Squeezecenter 7.0 Gold sound quality?

jholtz · « **on:** 5 Mar 2008, 02:35 am »

I've been running a beta version of Squeezecenter 7.0 since early December with firmware version 84 most recently and have been extremely pleased with the sound quality. It is a step up from Slimserver with Firmware 15, IMHO. I installed the gold version today which upgraded the firmware to 86.

I hear differences. Can someone else do a little test and post what they think? Hopefully you have the fabulous

Firmware Selector program installed so you can pop back and forth between firmware 84 and 86. I'd like to hear what others think before I state what I'm hearing.

Thanks!

Jim

Double Ugly · « **Reply #1 on:** 5 Mar 2008, 02:49 am »

Quote from: jholtz on 5 Mar 2008, 02:35 am

I installed the gold version today which upgraded the firmware to 86.

I upgraded (I hope) to 7.0 today, too, but I'm obviously out of the loop.

Gold? What/where is a gold version, and how's it different from the standard SqueezeCenter download?

Thanks.

jholtz · « **Reply #2 on:** 5 Mar 2008, 02:56 am »

Sorry, I probably shouldn't have used the word gold. They called it that because it officially came out of beta today for release. It is the version you downloaded today.

Jim

Double Ugly · « **Reply #3 on:** 5 Mar 2008, 03:04 am »

Quote from: jholtz on 5 Mar 2008, 02:56 am

Sorry, I probably shouldn't have used the word gold. They called it that because it officially came out of beta today for release. It is the version you downloaded today.

Jim

Ohhhh... Ok, I feel better now. Thought maybe I'd fallen even farther out of the loop than I'd feared.

Thanks for the clarification, Jim.

jholtz · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 Mar 2008, 04:14 pm »

Can I assume that no one besides me can hear a difference in sound quality between versions 84 and 86?

Jim

oris98 · « **Reply #5 on:** 11 Mar 2008, 07:12 pm »

Based on some of the comments on slimdevice's audiophile forum, firmware 83 and 84 sound better than 86. I personally have not tried. I am waiting for the official release of the SC7.0 which is now available.

Questions:
Do I need to uninstall my Slimserver 6.54 first before installing SC7.0 ?
Will it retain my current setup after the SC7.0 install on top of my 6.54 if the above answer is " no need to uninstall 6.54 frist" ?
I assume the SC7 now ship only with the firmware 86, can I still download 83 and 84 somewhere ?

Is there any major benefit to this upgrade from user interface perspective ?

Thanks all !

Martyn · « **Reply #6 on:** 11 Mar 2008, 07:27 pm »

For me, at least, SC7 uninstalled SlimServer for me.

The interface is a little more attractive, although I have to say that I've hardly used it yet. Main disappointment is that previously I would only need to have my PC turned on for my SB to work; now I have to be logged in as well. I don't like that...

woodsyi · « **Reply #7 on:** 11 Mar 2008, 07:50 pm »

Infrant just put out an add-on for SC7. I will install it on my ReadyNas tonight and report what I hear.

Martyn · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 01:04 am »

I'm going to correct myself: SC7 can be configured to provide file access without you being logged in, and the password can be ignored if you wish.

Bill@LakeGeorge · « **Reply #9 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 08:08 am »

Quote from: woodsyi on 11 Mar 2008, 07:50 pm

Infrant just put out an add-on for SC7. I will install it on my ReadyNas tonight and report what I hear.

Can you provide a link?

Thanks

ctviggen · « **Reply #10 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 11:07 am »

With SC7, I still have the problem (meaning I had the same problem when the program was in Beta) that when I select the "downstairs" SB and say select an album to play, SC7 sends this information to the downstairs SB. In other words, it'll turn on the downstairs SB and start playing the album downstairs, even though I've selected the upstairs SB. Consequently, I cannot control the upstairs SB, which means I've had to uninstall SC7.

woodsyi · « **Reply #11 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 01:12 pm »

Quote from: Bill@LakeGeorge on 12 Mar 2008, 08:08 am

Quote from: woodsyi on 11 Mar 2008, 07:50 pm
Infrant just put out an add-on for SC7. I will install it on my ReadyNas tonight and report what I hear.

Can you provide a link?

