Help me find a Roku Soundbridge replacement

January 16, 2012 4:25 PM

My Roku Soundbridge died after many years. What's the cheapest, standalone device that will play with my Slimserver setup (aka SqueezeCenter, Logitech Media Center)? All I need is an audio out to hit my receiver, no need for built in speakers, fancy screen or anything else. I'd be interested if there were any other alternatives to Slimserver. The web interface, accessible by any device, and the fact it deals with large collections well, are reasons I currently keep it.

I also have a MacMini hooked up, which runs Plex. So far I have not found a SqueezePlayer for Plex, there's a couple of standalone players, but last time I tried that it was a Java app and sucked. I'm also weary of using OSX as I use this 24/7 and don't want to be VNC'ing in just to get it to work. These fears might be unfounded, but it must play well with Plex if I go this route.

Unfortunately, all the standalone devices I have found have color screens, built in speakers and other stuff I don't need. This is why Roku's solution worked so well.

Any ideas?

posted by geoff. to Technology (4 answers total)

What about a used Squeezebox 3 (Classic)? You can probably find one for around $100 used. You could also pick up a Squeezebox Duet add-on receiver, which is a screenless player and is available on eBay for $149 on buy it now.
posted by iamscott at 4:59 PM on January 16, 2012

Or a used Roku.

Winamp (and other media players, probably) can access your Slimserver, too. So any old laptop/netbook can be pressed into service. I've used a Nokia N810 "Web Tablet" running SoftSqueeze as a player as well. Not terrific, but a little more elegant than "laptop plugged into stereo".
posted by notyou at 5:13 PM on January 16, 2012

Are you sure it's dead dead?
I've thought my soundbridge was dead on a couple of occasions. Both times it was just the plug in power supply going south. The problem is pretty well documented here
http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?t=22737
I bought mine back to life recently with one of these...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XFFHBM/ref=oh_o01_s02_i00_details
posted by TahitiBlue at 10:07 PM on January 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

I had the same problem/solution as TahitiBlue. The power supplies fail on them after a while. Note that this is an external power supply, the piece that goes from the wall outlet and plugs into the back. You can also buy the replacement one from Roku's store for their video players, that's the one I used to replace mine.
posted by dave*p at 5:47 AM on January 17, 2012