Linksys Goes After Squeezebox and Sonos

craig223 · « **on:** 23 Jan 2009, 09:14 pm »

Linksys is entering the wireless home audio business. These quotes are from PCMAG.COM "The new Linksys Wireless Home Audio system is a seven-piece system that offer multiroom wireless sound. There are a variety of devices and configurations for users to choose from, starting at a three-room setup for $999."

and "The Linksys Conductor acts as a hub for the Wireless Home Audio system, with a CD player, 7-inch touch screen, and speakers. It'll be available in about a month (the other components in the Linksys system are available now."

and "Yup, looks like a Sonos remote. The Linksys Controller includes a big touch screen and integration with Rhapsody and RadioTime."

They have also introduced a new media hub NAS. "Linksys new media-centric NAS device includes and LCD screen, memory card slot, and USB port for adding your media files. It also includes a Media Importer for PC that auto-syncs new files on your PC, and a slick Web-based interface that offers remote access and remote file uploading. The whole thing looks very easy to use, and will run you $349 for the 500GB version and $429 for the 1TB version. It's available now."

Has anyone heard these? How do they compare to a Squeezebox or Sonos?

Rashiki · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 09:44 pm »

Is this it?

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/WirelessHomeAudio

ted_b · « **Reply #2 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 10:11 pm »

A little confusing but interesting. No FLAC support (yet). No 24/96 capability. They have 3 or 4 products that all stream, some portable some not? I'm trying to get my head around the differences among the Conducorr, Director, player stuff. They include a small amp in a few of their products. No mention of the software on the pc (Squeeze Center rival) or the GUI.

Rashiki · « **Reply #3 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 10:25 pm »

The player http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/DMP100 is $299 at Amazon. The product page claims that it does support FLAC and formats up to 24-bit, but the manual says it supports various bitrates up to 48kHz. It also claims to support Tos-Link and S/PDIF, but only has a toslink connector -- no S/PDIF over coax.

The Director (player with integrated amp and screen) is $449 at Amazon.

The Controller (remote with screen) is $349 at Amazon.

The Conductor (music center with screen and CD player) isn't available yet.

boead · « **Reply #4 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 11:08 pm »

I just installed one of these in my office:
Linksys NAS200
http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/NAS200
with 2 WD 1TB drives rest for RAID1.

It has a media server, have no idea how it works.

I had a Cavalry NAS go bad on me the other day. It also has 2 1TB drives in RAID1 (WD green drives). I'm now creating an image of the data from the EXT2 partition (about 800GB worth of it) to a 1TB drive (NTFS) in my office box so I can then mount the image and extract the data. Pain in the ass but nothing was lost.
The Cavalry people were excellent, great support. Quick RMA.

I paid about $475 for the Cavalry 2TB box about 8 months ago.

The Linksys NAS200 was $130 plus $130each for the HD's.

Rashiki · « **Reply #5 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 11:19 pm »

Quote from: boead on 23 Jan 2009, 11:08 pm

It has a media server, have no idea how it works.

It's a DLNA server, so it should work with some DLNA-compliant TVs, the PlayStation3, some Blu-Ray players, and some media extenders like the Buffalo LinkTheater.

It should work, but that doesn't mean it'll work reliably. I haven't had a lot of luck with DLNA, especially when you try to fast-forward or rewind.