Alternative to Squeezebox Touch

droodzilla

Wammer
Wammer
Sep 26, 2008
482
4
33
Sheffield, UK
AKA
Nigel
Much as I love my SBT, it's always been a bit glitchy with Spotify. I run it through mysqueezebox.com rather than using LMS as I don't want to have to have my laptop on while listening to music. Also, I'm perfectly happy to stream everything from a web-based service and have no desire to manage a local music library on my laptop.

Are there other ways of doing this? Just to clarify the requirements:

Stream music from the Internet - Spotify and internet radio

Remote control via iPhone 3GS (yes, I know I'm behind the times)

No need to have laptop (or any other device) switched on

No requirement to stream music locally

Basically, I want a single, cheap discreet box I can plug into my amp that will do what my SBT does. Not too fussy about alleged differences in sound quality as I'm a bit of a "digital is digital" kind of guy.

I suppose Sonos is the obvious alternative but I'm not sure which of their units I need and I don't know if their solution requires software to be installed and running on a laptop. Can anyone help me out?

Thanks

Nigel

Edit: Looking at Sonos, it seems I would need a "Connect" unit plugged into my amp + a "Bridge" hard wired into my router. Is that correct? Should also have said that my budget is around £300 tops.

 

AlanB

Wammer
Wammer
Aug 20, 2007
2,762
41
0
West Midlands
AKA
Alan
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Sonos is brilliant - soundwise and ergonomically.

If you aren't going to add other components e.g. Play 1 to your system you don't require a Bridge.

Controlling via your iPhone is fine.

Just under £300 and since I've had one my audio life has been great. :D

 

tkimages

Wammer
Wammer
Jun 14, 2006
10,774
9,496
173
St Helens
AKA
Tillman
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
The Sonos has be connected to the internet either by its own wi fi via a Sonos Bridge or by connecting the Sonos directly to the network.

You need a laptop or computer to initially set up the Sonos, but after that it can be controlled from an iphone/ipad etc.

 

bencat

Amplifier Destroyer
Wammer Plus
Feb 6, 2010
10,310
8,115
208
Liverpool
AKA
Andrew
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Could I ask are you using the Triode Spotify App ? If not then would suggest you try this first as it is reported to work much better than the Logitech standrd plug in which has often been described as flaky. If you are only using Spotify and Internet radio then this should make things fully function with zero money outlay.

Much as I love my SBT, it's always been a bit glitchy with Spotify. I run it through mysqueezebox.com rather than using LMS as I don't want to have to have my laptop on while listening to music. Also, I'm perfectly happy to stream everything from a web-based service and have no desire to manage a local music library on my laptop.Are there other ways of doing this? Just to clarify the requirements:

Stream music from the Internet - Spotify and internet radio

Remote control via iPhone 3GS (yes, I know I'm behind the times)

No need to have laptop (or any other device) switched on

No requirement to stream music locally

Basically, I want a single, cheap discreet box I can plug into my amp that will do what my SBT does. Not too fussy about alleged differences in sound quality as I'm a bit of a "digital is digital" kind of guy.

I suppose Sonos is the obvious alternative but I'm not sure which of their units I need and I don't know if their solution requires software to be installed and running on a laptop. Can anyone help me out?

Thanks

Nigel

Edit: Looking at Sonos, it seems I would need a "Connect" unit plugged into my amp + a "Bridge" hard wired into my router. Is that correct? Should also have said that my budget is around £300 tops.
 

wynniaj

Wammer
Wammer
Nov 20, 2013
59
7
13
Sussex
AKA
Jonny
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
you could also look at something like a Marantz NA7004 which works with Spotify/Airplay and sounds pretty good

 

JesperKeller

Wammer
New Wammer
Jun 10, 2014
1
0
0
Sonos is as far as i'm aware, the best solution for you to use - when it comes to the Spotify.

Bluesound is forexample not compatible with Spotify built-in.. So yeah, i would definently pick Sonos.

 

martinclemas

Wammer
Wammer
May 4, 2009
58
50
68
Hull, , United Kingd
AKA
Martin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I had the same problem with my squeezebox.com. I now use a £28 rasperry pi running LMS on Squeezeplug. It's quite easy to do (there is a thread on here started by Glowing tones describing how to set it up, as well as a YouTube tutorial which is easy to follow.)

Mine has been on continuously for a couple of months or so now with no problems and my squeezebox devices all run better than ever. I did run a windows PC previously but it would sometimes crash or stop, whereas the pi is rock solid.

You could buy a nice DAC with the money you would save compared with Sonos!

 

hermano

Wammer
Wammer
Jul 1, 2013
715
151
73
I had the same problem with my squeezebox.com. I now use a £28 rasperry pi running LMS on Squeezeplug. It's quite easy to do (there is a thread on here started by Glowing tones describing how to set it up, as well as a YouTube tutorial which is easy to follow.) Mine has been on continuously for a couple of months or so now with no problems and my squeezebox devices all run better than ever. I did run a windows PC previously but it would sometimes crash or stop, whereas the pi is rock solid.

You could buy a nice DAC with the money you would save compared with Sonos!
I just have to agree. Set mine up last week end...Raspberry Pi with Wolfson dac attached. Installed squeezeplug as server and squeezelite as player and now (after some support from lovely people here). My thought was to have a back up if SBT failed, but am now running the pi set up and SBT has not been on since...now I have a streamer and server in one, for the cost of around £60....and it sounds delightful.

 

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