Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Roku SoundBridge M500 Network Music System


Manufacturer : Roku
Model : M500
ASIN : B000B5UJ5A
Price : 149.99$
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Amazon.com Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description Winner of the CES 2004 Innovations Award, Roku's SoundBridge M500 digital music receiver employs WiFi technology to broadcast media files from your Mac or PC to just about anywhere in the house. You no longer have to be sitting at your computer to hear your music, nor do you need to burn your Internet-sourced audio to CDs to import it to the living room. Just plug the M500 into your integrated amplifier or surround receiver and you can listen to all your digital music on your stereo or multichannel speaker system. The M500 includes a built-in 802.11b WiFi card slot (with card) for wireless use and an RJ-45/Cat5 Ethernet port for hard-wired connections.



The M500 features a 40-character, two-line LCD display that shows the track and artist name. Take a closer look.
The SoundBridge is compatible with WMA, MP3, AAC, AIFF, and WAV music formats right out of the box. Further, its native support for Apple Rendezvous and iTunes means the M500 is instantly ready to play your Apple media--no additional software is required, as you're already set up for Rendezvous or iTunes. Just enable iTunes' sharing feature (though please be aware that iTunes Music Store "Protected AAC" files are not supported). SoundBridge uses Apple's DAAP (digital audio access protocol) to communicate directly with iTunes, and reduces its network bandwidth by decoding AAC files in the player rather than in the computer.

PC owners, meanwhile, will delight in the SoundBridge's built-in Windows Media Connect, Windows Media Player 10, and Rhapsody support. The device also works with any music service using Windows Media DRM 10, such as Napster, MusicMatch, and Walmart.com. All told, the M500 is the most compatible music player around.



The M500's side panel includes RCA analog, coaxial digital, and optical Toslink digital outputs.
With the M500's convenient remote control, it's easy to browse, select, and control your music from across the room, or you can control playback from your computer using the intuitive web interface. The M500 also offers an easy-to-read 40-character, two-line LCD display that shows the artist name, track name, and a few other details.

The SoundBridge offers Internet radio access, too, bringing you a selection of free music and talk-radio stations (with up to 10 station presets). Roku's Fast Browse feature lets you browse huge music collections by album, artist, genre, or composer (providing your files are properly encoded with said details). You can also play your stored iTunes playlists or use the keyword search to find the title you seek.

Beyond its WiFi and RJ-45 interfaces, the M500 offers straight-ahead audio connections: a gold-plated line-level RCA output and S/PDIF coaxial and optical Toslink digital outputs (one each) for those that want a pure digital connection with a surround receiver or a CD or minidisc recorder.

In addition, Roku has outfitted the SoundBridge with a super-fast, 400 MHz Blackfin DSP and 16 MB of DRAM memory, giving it more than enough headroom to handle future software updates. Finally, the SoundBridge's sleek industrial design looks comfortable anywhere of the house, and even fits conveniently on the wall or under a shelf or cabinet using Roku's optional mounting accessory.

The M500 measures 10 inches wide by 2.37 inches in diameter and is backed by a one-year warranty.

What's in the Box
M500 SoundBridge receiver, custom remote control, two AAA batteries, localized power adapter, 802.11b CompactFlash WiFi card, 3.5 mm-to-RCA cable, detachable rubber base, user's manual.

Product Description

Roku (M500) Roku SoundBridge M500 is a network music player that connects your PC or Mac digital mus
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Buyers better have their ducks in a row-compatability issues
  
This review is from: Roku SoundBridge M500 Network Music System (Electronics)
Roku's Soundbridge units don't work with all routers, so before you think wireless music is within your sites, do your homework. To Roku's credit, they offer a list of, and rate compatability factors for, most of the common routers consumers are using at home. CHECK THIS LIST CAREFULLY before you buy this product or you might end up with some expensive audio equipment that only works if you go WIRED. Also, Roku has a nice discussion board forum on their site, and you can get a realistic idea about issues concerning the pros and cons of their products. If you do buy something that doesn't work, they do offer a 30 day-no-questions-asked return policy. Bottom line is CHECK OUT THEIR SITE b4 u buy anywhere else. [...]


13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Very Cool, works well, Works with napster service!
This review is from: Roku SoundBridge M500 Network Music System (Electronics)
Received this unit last night. Had it set up in minutes! Instructions were simple, configured to my wi-fi with encryption, no problem. Found my computer, no problem, didn't find my napster library - added the folder with my music to the shared folder, then worked no problem. Internet radio station no problem. It will drive headphones directly if you want, has volume control on remote. Would be great driving computer speakers. Even shows time and date when off.

With napster it is really great. I can load up my computer with thousands of tunes and then put the M500 anywhere in the house and have access to all the tunes. One of the few devices that can do this with "rented" music.

