Logitech Squeezebox Duet review
in Network media streamers
Verdict
One of the best network audio players just got better. It's expensive, but worth every penny.
Review Date: 27 Mar 2008
Reviewed By: Jonathan Bray
Price when reviewed: £237 (£273 inc VAT)
Buy it now for: £230
(see more store prices)
Features & Design
![]()
Value for Money
![]()
Ease of Use
![]()
![]()
Proven quality
All the strengths of previous Squeezebox devices still hold true. File format support is superb: it played every track from our rather esoteric test library, which spans a broad mixture of file types, from MP3 and WMA through AAC to the open source FLAC and Ogg formats. Sound quality is equally superb. Music is reproduced cleanly and clearly, though it lacks the ultimate sparkle and punch of similarly priced traditional hi-fi separates. The Receiver module, as with the Squeezbox 3 before it, is capable of acting as a wireless bridge, so other, non-wireless networkable AV components can benefit from the convenience of a wireless connection.
The final feather in the Duet's cap is its extendibility through plugins, and its seamless integration with services such as Rhapsody and MP3tunes Music Locker. Rhapsody is a subscription service that lets you play what seems like any tune on the face of the planet for a cost of around £6.50 a month. MP3tunes Music Locker is a service you can upload your tunes to and then access on the Squeezebox without having to turn your PC or NAS box on at all. Internet radio is available too, with thousands of stations to choose from.
There are only two criticisms we could possibly level at the Squeezbox Duet. The first is that it's not UPnP compatible - which restricts you to SqueezeCenter as a media server. And the second is that it's pricey at £237. But when you consider that the Sonos Digital Music System's controller alone costs the same, we don't think it's too much to ask. If only the engineers who built it could be persuaded to do the same for video streaming...
Author: Jonathan Bray
Best Prices
Price comparison powered by 
| Prices, delivery and availability at 2 retailers | Go | |
|
£230 | Go |
|
£342 | Go |
From around the web
advertisement
- LinkedIn revenue doubles as membership soars
- Kodak kills off cameras
- UK broadband project spending £1m on legal fees
- Microsoft: Windows on ARM won't be sold separately
- Intel pays five hours of profits to settle antitrust case
- Windows 8 on ARM to run desktop apps... but only Office
- Ofcom dithers over plans to tackle broadband slamming
- Data boost bolsters Vodafone revenue
- Google working on cloud storage system
- Lenovo's profit leaps 54% on market gains
- Chrome's shine getting lost in translation
- BytePac: the cardboard hard disk enclosure
- How tech loosens our grip on reality
- Hokum watch: Safer Internet Day
- Why I'm deleting Adobe from my PC
- Prepare to be patronised: it's Safer Internet Day
- Dear Sony, Samsung and every other tech company in the world: stop trying to be Apple
- Will Apple's Final Cut Pro X update placate the pros?
- Smartr Contacts for iPhone review
- Switching to Office 365's Outlook Web App
- The ultimate guide to passwords
- How Apple lulls Mac owners into a false sense of security
- Privacy - outdated luxury or public necessity?
- Building the bionic man
- The making of open-source software
- Top 10 stupid security stories of 2011
- 10 techs to watch in 2012
- PC Pro's favourite tech products of 2011
- 10 most read articles on PC Pro in 2011
- 50 ways to make your PC better
- Why virtualisation hasn't slowed the growth of data
- How to make Google AdWords work for your business
- The curse of sloppily written software
- Paying for your crimes with Bitcoin
- Behind the scenes: tech support for Formula 1
- The security risk of fat fingers
- Why Windows Phone 7 isn't quite ready for business
- When will Microsoft stop fiddling with Windows 8?
- Flash down the pan?
- Metro Style apps vs desktop applications
advertisement





