Squeezebox maker pitches network music player at audiophiles

Slim Devices will ship its first audiophile-oriented network music player in September, the company said today. Dubbed the Transporter, the $1,999 stack-sized system is pitched at music lovers who want better sound quality than the company's Squeezebox can offer.

Transporter's functionality largely matches that of its smaller sibling - it links music on a computer and internet radio stations to a home hi-fi - but with higher-end electronics. Slim Devices' touted Transporter's "miracle" high dynamic range (120dB), low distortion DAC chip, and the machine's "bit perfect" digital path and Jung-style super regulator-controlled "clean" power supply.

The unit has built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and 10/100Mbps Ethernet. It will decode and play streamed WAV, AIFF, MP3, WMA and FLAC files, with other formats supported by on-the-fly decoders running on the computer hosting the music. As with the Squeezebox, there's no support for WMA DRM files or songs downloaded from Apple's iTunes Music Store.

Transporter has two of the 320 x 32 vacuum fluorescent displays seen on the Squeezebox. Round the back are a host of digital and analogue ports. It ships with its own backlit remote control, but the system can be run from the faceplate.

Slim Devices said the new machine will ship on 18 September. Anyone ordering from its website before that date will get a free Squeezebox. ®

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