Anyone heard of sooloos

[Eggle]

www.sooloos.com
Seems good, and bought by Meridian

[LaSarthe+Back]

Yeah someone mentioned them on the music server thread. Stereophile review here

Seems the best implementation of a music system on a network. Just need to put some pennies aside!

A similar offering from B&O:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/08/bang-and-olufse...

Edited by LaSarthe+Back on Tuesday 10th February 19:41

[DavidY]

Not cheap
It looks like Meridian are going to add in Video server functionality
Will appeal to the well healed custom install market

A few threads running on the Meridian forum

davidy

[scott.s]

It's an outstanding product that is not cheat but is by far the music server i have used.
When used with a out board DAC it will give most 10K disc spinners a run for there money.
It networks with other Sooloos units anywere in the world so rip a disc in london and it's there once you get to your LA pad and then onto your Melbourne pad.
It very clever in thr way it learns you music listening trends aswell.

I just wish i'd been quicker to get the distribution 2 years ago.

[SJobson]

scott.s said:

When used with a out board DAC it will give most 10K disc spinners a run for there money.

If you're going to use an outboard DAC, surely a Squeezebox or Mac Mini outputting to the same DAC will give virtually identical results, for a fraction of the price? Spend a small proportion of the saving on a touchscreen LCD for controlling it.

I love the interface of the Sooloos, but surely someone can do it for 1/10th the price and no reduction in sound quality?

[scott.s]

It's hard to look at a hard drive as anything other that a computer drive but it's not the same.

Power supply's and isolation of the drive are so important, also signal paths and the the quality of components in them need to be looked at.

Sooloos has amazing customer back up in that the system is always on line to the factory and if there is a problem the tech guy's will be working on it before you see there is something wrong.

I use a Mac Mini and it’s great but systems like Sooloos and Linn DS are just in a different league.

[Plotloss]

Who distributes it Scott?

I'm a big fan of Max (price aside), never really got on with Kaleidescape but this looks interesting.

[SJobson]

scott.s said:

Power supply's and isolation of the drive are so important, also signal paths and the the quality of components in them need to be looked at.

Signal paths/isolation: Even if you use an optical output?

The only thing which varies between the digital signal output of various devices is the timing (assuming they don't actually alter the data). Jitter of quite significant orders can be inaudible, assuming the DAC is designed properly. My opinion is that the Sooloos is a nice interface, but it cannot be any better a transport than other media players which are an order of magnitude cheaper (or maybe two orders of magnitude in the case of a Squeezebox).

ETA: here's a link to an article where industry opinion is sought on the issue of computer audio. The individuals interviewed don't concur, of course, but it's quite apparent that some don't even know what they're talking about. Clicky

Edited by SJobson on Wednesday 11th February 14:10

[scott.s]

Plotloss said:

Who distributes it Scott?

I'm a big fan of Max (price aside), never really got on with Kaleidescape but this looks interesting.

Meridian now own Sooloos so dealer will have access to it.

[scott.s]

SJobson said:

scott.s said:

Power supply's and isolation of the drive are so important, also signal paths and the the quality of components in them need to be looked at.

Signal paths/isolation: Even if you use an optical output?

The only thing which varies between the digital signal output of various devices is the timing (assuming they don't actually alter the data). Jitter of quite significant orders can be inaudible, assuming the DAC is designed properly. My opinion is that the Sooloos is a nice interface, but it cannot be any better a transport than other media players which are an order of magnitude cheaper (or maybe two orders of magnitude in the case of a Squeezebox).

ETA: here's a link to an article where industry opinion is sought on the issue of computer audio. The individuals interviewed don't concur, of course, but it's quite apparent that some don't even know what they're talking about. Clicky

Edited by SJobson on Wednesday 11th February 14:10

I have worked for a British CD player manufacturer and we have proved that from disc to DAC can be greatly improved. You also need to look at error correction, it's a very large can of worms.

I suggest you listen to few different systems and maybe try a few things for your self.

[RedLeicester]

Sod the kit, I want the bird from the adverts!

Thanks for the link to the computer audio discussion - amazing that they simply ask a bunch of hi-fi experts, not those in Pro Audio else many of the answers would have been somewhat different...

[SJobson]

scott.s said:

SJobson said:

scott.s said:

Power supply's and isolation of the drive are so important, also signal paths and the the quality of components in them need to be looked at.

Signal paths/isolation: Even if you use an optical output?

The only thing which varies between the digital signal output of various devices is the timing (assuming they don't actually alter the data). Jitter of quite significant orders can be inaudible, assuming the DAC is designed properly. My opinion is that the Sooloos is a nice interface, but it cannot be any better a transport than other media players which are an order of magnitude cheaper (or maybe two orders of magnitude in the case of a Squeezebox).

ETA: here's a link to an article where industry opinion is sought on the issue of computer audio. The individuals interviewed don't concur, of course, but it's quite apparent that some don't even know what they're talking about. Clicky

Edited by SJobson on Wednesday 11th February 14:10

I have worked for a British CD player manufacturer and we have proved that from disc to DAC can be greatly improved. You also need to look at error correction, it's a very large can of worms.

I suggest you listen to few different systems and maybe try a few things for your self.

I have listened to plenty of kit, and have spent the last 2 years trying various different computer audio solutions, thanks. The makers of expensive CD transports have a vested interest in making big claims for them; however, as is evidenced by the article I linked to, not even manufacturers agree on the subject - some not even seeming to understand the issues...

Not sure what you're talking about with error correction - if there are errors in the data output, you really are doing it wrong. Red Book standard allows 100% correct data output even with quite gross damage to CDs, and in any case, we're talking about music that's bit-perfect ripped so errors shouldn't come into it.

Red Leicester, they're not just industry commentators but also manufacturers (e.g. Weiss, Bel Canto).

I should add that I agree, not all transports sound the same into some DACs; what I am saying is that into certain well designed DACs, the jitter performance of the transport won't affect the sound and therefore, as long as the transport you connect has a reasonable digital output, it will sound pretty much identical to any other reasonable transport.

Edited by SJobson on Wednesday 11th February 17:19

[RedLeicester]

SJobson said:

Red Leicester, they're not just industry commentators but also manufacturers (e.g. Weiss, Bel Canto).

Point proven!

[SJobson]

Not sure I understand your point

I've done a bit of digging on the Sooloos and discovered that the jitter performance of the digital out is no great shakes. So actually, it's not even a particularly competent transport. As I said before, it's just a nice interface. Let's hope Meridian can improve the audio performance.

[HowMuchLonger]

LaSarthe+Back said:

Yeah someone mentioned them on the music server thread. Stereophile review here

Seems the best implementation of a music system on a network. Just need to put some pennies aside!

A similar offering from B&O:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/08/bang-and-olufse...

Edited by LaSarthe+Back on Tuesday 10th February 19:41

Not sure about the B&O offering. Initially I thought it was rubbish, but after a bit of a play I started to like it. The lack of information on multiroom integration for several controllers, and the lack of 2-way remote capability, and lack of expandability is offputting. Not sure if it can handle FLAC either.