The Squeezebox is a strange name for a device to stream audio files over a network, and while we still haven’t figured out what the name means, we are very impressed at the device itself, despite what is a fairly hefty price tag.

So what is the Squeezebox?

The Squeezebox was designed and built by company called Slim Devices, a company that specialised in easy to use network devices for streaming music, and has very recently been acquired (bought-out) by Logitech, so what you used to be able to buy as a Slim Devices Squeezebox, is now a Logitech Squeezebox.

Logitech Squeezebox - Powering On

That’s all well and good, but what is the Squeezebox?? Well the Squeezebox is a device that streams music files of all sorts from your PC or server and allow you to play it on your home Hi-Fi setup, wherever it is in the house.

Rear of Unit

The Squeezebox requires an application/server program called ‘SlimServer’ to be loaded on a PC on your network which the Squeezebox then connects to. Within SlimServer you can organise your playlists in a similar fashion to iTunes and other similar programs, or load pre-existing playlists created by Winamp or Media Player (supports .m3u, .pls, .cue, .asx and .wpl playlists), but we’ll go into more detail on the SlimServer program later on in the review.

The Squeezebox is designed to connect to your Home Theatre or Hi-Fi system, and as such it has all the basic audio connection types you might require, including Analogue RCA stereo, SPDIF Optical + Coaxial Digital connection, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The digital audio conversion and processing is handled by a very high quality Hi-Fi 24-Bit Burr-Brown DAC and the sound quality, even out of the analogue ports is simply outstanding. Even though it’s converting from MP3s which can often be of questionable quality, the bass sounds are true and within expected levels, with the rest of the spectrum giving a very even output across the range. Some cheaper network audio streamers often over emphasise the bass or treble output to compensate for (or as a result of) substandard components. While true audiophiles may be able to find something wrong with the sound (they always can), I can’t fault it at all.

Rear Audio and Network Connections

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