I highly recommend this device.
The 500 has all the features of the bigger brothers but not the slicker display. However the LCD is plenty readable. The VU meters are a bit slow (not a big deal). It comes with the Wi-Fi card (which you install - used to be an option I guess) so it is really ready to go out of the box. If you have napster, rapsody, yahoo music or a lot of your CD's ripped to MP3, WMA or AAC than you should consider this.

What you can't do (maybe true of all "streaming" devices) is fast forward or rewind inside a track. This can be problematic with long tracks if you want to hear a section again.

Finally I have napster to go and an Iriver player. On the Iriver the gaps between tracks are long while the player loads the next track, this can be annoying on classical or spoken word works. The Soundbridge doesn't have this problem. I think because the computer can stream the next track faster than the portable Iriver could. (this is a DRM WMA issue, for the Iriver and not an issue with MP3's).


4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Works flawlessly. Can't expect more.
This review is from: Roku SoundBridge M500 Network Music System (Electronics)
Within 20 seconds of plugging it in I was playing music from my iTunes music library on my Powerbook. Simply could not have been any easier. Excellent sound quality. Streams internet radio stations (including any in the iTunes Radio tuner and tons more) -- it more than replaces XM or Sirius anywhere you have internet access.

Minor downsides: Remote could be designed better, and would be nice if it used 802.11g instead of b (since tests have shown that one "b" device slows down the whole "g" network), but these are minor complaints in relation to how well the SoundBridge works and how easy it is to use.

Most Recent Customer Reviews

A Music Lover's Must Have
Everything the other reviewers claim is true.

It was easy to set up, was found instantly by my wireless router and is reliable and responsive.
by Warren Mells

Great device
An excellent unit, sounds great, great design. I stream over wireless many hours a day, with almost never a drop.
by Koeeaddi

Just the best ...
This Roku SoundBridge M500 is a great deal. It's easy to configure, very stylish and supports mostly all streaming formats.
by Amy Shoe

Love it except for a few exceptions
Finally bought after several weeks on research. It works well; easy to connect to ITunes and Rhapsody (my two favorite music servers).
by David L. Crouch

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Logitech 930-000012 Transporter Network Music Player (Silver)


Manufacturer : Logitech
Model : 930-000012
ASIN : B00175SW20
Price : 1999.99$
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Product Description

Experience pure audio delight.

Designed to please the most discriminating audiophiles and music lovers, Logitech Transporter offers sound quality that surpasses even the most exotic CD players.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
Took a bit to setup, RTMD!
Most electronic hardware is a snap to set up, why waste time reading the manuals. However the Transporter is different in that respect. The brief manual included with the unit is out of date regarding computer software names and links. I was thrown at first getting my pc server to release the data being read. Adding a few custom settings in my (C.A.)software firewall remedied that problem. The firewall settings are actually mentioned in the manual....go figure? So I cannot stress strongly enough to (RTMD!...Read The Manual Dummy!)

There is some very knowledgable info about the Transformer at wikipedia.org, the Logitech site is useful for basic system software and a few FAQ's. Do yourself a favor and write down all ip settings for future reference. The use groups at wikipedia are where you'll find the fun stuff. Start a folder on your PC and save all links to it.

Confused by what I've just written, than you'll need a trusted friend with a bit above average computer skills and a free afternoon, or be prepaired to pay someone to do your setup for you. If either of these is going to be the case than you might want to reconsider purchasing this unit. This system is not designed for the impatient.

As with most all high-end gear, source is very important (GIGO). I've noticed nuances unheard before in a number
of my chosen reference recordings, as well as previously unnoticed distortions. Audio listening being subjective makes one wonder if hearing such is due to the critical listening of the moment or the new gear. Or could it be that we desire to hear new subtleties after dropping a decent chunk of change on a new toy. Is it a combination of these things or none of them. From where I sit I'm going with the new box and a bit higher resolution included therein. It makes the fun, funner, the good, gooder and the hey! I never noticed Coltrane bumping the mic stand on that or was that a squeek from Charlie Byrd's chair. To me its akin to putting a new stylus on your favorite cartridge.

The Transformer runs on an open source platform and some of the the tweaks written by use group members are nice additions to the unit. My wife really enjoys having the local weather data available at a glance. Before you get into the tweaks have the overall system operation down pretty well. I've found it best to backup the PC settings before doing any tweaking to be able to undo easily.

The remote that comes with the Transformer does not have a display and is line of sight only. This can be annoying for general listening. After a few weeks I went ahead and bought a Squeezebox Duet system to gain a remote with display and non line of sight control. I put the Duet receiver out in my workshop. This really allows you to do some cool stuff, you can sync the music on the players or have them run independently. This also allows you to use the remote controller as a third unit via it's 1/8" headphone jack or with adapter cables to plug it into another system as well. It can also be in sync. with the other units or independent of them. The Transformer remote takes standard batteries, the Squeezebox remote
is rechargable with station include. The Squeezebox remote is also very customizable in both function and appearance. Adding the Squeezebox unit did cost more money, however the ability to program and operate the Transformer was greatly increased with this upgrade to the system.

