or about an NAS. As far as I can see, that, specifically, is not supported --- although the guys at slimdevices forums might have found a way.

Squeezebox Server is cross-platform. It is certainly available for Linux (Ubuntu here (and the Duet controller runs Linux, BTW)) and it's quite likely that an NAS would be Linux based ...but would it run SBS? IIRC, Linux SBS uses a MySQL database, so now we are talking about running database software on a computer that has been cut down and optimised very specifically for file sharing only. But hey, I gather it's been done.

What will Squeezebox Server run on? I think it's open-source, so the answer to that is, how much trouble is a person prepared to go to to make it run?

(personally, not being a programmer, if I have to install software by compiling from source, the absolute maximum trouble I will go to is tracking down a few missing or wrong-version libraries, or tweaking an environment variable or two. Unless the hack for my requirements is clearly published and easy, I will not edit code; I just don't know what I'm doing!)

 

[ajay124]

OK, I am a bit confused. I don't understand how using SB will affect internet bandwidth? 1) If you are streaming local files, the setup is not using internet bandwidth at all. 2) If you are streaming online media, internet bandwidth used will be same whether you do it from computer or NAS. In fact, if the setup is correct you should be able to stream to SB even if you do not have internet access at all. Perhaps you mean local network resources or computer CPU usage being used by SB is slowing your other computer processing, which would of course be true and is a very good reason to offload SB server to a NAS.

sarge_in


You cannot stream music to SB without internet access. You can use a wireless router or ethernet. But you would need to be connected to the internet.

I am not sure whether 'bandwidth' is the right word (I am not a techie). But my combo modem+wireless router cannot handle more than three units running concurrently. Normally two computers and a Squeezebox. If we want to use another computer, it either does not connect or the SB starts experiencing frequent dropouts and rebuffering.

Every router I have used, developed some problem with multiple computers and a Squeezebox running together. Something to do with individual firmwares? Initially I was using a modem and router provided by my ISP. I replaced it with a Buffalo router with a built in modem. A few weeks ago it started giving trouble. I disabled it's wireless router to use it only as a modem. Connected it to a G series Netgear wireless router. After a couple of days I discovered that the new modem/router set up had its own series of problems. I was able to return the Netgear router, and after reading reviews on Amazon, opted for an N300 series D-Link modem+router. It is working very nicely as long as we don't have more than two computers and an SB powered on at the same time.

 

[anm]

For playing your own collection:

Internet access/ router not needed.
LAN/ wifi Switch needed.

For playing internet radio, of course you need an internet connection.

sarge_in


You cannot stream music to SB without internet access. You can use a wireless router or ethernet. But you would need to be connected to the internet.

I am not sure whether 'bandwidth' is the right word (I am not a techie). But my combo modem+wireless router cannot handle more than three units running concurrently. Normally two computers and a Squeezebox. If we want to use another computer, it either does not connect or the SB starts experiencing frequent dropouts and rebuffering.

Every router I have used, developed some problem with multiple computers and a Squeezebox running together. Something to do with individual firmwares? Initially I was using a modem and router provided by my ISP. I replaced it with a Buffalo router with a built in modem. A few weeks ago it started giving trouble. I disabled it's wireless router to use it only as a modem. Connected it to a G series Netgear wireless router. After a couple of days I discovered that the new modem/router set up had its own series of problems. I was able to return the Netgear router, and after reading reviews on Amazon, opted for an N300 series D-Link modem+router. It is working very nicely as long as we don't have more than two computers and an SB powered on at the same time.

 

[ajay124]

Updating my last post.

I powered on the iMac, iPad, SB Touch and SB Boom and they are all working nicely. Both SB's streaming internet radio stations. Gordon Lightfoot playing on one and Wagner on the other!

I think the problems we have been facing, have something to do with our Dell Laptop. When it is running, the other units have problem connecting with the wireless router.

The Dell is the private possession of my daughter who uses it exclusively for watching You Tube. We don't have a television connection or a newspaper subscription, therefore You Tube is the only tube beaming into our house.

My daughter loves watching Peppa Pig. Her favorite line currently is "It's NOT funny daddy pig!" And I'm supposed to reply "It's a little bit funny baby pig!"

 

[ajay124]

For playing your own collection:

Internet access/router not needed.
LAN/ wifi Switch needed.

For playing internet radio, of course you need an internet connection.

anm

Can you elaborate on that ?

I am under the impression that the Squeezebox server on my iMac, streams music from my iTunes folder through the wireless router to the Squeezebox Touch and Boom. But dosen't the Squeezebox server need to be connected to the internet to work?

 

[Kevian]

It is certainly available for Linux (Ubuntu here (and the Duet controller runs Linux, BTW)) and it's quite likely that an NAS would be Linux based ...but would it run SBS?

Thad,

On FreeNAS, if we install SlimNAS, then we can run SBS on a FreeNAS machine.

cheers!!
Kevian

 

[anm]

pull out the dsl link from router and verify that it works