Squeezebox (streamer) replacement?

[escape2]

By far, the most common cause is that the power bricks fail. Buy a new one for $4.99 and you're back in business.

Yeah, already tried that. Unfortunately it did not fix my issue. On LMS forums I was told it's likely some capacitors going bad, and I'm not sure I have the eyes/skills/steady hands to replace them.

I use a Touch in my main system, but purely as a streamer - the DAC functionality is handled externally.

That's how I use mine as well - the DAC built into my AVR sounds better to my ears than the DAC built into my Squeezebox.

Right now I'm leaning toward buying another (used) Squeezebox, although they are all getting up in years, so there is a risk that whatever I buy will also break down soon.

 

[Timcognito]

Shall I summarize

• Stay with what you got and get more used Squeeze stuff from the internet. It does not have the modern look you said you desired
• Eversolo A6 has good dac, screen and 2Tb of storage. Seems to meet every desired need but cost. (multi-room?)
• RPi setup. Can be a computer Pi-ject and no screen. Not an expert but companies like Allo have turn key systems.
• Bluseound Node a vetted system with good looks but no screen. Somewhat expensive especially multi-rooms
• WiiM Pro good price happy users no screen average dac
• Roon setup brings in sophisticated UI, EQ, DSP. Monthly subscription, dedicated computer and some setup

Screen issues are easily solved with large tablet (10" Androids >~$100)
If it were me for $150 one I'd try the WiiM and see if I liked it. If not it would make great gift fro a friend or relative.

 

[thegeton]

Well what do you expect? ASR is stuffed full of Engineers. Also, you haven't factored in all the billable hours that you'll spend on the Bluesound forums trying work out why it keeps dropping off your network

I've got an ancient Squeezebox Touch that I love, and two Bluesound Nodes, zero issues with any of them. Not everyone's story is the same.

 

[Fahzz]

It's not difficult, but not sure what you'd gain if LMS is running reliably for you now.

For a few months I've had some issues with 4000ish track playlists not functioning properly, being difficult to create, or getting deleted. I switched my streamer to rule out a hardware/network problem, so I'm thinking it's a software conflict. I don't see much mention of Max2Play in this or other forums, so my set up may be a bit of an outlier. Hence my interest in PiCore if it's an easy setup, and also because it's Squeeze centric.

I'm hoping some recent tweaks by the Squeezebox forum crew have finally solved the problem, and my issues are solved. We'll see.

 

[MaxBuck]

Well what do you expect? ASR is stuffed full of Engineers. Also, you haven't factored in all the billable hours that you'll spend on the Bluesound forums trying work out why it keeps dropping off your network

I'm an engineer myself. I learned programming by sitting on the floor after punching my deck of cards and waiting to see which card I screwed up first. I don't have any interest in learning more programming languages. But I'm happy to see so many other people seem to find it enjoyable.

 

[somebodyelse]

piCorePlayer doesn't come with LMS preinstalled, so you need to go through a few steps in the web GUI. I don't think any of the distros make much of a change to LMS so I wouldn't expect changes in playlist handling. They may be using different versions though, so may have different bugs both emerging and fixed. If you're the sort of person who has spare PC hardware lying around daphile may be worth a try - another appliance type distro using LMS and squeezelite.

 

[Timcognito]

I'm an engineer myself. I learned programming by sitting on the floor after punching my deck of cards and waiting to see which card I screwed up first. I don't have any interest in learning more programming languages. But I'm happy to see so many other people seem to find it enjoyable.

Ditto, on an IBM 360. Do Loop Errors OMG. My dyslexia made that card punching a nightmare.

 

[Piere]

I think that is a bit of an over simplification. There is a lot of implicit knowledge tied up in those steps. If you have the knowledge, it's a 20 minute job, if you don't then it could end up taking hours or days.

But in practice you need to know how to handle a screwdriver if you want your Pie in a neat box. How to handle your bowser to download a Picoreplayer image file from the Picocplayer web site and copy it to a micro SD card. Then some knowledge how to plug that card in the apropriate slot of the Pie comes in handy and that's it! Hook up a USB soundcard and point your Pie to that card by the web interface. Been there done that. If you have already managed to run a working LMS system you have a neat player for it. Controllable by various phone apps already there for Logitec players (iPeng etc.) or browser. Have hooked up this way a Pie 3B+ to a Topping E30-II and it works like a charm right away!

 

[Tangband]

My old Squeezebox2/Classic has served me well for the past 16 years, alas, it seems to be dying and I don't think I'm capable of fixing it.

I want something nice looking, primarily to use as transport (don't care if it has a DAC or not), with a nice display. Support for Logitech Media Server would be a plus, but if not, I think I can get around that using some DLNA renderer.

Eversolo A6 caught my eye, but it is more than what I'd like to spend. Are there other similar devices out there for less?

Thanks for your suggestions.

A WiiM pro used as a digital transport is my advice. The PEQ and a very good sounding digital preamp with volumeregulation through spdif out to an external Dac is the main reason for using it . Because of the volume regulation and the transparent sounding PEQ, its also better sounding than the older Squeezebox Duet.

