Logitech's Squeezebox Duet gets reviewed

You've had ample time to mull over the specs and even take a glance at Logitech's Squeezebox Duet on video, but if you've still been holding off until a legitimate review gave you the final thumbs-up, here goes. According to CNET, this network digital audio system has a remote worth swooning over, very satisfactory file support and a certain charm that's only truly experienced when tuning into internet radio stations (yeah, it does that too). 'Course, not everything was entirely rosy, as the scroll wheel was knocked for being unresponsive at times and of course, the inability to play nice with DRM-strapped files from the iTMS or Zune Marketplace (among others) was somewhat of a letdown. Still, for those dealing with tunes that are free and clear of restrictions, the Duet seems like a solid choice -- hit up the read link for more proof.

[Alex Wilks @ Mar 6th 2008 6:41AM]

Really like the look of this- coupled with a WHS it seems like a really good solution. Would be nice to do one with an inbuilt speaker as well really, considering the target application would be in places like a kitchen where space is precious and loose cables aren't an option.

[SuperQ @ Mar 6th 2008 11:26AM]

Check out the Audioengine A2. Nice and small, not too expensive, and not too bad for cabling. The A5 version has a cable-saving AC plug on the back.

[Sike @ Mar 6th 2008 6:43AM]

"the inability to play nice with DRM-strapped files from the iTMS or Zune Marketplace (among others) was somewhat of a letdown."

What a strange remark. No player, apart from the ipod, can play nice with itunes DRMd files..

Apperantly the tester was also letdown at the lack of a pony...

They should really get someone who knows their 'mp3s' down at these labs.. at least it got a 'Editors Choice'

[Kelmon @ Mar 6th 2008 6:57AM]

True, but it's a pretty fundamental issue for anyone with a large library of iTunes or Zune DRMed music so it needs to be mentioned.

[ugg.tryptophan @ Mar 6th 2008 2:07PM]

theres no drm on zune marketplace (it says so on the box)

[Craig @ Mar 6th 2008 8:23AM]

I still don't understand why these systems (e.g., this and Sonos) are so expensive. The parts and assembly costs, all told, probably don't total up to more than $30. I mean, this is Logitech we're talking about...they sell $9 mice. This system should be

[Dugbee @ Mar 6th 2008 8:52AM]

I suspect because it's still a niche product. Unless it's an iPod dock, I don't think the average consumer understands what's going on. That said, the price is killing me - I really want to upgrade my Roku M500s, but $300 for a Squeezebox or $400 for a Duet is rather painful. I'd hoped that Logitech's acquisition of Slimdevices would drop the price by putting it into more retail channels, but that hasn't happened either.

[underwhelm @ Mar 6th 2008 8:57AM]

I'm guessing because they don't sell as many of them as they do mice.

I've never seen a Squeezebox at Best Buy, for example, so while they are outstanding pieces of equipment, I have little doubt they could sell more than they do.

Personally, I think if they get these things in front of the public and market them, they could sell a lot more and bring the price down. Heck, they could seriously threaten local terrestrial radio with the right ad campaign and alliances with internet broadcasters.

But I'm just a gadget nerd, what do I know.

[solodragon @ Mar 6th 2008 5:46PM]

You have to keep in mind that the Sonos ZP100s come with a built in amp. I've had my Sonos system for over a year now and I love it. I've looked at the Duet here and, while it's nice, it's not enough to make me switch.

[Jeebus @ Mar 6th 2008 12:37PM]

I suspect you tried using the "less than" character? Well, Engadget is not sophisticated enough to actually escape posted comments. Hackers have a go at it.

[mporupsky @ Mar 6th 2008 8:49AM]

Here's a much better solution for Itunes and DRM.

1 - iPod Touch or iPhone
2 - Airport express for Airtunes
3 - Signal from www.alloysoft.com

You can control any aspect of your itunes and stream it through your stereo via the browser on your ipod. flawless.

Plus then you have a nice ipod for your travels. I spend $200 on the Logiecth Music DJ. It too played DRM songs through itunes, but it was terrible and have performance issues.

[Jon @ Mar 6th 2008 10:04AM]

Better first look is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64HwO6bxRro

[notyou @ Mar 6th 2008 11:12AM]

I've got a Squeezebox and it has no difficulty playing tracks downloaded from the itunes music store.

[notyou @ Mar 6th 2008 12:18PM]

Just double-checked and I'm wrong. My squeezebox DOES NOT play music DL'd from the itunes store.

[anotherchris @ Mar 6th 2008 12:32PM]

Actually a very very good remote control for the squeezebox is the... iPhone. After installing the iPeng skin, for playback/browsing the iPhone (or touch) is great.

As regards to the boix, personally I prfer the V3 Squeezebox, but I do understand why slim developed their new box and remote (unfortuantely for them an iPhone or touch is a better solution imho, even though I have never tried the Duet).

[Jeebus @ Mar 6th 2008 12:39PM]

Is that a browser skin? If so, it's probably slow as hell on a NAS.

[Arju @ Mar 6th 2008 1:35PM]

I'm looking to do whole house audio... currently setting a foundation for a new house.

I looked at Sonos and a few other options but the Squeezebox Duet looks promising. I'll see what other reviewers say. I still have a couple months to plan wiring.

[Mark @ Mar 6th 2008 2:00PM]

Only audio...worthless..

[nVidiot @ Mar 6th 2008 2:57PM]

I love my squeezebox. It's an awesome product and I'm thinking of getting the duet.

I'll have to check out that iPeng skin mentioned in this thread though first.. thanks for that, I do have an iPod touch that I pretty much never use.

[MrDVDUK @ Mar 7th 2008 9:10AM]

Sound quality will about the same between the Sonos and the Duet as they use very similar level of DAC. I would suggest that the Duet may sound a little better as it uses a much newer design of DAC than the BurrBrown DAC in the ZP80/ZP100/Squeezebox Classic.

The overheads put on the Sonos controller slow it down considerably when faced with a large music collection (say 250+ CDs) so whilst being able to stream off a NAS is great having a product specific server software running say a WHS box (not that much more expensive than a half decent NAS but much more useful) gives the Duet a significant advantage. Even more so in multi zones. Remember of course that the Duet also uses standard 802.11g Wifi unlike the Sonos wireless mesh system (great idea in concept) which I believe can cause problems for certain Wifi routers.

[BALA @ Mar 7th 2008 10:25PM]

One fundamenetal difference which I have not seen anyone pick up is that the Squeezebox Duet cannot play your music files stored on an NAS. It requires a computer running Squeezecenter to do so. Whereas the Sonos does not have any such limitation. I too would like to see an alternative to the usurous costs that Sonos demands, but unfortunately there is nothing yet that matches the Sonos feature for feature yet. And being able to play your music off an NAS is really cool because one never has to worry about the status of the computer. Of course I have no idea of the quality of audio that Sq.box puts out compared to Sonos, which I know from owning one, to be very very good.

[Weasel @ Apr 8th 2008 12:38AM]

The Duet is great fun. I dont know about using other music files, I just use it for internet radio on a decent system. Using a high quality digital coaxial cable(with RCA's)is vastly superior to toslink. I think it sounds great. I run the squeezebox into a benchmark dac then to krell amp and maggie 3.5's, all with XLO interconnects and coaxial, with biwired anti-cables by Paul Speltz to the maggies. No complaints on sound here.