Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems SONOS ZP80 or SB3

Has anyone here done a comparison of the new Sonos ZP80 and the Squeezebox3?

One big disadvantage of the Sonos is that it seems you must buy the remote as well as AZp80. And the remote costs more than a zp80 if I recall. It uses wifi/uPNP so there is no way of using any other universal remote that I know of to operate a Sonos system.

I'm trying to come up with a solution that at least for playback (choosing sources and the like)
can be used by someoneone who is totaly blind.

Brian

Hi Brian,

What about using a HTPC, with tablet PC and something like Dragon Voice recognition? You can use what ever progams in the background and your friend can navigate via voice

Just a thought.

Cheers,

Chris

Chris,

Thanks, I am also considering using something like netremote on a PDA or maybe a tablet pc.

I like hard button remotes but voice input is something to consider.

Even the Meridian remote is a pain for me as I don't see well enought to tello from accross the room what menu I am on ie. treble, balance.....
I don't know if there are any tricks to get to a menu by number or anything on an MSR+.

Alos I would like to try to come up with a solution that doesn't requre my PC on alll of the time...that being said I might consider one of the new quet HTPC setups with some sort of media player JRiver ... or something.

I'd realy like to be able to have the following
2 way data so that I can see the display from my seat.
have the things spoken such as
current display on 861, 800\
Select CDs (on a media player) with voice enabled menus...The rock box project does it on iPod type devices.
Have the cable guide speak.....I'm not counting on my cable company for this one.

Brian

I haven't compared the SB3 and Sonos, but I own an SB2 and an SB3 and wouldn't be without them. The SB3 is plugged into my G68 (SPDIF coax) and sounds great on everything, including DTS-CDs ripped to FLAC. The SB2 is plugged analog out into a pair of computer speakers in anotehr room and also sounds as good as the speakers allow (the SB DAC is nice). Both are running on WiFi.

I use a Nokia N770 tablet to access the SlimServer, using the special skin for the purpose. The (free) server runs on anything (Mac/Win/Linux), so you don't have to buy a special box (I just used an old PC, put Linux on it and a 400GB drive and stuffed it under the stairs). You can listen on any computer in the house with the free SoftSqueeze SB emulator, or on any MP3 player (including the one on the Nokia770). Very cool all round, and you only pay for the players!

(I also run Rockbox on my iPod so I can copy FLAC files from my server library to the 'Pod, but that's another story...)

Though the Sonos box looks neat, I don't need built-in amps or a PC in the living room. And it's difficult to say that the Sonos controller looks more or less cool than an N770 accessing Slimserver. And my setup is a great deal cheaper...

This does not address the need for voice command/accessibility, however - I would have to look into that, so the above may not be as much help as I'd like.

Thanks for mentioning the Nokia 770! I'd been thinking of Sonos because of the wonderful controller (had a play in a local store), but I already use a SB2. The N770 skin (which now comes with Slimserver) looks great, and I'll have to have a play on my laptop with that skin. Fry's sells these tablets locally, so I may be out $350 soon

Thanks,

I will have to check out the Nokia 770. It may be possible to put some Text to Speech app on it.

The new zp80 looks like a minit xp100 and lacks the amp but adds digital ouput and prob a few other things.

I'll have to try slimserver/softsqueeze and the 770 skin on my PC to see what I can get working and if it all goes well I might give the sb3/nokia770 a try.

Brian

rikrox,

i have got myself an n770 which seems like a great piece of kit and it is working fine wih my network but i cannot seem to get it to hook up with my slimserver... any words of advice?

james

I have the zp80 into Meridian kit as well as zp100 for the rest of the house and am delighted with it. The major benefits are the remote and the ease of set up plus different rooms are synchronised rather than having a slight delay between boxes in different zones. I used to use cd3o boxes for music distribution and I can't tell the difference between the boxes on sound quality te - the sonos stuff just works. btw if you do go with the zp80 you must set it to fixed volume output and use the Meridian kit for volume control, if you have the zp80 change the volume it seriously affects quality on the digital out