The positive hype around this product made me very sceptical at first - but it is really as good as vintageflankers measurements show. Its one of my best buy, ever.

Here is a honest review , with teardown.

 

[Fahzz]

But in practice you need to know how to handle a screwdriver if you want your Pie in a neat box. How to handle your bowser to download a Picoreplayer image file from the Picocplayer web site and copy it to a micro SD card. Then some knowledge how to plug that card in the apropriate slot of the Pie comes in handy and that's it! Hook up a USB soundcard and point your Pie to that card by the web interface. Been there done that. If you have already managed to run a working LMS system you have a neat player for it. Controllable by various phone apps already there for Logitec players (iPeng etc.) or browser. Have hooked up this way a Pie 3B+ to a Topping E30-II and it works like a charm right away!

I've been through the process with my Digione Player and Max2Play. Can you or someone else confirm that PiCore can access local tracks on an external USB SSD? Thanks.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Is installing PiCore player really that straight forward? I running LMS on Max2Play now, and I've been thinkng about trying PiCore.

Darned near.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Another approach is the, gasp, Micro$oft web store app if you can run it on a computer. Also, some brands of NAS will run a LMS server and you can get mobile clients.

I've gone with the Pi approach but I'm a retired programmer and don't find the installation challenging. If you're not familiar with the Pi, navigating the PiCore Player interface can be challenging initially. The Jivelite interface for Raspberry Pi was a big attraction for me although there are a variety of front ends for Squeezelite.

 

[somebodyelse]

I've been through the process with my Digione Player and Max2Play. Can you or someone else confirm that PiCore can access local tracks on an external USB SSD? Thanks.

Short version: Yes

Assuming you don't already have LMS somewhere on your network you would be looking at Option 3 from their setup suggestions. First you set up the base piCorePlayer then through its web interface you add LMS to run on the Pi. In the LMS settings you can add a local folder (your USB SSD) as a music source.

Edit: I've assumed you mean to keep the SSD more or less permanently attached to the Pi and indexed by LMS, or at least only removed when the Pi is powered down, and put back before powering up again.

 

[Phorize]

I get a kick out of the "build yourself a RaspberryPi" responses, which are thick on the ground here. I mean, it's a fine idea if you want to add computer hobbyism to your waste-of-time list (which music appreciation assuredly also is), but I'd rather find a few hours of billable time for myself (less than I'd take futzing around with the Pi) and then just buy a Bluesound Node. But everyone has their own priorities, budgets and interests, so I'll just say chacun à son goût.

Building and setting a pi up with something like moodeaudio is a 30 minute job if you have never done it before, 15 if you have. I did my pi 4 3 years ago and haven't touched it really since. Realise that an off the shelf solution suits most people better, which is fair enough, but running a pi for audio purpose is a poor hobby as it's do once and more or less forget and I don't have to worry about the vendor abandoning the software after 2 years which is an industry norm.

 

[Fahzz]

Short version: Yes

Assuming you don't already have LMS somewhere on your network you would be looking at Option 3 from their setup suggestions. First you set up the base piCorePlayer then through its web interface you add LMS to run on the Pi. In the LMS settings you can add a local folder (your USB SSD) as a music source.

Edit: I've assumed you mean to keep the SSD more or less permanently attached to the Pi and indexed by LMS, or at least only removed when the Pi is powered down, and put back before powering up again.

Thanks. Yes that's how I'll use it.

I installed PiCore with LMS last night but it wouldn't scan the music library on the SSD for some reason. I'll give it another try over the weekend.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Thanks. Yes that's how I'll use it.

I installed PiCore with LMS last night but it wouldn't scan the music library on the SSD for some reason. I'll give it another try over the weekend.

If the SSD directories are set up as Windows (SMB) shares you should be able to scan them. You might want to double check the file permissions if they're set up as shares.

 

[MaxBuck]

Building and setting a pi up with something like moodeaudio is a 30 minute job if you have never done it before

That's 30 minutes less time available for working on my wedge game.

 

[Fahzz]

That's 30 minutes less time available for working on my wedge game.

While you're doing it, you can work on your putting instead.

 

[pablolie]

setting up streamers isnt plug and play. none of them. it is in the nature of the beast. many people that once set up Squeezeboxes did it so long ago they forgot it wasnt something everybody could easily do... and i am among those.

 

[Gee2]

If the SSD directories are set up as Windows (SMB) shares you should be able to scan them. You might want to double check the file permissions if they're set up as shares.

The SaMBa shares are only needed if you need to remotely put music on PiCore. Check this guide https://docs.picoreplayer.org/how-to/add_usb_hdd where you can skip the part about "Save LMS Server Cache and Preferences to Mounted Drive". Depending how the drive is formatted this guide https://docs.picoreplayer.org/how-to/add_4tb_usb_hdd/ is useful as it explains how to Install and Enable additional File Systems.