So I picked up a Squeezebox Duet today!

I've owned a Squeezebox 3 for the past two years, really loved the player, sounded fantastic for the money, great interface, great remote. But unfortunately after a few system upgrades the SB3 no longer fit in my rack, so I had her sitting on the floor. Decided to sell it to a friend of mine, and upgrade to a Squeezebox Duet when funds allowed.

That was five months ago, so I've been doing all of my listening ever since on CD and vinyl. My only recent upgrade was last month when I purchased a Naim Hi-Line interconnect for my CD5x

So tonight, I unpackaged my new Duet, here are my first impressions

- Nicely packaged, very easy to set up without a manual. Took two attempts to connect to my wireless network, but has operated flawlessly from this point on

- The remote is very solid, very heavy. I prefer the old Squeezebox 3 remote, will take some getting used to this new interface. The scrollwheel is not as smooth as an iPod, but still very functional

- The light on the front of the unit is very bright! I may cover it with some black tape. Also the docking station has no light (like I'm used to on my Harmony 880 remote), would be nice to see that it is charging

- I've become very accustomed to my CD5x and Hi-Line, so on first playback on the Duet I wasn't too thrilled with the sound. But this is without burn-in, and using the cheap RCA connectors that came with the product (I was previously using QED Qunex 1 interconnects, I've been waiting for about a year on an order for Chord Crimson RCA to DIN5 interconnects, I'm certain this will improve the system)

- Sound quality is getting noticably better after a few hours of play, I'm going to leave the player running for about 48-96 hours to give her a chance to warm up before I give an opinion on the sound quality.

I guess you could say I'm a bit nostalgic for my SB3! But I'm certain that once she's warmed up and has the right interconnect I will be grinning ear-to-ear. Also my Naim Hi-Line has really raised my CD playback to a new level, so I'm a bit over-judgemental tonight. But I use my Squeezebox mostly for background music when I have guests over, or for streaming internet radio, so it's not like I do any critical listening

cheers,
elapsed