Thanks

Infrant site looks to be down today. You can go to their forum when they come back up and look on streaming section. The first thread has downloadable add-on for the SC7. Down load it and save it. From your Front View (http//your ReadyNas IP address/admin) access local update and point to your saved add-on file. Click and you are done.

Now the caveat. My update did not work. Up loading and installation worked fine and the log says everything was installed. I just can't seem to access the new SC7. The //your ReadyNas IP Adress/9000 does not work. A couple of others were also having the same problem last night. I think it may have to with my old and decrepit 600 model and it's 256Mb memory. I believe some successfully expanded their memory to 1GB and I will figure out if that is what I need. Otherwise, I have to roll back to a previous version or upgrade my ReadyNas. Some were saying it worked fine in beta with ReadyNas NV.

richidoo · « **Reply #12 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 01:42 pm »

Hey woodsyi! Hope you're doin fine...

I'm interested in knowing experiences with the ReadyNAS/SC7. I have the old NV too with 256MB. I have been debating upgrading memory, because it ran a little slow with slim6 also. Last night I shut down a bunch of nas services I don't need, hoping that will speed it up a bit too. I am running SC7 now on a PC pointing to NAS for tunes, but it is flakey. The Jive remote sometimes gets hung up with server not able to find files on the network. I use a URL to point SC to the music directory on NAS. The forthcoming Repetoire looks cool!!

Older ReadyNAS software is available now on Netgear.com, but not the SC7 version. Infrant site still down.
Thanks
Rich

jman66 · « **Reply #13 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 01:44 pm »

Installing SqueezeCenter (at least on Windows) removes the prior version of SlimServer and all the firmware files...

woodsyi · « **Reply #14 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 02:07 pm »

Quote from: richidoo on 12 Mar 2008, 01:42 pm

Hey woodsyi! Hope you're doin fine...

I'm interested in knowing experiences with the ReadyNAS/SC7. I have the old NV too with 256MB. I have been debating upgrading memory, because it ran a little slow with slim6 also. Last night I shut down a bunch of nas services I don't need, hoping that will speed it up a bit too. I am running SC7 now on a PC pointing to NAS for tunes, but it is flakey. The Jive remote sometimes gets hung up with server not able to find files on the network. I use a URL to point SC to the music directory on NAS. The forthcoming Repetoire looks cool!!

Older ReadyNAS software is available now on Netgear.com, but not the SC7 version. Infrant site still down.
Thanks
Rich

Thanks for reminding me that I can use a PC to run SC and bypass the one on NAS.

I have been meaning to try the Inguez correction and now I can give that a try. Have you tried? As for my NAS box, I will ask some questions on their site tonight to figure out if I want to bother with memory upgrade. Otherwise, the Reperoire may be what I will go to. Isn't there always an excuse to upgrade gear?

Val · « **Reply #15 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 04:09 pm »

Quote from: jholtz on 11 Mar 2008, 04:14 pm

Can I assume that no one besides me can hear a difference in sound quality between versions 84 and 86?

Jim

Jim, I installed the latest SlimCenter yesterday and would love to compare the two (I saved 83 just in case), but my left amplifier failed a few days ago. I will be out of music for a while

richidoo · « **Reply #16 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 07:48 pm »

Aww! Bad news Val! Get better soon!

Woodsyi, I checked Inguz website for SC7 version and there is a beta already, but I've not tried it yet. Have you run Inguz plugin on ReadyNAS server? Mine stutters. I think it is too slow for that processing load, but I hope I'm wrong! Any tricks?

Upgrading SC7 to latest nightly beta is much more stable now. Only one lockup in a couple hours, compared to every 5 minutes before. I will try the Infrant build too. Thanks for the tip woodsyi
Rich

oris98 · « **Reply #17 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 10:40 pm »

VAL,

Where did you get your firmware version 83 from ? Can I somehow download this firmware version ? Thanks.

jman66 · « **Reply #18 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 11:40 pm »

EDIT: 3/31/08 - looks like LogiTech/Slim locked down their site and the link listed below is no longer accessible :>(

v.83 firmware link:

http://svn.slimdevices.com/trunk/server/Firmware/squeezebox2_83.bin?rev=14252&view=auto

woodsyi · « **Reply #19 on:** 14 Mar 2008, 02:32 am »

The folks at Infrant fixed th glitch. http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=16965&start=0
Download it and update it using local update from Front View and you are good to go even on just 256MB memory.