Slim Devices Squeezebox2 Wireless

August, 2005

Why should you spend three bills on an audio-only streamer when half that amount will buy one that handles video as well? Simple: because by a staggeringly wide margin Slim Devices' Squeezebox2 is the absolute best product in its class. Every aspect of the Squeezebox2's design and operation makes it clear that you haven't bought a built-to-a-price computer peripheral, but rather a superbly engineered audiophile component. In common with many such components, the Squeezebox2 does away with flashy, but only marginally-useful, features in favor of a simple design based on high-quality audio circuitry and an simple, intuitive user interface.

The Squeezebox2 receiver is an elegant matte black or champagne box with a highly legible dot-matrix fluorescent display whose text may be displayed in any of four sizes. The back panel has both conventional analog RCA outputs and both optical and coaxial digital audio outputs. Communications with the network is via on onboard 802.11g transceiver or standard Ethernet cable. (If you prefer a cabled connection, a wired-only model will save you $50.)

The first step in setting up the Squeezebox2 is to download the open-source server software from the Slim Devices web site. This ensures that you start with the latest version. The software installation will ask you to specify the location of any music and playlist files that aren't in Windows' default "My Music" location. You can only specify a single folder hierarchy for music and playlist files, but this isn't a problem since they can contain shortcuts to other folders. With the software set up, you power up the Squeezebox2. It quickly finds the wireless network and the display prompts you to use the remote to establish the connection. We found that it took about 90 seconds to do this, and that includes entering the necessary encryption code.

Once the setup and configuration are done, playing music on the local hard drive is as simple as choosing a song, artist, album, or playlist. You can create on-the-fly playlists by adding items during playback. The device almost always responded immediately to a command from the remote. (If the network is busy there might be a very slight delay.) During our extensive and intensive testing the playback quality was absolutely smooth and free from hiccups.

The Squeezebox2 isn't limited to playing files on the hard drive. It comes equipped to stream Internet radio from the Live365, SHOUTcast, and radioio networks, as well as from a list of Slim Devices Picks. You can also add the URL of any MP3-based webstream to the music folder. Slim Devices recently set up a service called SqueezeNetwork, which allows the Squeezebox2 to connect to a programming sources directly through the network, without first going through the PC on which the SlimServer software resides. In addition to the expected list of Internet-friendly radio stations, SqueezeNetwork provides access to archive.org's vast library of live performances, including more than 2,500 Grateful Dead shows.

Here are a few other facts worth knowing: 1. The server software supports pretty much as many Squeezeboxes as you care to install, and can run them independently or in synch with one another. 2. With the server software running in the background, you can access the music on your hard drive from any computer, anywhere, that has an Internet connection and an MP3 player. 3. The back-panel Ethernet jack allows the Squeezebox2 to function as a network bridge.