internet music same for any tuner?

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I have a Squeezebox and it is excellent for listening to FM broadcasts.

However, I do have a Sansui TU-X1 FM tuner for listening to the local jazz station here in LA. As good as the Squeezebox is, the Sansui is head and shoulders better. When listening to the Sansui, you know you are unquestionably listening to a high-end component.

But, I use the Squeezebox more often because I now listen to jazz radio stations around the world and it is way more flexible and convenient than an FM tuner.

For critical jazz radio listening, I listen to my Sansui FM tuner, for that, there is no subsitute.
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Mitch4t,

Are you saying you listen to FM stations via internet connection using the Squeezebox? The Squeezebox is not also an over the airwaves FM tuner, like the Sansui, is it?

That would make sense to me in that the sound quality of many (not all) FM station internet broadcasts are often inferior to the over the air sound quality as well as sound quality of other internet only stations when I listen with the Roku Soundbridge.

The Roku Soundbridge is definitely internet only...not an FM over the airwaves tuner.

I still use my FM tuner on occasions for certain local stations in the Baltimore/DC metro area as well, but not very often anymore.

WWOZ New Orleans is an example of an over the air FM station that I listen to often via internet with the Roku that does provide very good internet sound quality, though I do not live near New Orleans so I cannot a/b compare WROZ's internet to it's over the air sound quality.

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Mapman, yes, I do listen to FM stations on my Squeezebox....though it is not an FM signal. My local FM jazz station here in LA also has a simultaneous webcast that I can get on my Squeezebox. Through the SqueezeCenter web interface I'm able to load the URL's of FM stations around the world and access them through the Squeezebox. The sound quality varies depending on the streaming rate.

No, the Squeezebox is not an over the air tuner...it's totally internet based in order to get radio station broadcasts.
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Mitch4t,

That makes sense.

I've found though that streaming rate alone is not a reliable indicator of sound quality. I've heard stations at lower streaming rates sound better than the same station at a higher rate.

The Roku device buffers/caches inbound data in on board memory. Then, data is sent from the on board memory cache to the DAC. I think Squeezebox does the same.

So even though higher streaming rates send more bits per period of time, that alone does not assure better sound. The quality of the bits sent matters more. As long as they arrive fast enough to keep the cache loaded, you are in good shape. If they do not, then rebuffering will occur. The Roku mutes the sound altogether whenever re-buffering occurs.

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ok....that explains why some some with higher streaming rates sound awful and some of those with lower streaming rates sound pretty good. ........thanks for the heads-up.
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