Old school trying to be modern techy!

[MarkdarbyP]

Hi all
I am a reasonably young at heart fifties ish fella in Lancashire UK.
I've always enjoyed music and quality audio.
Back in the distant past my grandfather had a huge Technics stack (it seemed like that at 9 years old!).
He had two equally huge wharfdale wooden speakers and the sound was wonderful!
In later years (I think I was about 17) I was at a mates house and his dad had a Naim system and I was privileged to hear the brand new CD from Dire Straits "Money for Nothing"
I missed the "crackles" from vinyl but it still sounded amazing!
I've had various systems over the years based on cost and the wife's permission but nothing really notable.
In the nineties I was at a party with a Bose Waveform system and at the time thought wow that sounds good! (Apologies to all you aficionados!)
Babies and the wife (again) prevented me from splashing the cash at the time (they were very expensive!)
Now I'm a big boy without all the trappings of early family cost constraints I want to reacquaint myself with the Bose sound I like.
I don't have room for huge systems and speakers and it's just for me in the lounge so I bought a Bose soundlink max so I could listen to my favourite tracks on my phone via Bluetooth.
I have to say it's really good!
I would like to improve it by making the speaker WiFi enabled if it's possible using the 3.5mm aux in port?
I have lots of flac files on my pc which I'm sure would sound amazing through the speaker but I'm not sure if it's possible to maybe get a WiFi receiver that plugs in to the aux input?
Any help would be appreciated guys n gals!

 

[Sergeauckland]

You could do a lot worse than a Squeezebox touch. As you have the files on your PC, you just need to download the free server software (LMS) and you can stream all your own files plus BBC sounds and all internet radio stations like Radio Paradise.

If you're good with computers, you can achieve the same thing with a Raspberry Pi, or use your phone or tablet with any LMS player if they have a wired headphone output.

S

 

[MarkdarbyP]

You could do a lot worse than a Squeezebox touch. As you have the files on your PC, you just need to download the free server software (LMS) and you can stream all your own files plus BBC sounds and all internet radio stations like Radio Paradise.

If you're good with computers, you can achieve the same thing with a Raspberry Pi, or use your phone or tablet with any LMS player if they have a wired headphone output.

S

Thanks for the reply! I'm assuming "squeezebox touch is a pseudonym for my soundlink max?
I'm also assuming that streaming using your LMS Server options would still be via Bluetooth and not WiFi? (I don't know what LMS is yet but at the moment I use VLC Media Player on my Lenovo m93p pc)
Would there be a significant sound quality difference?
Unfortunately my phone doesn't have a 3.5 pot for audio out.
The speaker does have a 3.5 aux in though.
I was hoping (if it's possible) it would be possible to buy a wireless receiver "gizmo" with a 3.5 aux out (does something like this even exist??) and connect direct to the speaker.
I was thinking this way would give me the access to the FLAC files on my pc through the soundlink max.
I guess I'm really asking Is, Is there a unit which can receive higher quality FLAC files through wifi and convert to aux 3.5 wired output and would the sound quality be better than via Bluetooth??

 

[MarkdarbyP]

Thanks for the reply! I'm assuming "squeezebox touch is a pseudonym for my soundlink max?
I'm also assuming that streaming using your LMS Server options would still be via Bluetooth and not WiFi? (I don't know what LMS is yet but at the moment I use VLC Media Player on my Lenovo m93p pc)
Would there be a significant sound quality difference?
Unfortunately my phone doesn't have a 3.5 pot for audio out.
The speaker does have a 3.5 aux in though.
I was hoping (if it's possible) it would be possible to buy a wireless receiver "gizmo" with a 3.5 aux out (does something like this even exist??) and connect direct to the speaker.
I was thinking this way would give me the access to the FLAC files on my pc through the soundlink max.
I guess I'm really asking Is, Is there a unit which can receive higher quality FLAC files through wifi and convert to aux 3.5 wired output and would the sound quality be better than via Bluetooth??

 

[MarkdarbyP]

AHH! Now I know what a squeezebox is!
Is it a speaker or could I connect it with 3.5 jack lead to my Bose soundlink max?
And would it sound better than the Bluetooth method?

 

[Sergeauckland]

The Squeezebox Touch has a pair of RCA phono outputs and a 3.5mm jack that can connect to your external loudspeaker. It uses WiFi rather than bluetooth so has better audio quality, although how audible that would be is doubtful. However, using wifi preserves the lossless nature of the flac files. It is the 'gizmo' with a 3.5mm jack that will link your PC over wifi. LMS is the software that you run on your PC that sends the flac files over wifi to the Squeezebox. The Squeezebox converts the file data to audio signals losslessly.

S

 

[MarkdarbyP]

The Squeezebox Touch has a pair of RCA phono outputs and a 3.5mm jack that can connect to your external loudspeaker. It uses WiFi rather than bluetooth so has better audio quality, although how audible that would be is doubtful. However, using wifi preserves the lossless nature of the flac files. It is the 'gizmo' with a 3.5mm jack that will link your PC over wifi. LMS is the software that you run on your PC that sends the flac files over wifi to the Squeezebox. The Squeezebox converts the file data to audio signals losslessly.

S

 

[MarkdarbyP]

That's great thanks mate!
Would I then need to get a two into one aux lead since the speaker only has one aux port?
Are there any other more recent (and more available) squeezebox type "gizmo's" that you'd recommend?
I'd probably get the wrong one!

 

[Sergeauckland]

The Squeezebox Touch hasn't been manufactured for some time, but there are several always available on ebay. The alternative is just to use an old 'phone or tablet with a headphone output, and run one of the Squeezebox emulators that make the phone look like a Squeezebox. The reason I'm so keen on the Squeezebox isn't so much for the hardware, but the LMS software is great. The problem with buying a streamer is that the BBC for one, change their method of streaming BBC Sounds, and after a few years, your once shiny new streamer won't work any more because the manufacturer doesn't update the software once they've moved on to The Next Great Thing. Unlike commercial software, LMS is maintained by an army of volunteers who regularly issue updates, even though the software is now well over 10 years old. Every time the BBC change their streaming protocol, within a very short time there's an update that fixes the problem. They also add new functionality, like the very good Spotify integration that integrates all your local flac files with anything you've downloaded or just marked on a Spotify account. They also handle other streaming companies like Deezer, Qobuz and Tidal.

As for cabling, yes a two phono to 3.5mm jack or a 3.5mm to 3.5mm will work.

S.