Roku SoundBridge M500 Review

The attractive Roku SoundBridge lets you play your PC or Mac digital music files anywhere in the house, just hook it up to your home theater.

Summary

The Roku SoundBridge is the best looking networked media player we have seen to-date. It is incredibly easy to setup and is compatible with a large number of music services and server software. If Roku had added the ability to play shared drives or folders on your network, our score would have been an 8 instead of a 7. We find absolutely no reason for them to leave this feature out.

For the novice user we would like to see Roku package either their own software or a CD/DVD with the server software they recommend. And because the SoundBridge does not search your network for shared drives and folders, you are forced to use 3^rd party software in order to get the unit up and running. This can be unnecessarily complicated for someone with little computer experience. The SoundBridge also has a tough time streaming Internet music, it depends on the server software you are using, making the overall package feel a little incomplete.

For the more advanced user however, the SoundBridge opens the door to a large number of possibilities. Some server software allows you to even modify the way your SoundBridge display looks and operates.

The Roku team is constantly updating the firmware of the SoundBridge ensuring that you get the latest features and support for music services. You can get support and answers to your questions either over the phone or in their message boards, in both instances we found their support staff to be very generous.

If you have an audio system that you want to show off, the Roku SoundBridge is the perfect way to do so. The M2000 and M1000 are nearly identical with exception to their sizes. So if you want to save $150 dollars or simply want a smaller unit, we would recommend that you go with the M1000. For us however, we can appreciate the larger display