i used to use logitech/squeeze, but recently switched (it's dying, as far as i can tell, and certainly wouldn't run on the latest opensuse) to audioengine D2 - http://audioengineusa.com/Store/Audioengine-D2
it's more expensive (i think), and less flexible than the logitech solution, but it's also (much) simpler, (much) more reliable, and better sounding (imho - i did some comparison tests and the DAC sounds similar to a decent "budget audiophile" DAC I own, and, incidentally, significantly better than the audioengine D1).
the D2 sender plugs into your computer and works just like a USB soundcard. each D2 receiver (you can have up to 3) receives wifi from the sender and outputs either digital or good quality analogue. the data transmits as 24/96 (ie decent quality) and there's a volume control on the sender that adjusts the output after the DAC (so you don't lose resolution).
then i just use whatever player i want (currently mpd, so i can have network and web clients - i am thinking of buying a small tablet to control the web client).
tldr - the D2 is a "done right" hardware solution, that sounds good, but it's not particularly cheap.
ps if anyone wants to buy my (discontinued and unsupported) logitech hardware for a nominal amount i think i still have it. a duet and a boom. but i'm in chile, so i imagine shipping costs elsewhere are significant.
pps i have not used sonos, but i heard that there's some limit about the number of tracks or amount of metadata they can handle. if you have a lot of music i would check before buying anything. as far as i know, the sonos is more like logitech - it's a "system" that manages your music, while the D2 is more like a wireless soundcard (or wireless wire, with optional DAC). i prefer the latter because it means i can play around with other "audiophile" hardware on the audio end, and other software on the computer end, but that's just my taste.
I read about Sonos a couple of times, but never understood what it is about. Now I did it again. Same result. I dont get it.
When I buy the Play:5 - what do I get? Where will I put my mp3s? Can they stay on my Linux box? Do I have to transfer them to a special device? It looks like Sonos uses its own wireless transfer mechanism. Why do I have to connect it to my router?
You get one Play:5 device. I would guess you need several of those to equip different rooms.
> Where will I put my mp3s? Can they stay on my Linux box?
Your mp3s can reside on any machine as long as they are reachable via CIFS/SMB protocol.
> Do I have to transfer them to a special device?
No. You only need a so called "Sonos Controller"- a small piece of software available for Windows/Mac/iOS/Android - where you actually manage your Sonos network: define your SMB share folders, create your playlists, search, stuff like that...
> It looks like Sonos uses its own wireless transfer mechanism. Why do I have to connect it to my router?
Yes Sonos does not really use 802.11 as we know it. It uses its own protocol called SonosNET (a kind of Spanning Tree Protocol) to create a wireless mesh network. So at least one Sonos device must be connected to a wired network to act as a wireless AP to allow other Sonos devices to connect to the network and use standard internet services (DHCP, DNS, etc...).
Honestly, it sounds overly complicated and I still dont understand the basic principle.
Why not just put a music player program on my computer that streams the song into my existing network and have speakers that connect to the network and play it?
You say "You get one Play:5 device". So what is that? Why cant I just buy "speakers" that play whats send to them over the network?
You say "CIFS/SMB". Well, I could make my files available that way. But somehow it feels wrong. Will the song that is played then be streamed to some central device and from there to the speakers? Seems like twice as much streaming as necessary.
You say "Windows/Mac/iOS/Android". So I would have to bring one of my tablets into the game. ANOTHER machine in the mix.
You say "at least one Sonos device must be connected to a wired network" and I still dont understand why. I would understand it if you said "to access your files". Even thought I would prefer it to just swallow an usb stick so I dont have to fiddle with my existing IT. But you say "to act as a wireless AP to allow other Sonos devices to connect to the network and use standard internet services" and I wonder why do they have to? I want the "other devices" just to be speakers and play music.
