These products have strangely eluded me for some reason despite having been available for a good two years now. They more or less duplicate Logitech’s now long buried Transporter in terms of features and specs. The SMS-1000 even has balanced XLR output like the Transporter. Only thing missing are the goofy VU meters. We can live without them.
What you get is a 24bit/384KHz streamer capable of connecting to Logitech Media Server, Apple Airplay [natively – you hear that Sonos?], DLNA and Signalyst HQ Player. The SMS-1000 adds to this a Vortexbox media server with a built-in 2TB harddrive and automated and iTunes compatible CD ripping. Oh, and the SMS-100 can of course connect to the Vortexbox as well.
Using Sonos as a reference, this system corresponds to the Sonos Connect, feeding an external amplifier. DAC and preamp, you can get from SOtM as well. A power stage; alas no.
Both SMS-100 and SMS-1000 can be fitted with a assortment of upgrades for even better fidelity and esoteric noise reduction, as well as battery buffered power supplies.
CD drive
Wifi
Flac audio
Digital IO
Ogg-Vorbis
uPnP support
Video