It is also possible to program many system settings of the Transporter via your computer, your offered plenty of built in redundancy. You have your choice of using the front panel buttons, the remote control or the computer interface. It is possible to program and control music via computer, plus compatability with WinAmp. There is a Java based software emulator that some may like also. The unit auto updates it's own firmware, software seems to be updated on a regular basis too.

I'm really not going to get into the web audio streaming functions. There are limitless choices here both free and pay to play. Your dealing with low bit-rate streams in most cases, there is quite a good world wide station search function
to use. I've used the optical line in feature to do a bit of A/B testing between CD's and Lossless streams and really have heard no discernable difference in sound quality between them. There are also options that will connect you to web based music databases, Amazon.com, and also Bio and Discog search abilities plus plenty more bells and whistles to boot.

It is very hard to not go on and on about the Transporter, as mentioned it is a piece of gear that demands patience. Being somewhat past the half-century mark I may not fully utilize some of the available functions offered herein. I do however thoroughly appreciate having those choices made available. To be able to either Set It and Forget It, or to be transported into an entirely new audio adventure.

Steve S.
Fort Worth, Tx


19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
Unbelievable piece of audio gear
  
OK, so I've been an "audiophile" for 20 years. But I'm not a hard-core audiophile in the sense that I don't spend my freetime auditioning interconnect cables or "breaking in" solid state audio gear. There are great improvements in higher end equipment, and even interconnects, but I'm not a sucker and don't subscribe to $20 per foot speaker cable. I own a pair of Thiel CS2.3 speakers with the last of the breed, and rather venerable, Adcom GFP-750 preamp (which even today, is a fantastic silent pre-amp compared to anything under $2,000) and the Adcom GFA-5802, which also is a venerable solid-state amplifier receiving excellent reviews from high-end audiophile magazines at the time, and continues to fetch an excellent price on E-bay. I never expected that the slim devices Transporter would sound better, or even as good as, my Adcom GCD-750 CD player as a source component. I was going to be rather content with the unit if it sounded pretty good, but offered the convenience features of an audio server. When I ripped some uncompressed audio from my CDs and queued up some tunes in the transporter, I was literally amazed by the quality of sound from the Transporter. It surpassed my trusty old friend, the GCD-750, with a wider sound stage, more "air" and transparancy between the performers, warmer mid-range, cleaner highs, and more slam in the bass. And my GCD-750 is a great CD player. I wouldn't say it is night and day, but it is a significant improvement. I was skeptical of the format of a music server, so the fact that it offered BETTER music reproduction than my GCD-750 source is truely a remarkable achievement for a unit you can pick up for $1700, if you watch the sales. The feature set is also stunning and exceeded, by far, my expectations. With over 600 CDs ripped into the unit, I am now like a baby in a candy shop with every single tune in my collection not more than 5-10 seconds away. I remember carefully opening the unit as not to destroy any of the packaging expecting I might take advantage of the 30-day return policy. Well, the box and packaging is now downstairs in the basement for good. It is truly the finest audio component I've ever purchased. At $1800 it's not chump change, but if you've been thinking about a music server, or even a stand-alone DAC, you can't go wrong with the Logitech Transporter.


12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent, but a bit pricy
This review is from: Logitech 930-000012 Transporter Network Music Player (Silver) (Electronics)
This unit works very well to send music to a quality stereo system via a high speed home wireless network. I recommend buying and using a different software like Easy CD-DA extractor to convert your cds to hard drive files into formats like FLAC or m4a or mp3. Then the transporter can be linked to your music files on the hard drive and you can play them via your computer. This unit does come with a squeeze center software that allows you to link to iTunes if you already have that set up and also it allows different playlists. It can also take downloaded higher quality 24 bit/96khz files and play them in addition to the 16 bit/44 khz cd quality files or mp3's. Be sure to back up your files as it takes a long time to build up a hard drive with good music files and you do not want to lose them. The sound of the cds when converted to FLAC files are as good as from a very high end cd player. Of course with mp3's it is a little less quality, but that is no fault of this unit. There are some other more expensive units like from Naim, etc, and compared to them this is a good value. If you want something for less, and don't need the higher quality, the regular squeeze box is worth a look.

Most Recent Customer Reviews

Logitech Transporter
I have had this for a few weeks and so far it is great and the sound quality is much better then I expected.
by Ken Goldsberry

Transporter Music Player
This product is right on. It gets some great music off the Web to your stereo system in a quality way.
You will like the results, it's worth the money.
by P. Eversole

Audiophile quality meets iPod convenience
The Transporter isn't cheap, but its fairly priced for all it does. The server software it relies on integrates cleanly with iTunes if desired, but is perfectly capable of...
by David Claussen

Had it for over a year i still love it!
I'm a bit of an audiophile tech geek and I love this thing. It's actually easy to set up and for the geeks of us out there, the DAC sounds great, easily the best DAC in the price...
by Christopher Watson

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