Wireless connection to stereo

JIMSYM

66 Fairlane GTA
I am considering running streaming radio from my office to the living room. Nice commercial free music like the old days of FM. I enjoy listening to KZAM.net on the computer. I have a linksys wireless router set up for a laptop and have been looking at some wireless devices made to hook up to a receiver. Netgear has one and Pandora, I think.
So, the question. Has anyone tried these devices and can recommend any? Is the quality good?
 
There is no comparison in my mind. The best for the money is the squeezebox.
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found here -- http://www.slimdevices.com/
 
The Roku products are worth investigation as well.... depending on what features you want/need.

www.rokulabs.com.

As for wireless, I have found the Roku does OK with playing compressed content like internet radio streams, MP3s, etc... but if you are intending to use uncompressed FLAC or WAV files, my experience is that the wireless links are not robust enough to handle it.

Not sure if this is a problem related to the Roku... or because of the wireless hardware I am using, but I have switched the Roku to use a wired network connection and find it much more stable.

Also, using the Roku's digital output to feed a good quality external DAC rather than depending on the onboard analog outputs has a noticeable effect on the audio quality.
 
I run 2 squeezeboxen all day long wireless. I always use flac. I will admint however that most of the complaints about SB have to do with wireless so YMMV. As far as roku vs SB, my personal opinion is that the SB has higher grade components (d/a converter). Also, and I may be wrong, I think for flac playback roku recommends slimserver. So you might as well get the SB in the first place :)

I like to support slimdevices because they have decided to open source the software portion of their product. To me that says alot. I always try and support companies that do this.
 
Thanks for the replies. I borrowed a linksys wireless G music bridge and it works OK for streaming but I noticed that the volume levels on my receiver need to be elevated compared with my other sources. It's like playing and old CD compared to new. I assume this also represents a loss in quality, as well. I haven't been allowed to crank it yet. I will try to find someone with some other equipment to try. This linksys is for audio only which is OK for now.
 
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