My family moved into a new home with a basement nine months ago and I’ve been looking at ways to stream music down there. I’ve looked at the two no-brainer solutions available, the ROKU SoundBridge m1000 and the Slim Devices Squeezebox, but, tbh, both seem to be expensive for what they’re doing. The others all have something or the other that I don’t like. Logitech’s Wireless Music System for PC and Wireless DJ, for example, aren’t contenders because Logitech’s wireless technology is RF based and runs a realistic max of 100 feet when there are no barriers (signal won’t carry in my concrete laden home).

I recall buying a D-Link DSM-320 a few years ago for $160 and that did video, audio and images. So, for $200 and $300, respectively, these two boxes actually do a third of the DSM-320.

In the interest of disclosure, the DSM isn’t that great. The video’s temperamental, but the audio bit is fine as far as playback is concerned, but it’s not the greatest at finding stuff. Ultimately though, the only real drag is that it’s needs a TV screen in order to see anything.

In a perfect world, where I could go out an buy whatever I felt like, I’d get the Sonos system for every room in my home. It’s really, really, REALLY nice, but nice costs serious money — $999 for two-room remote setup and $350 for every room after that.

I’d be curious to know if there’s something out there that streams music from a network, doesn’t need an external display and doesn’t feel like it costs too much for what it’s doing.