Disappointed by Muse Luxe

ESPMUSE
#1

I’m rather disappointed with the Muse Luxe as an audio player:

  • Line-in is basically a vestigial port, only (barely) works with very old stock firmware
  • Squeezelite firmware unable to remain in sync with a group
  • Devices randomly crash and let out large burst of static, scaring anybody nearby
  • Device may need re-flashed if battery dies
  • Battery life is relatively awful, drains quickly on standby if not plugged in
  • Wifi reception is poor, even close to hotspot
#2

Battery life … if you have an early one then there is a known issue and it can be improved by opening up the device and scratching away a track.
They did offer to take a return for those early ones - but was in first few weeks of shipping.

#3

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback about the Muse Luxe. Your insights are valuable to make this products better with each batch.

When I began this project two years ago, my vision was to create an experimental device that looks good enough to blend into a living room setting, unlike typical prototype boards. To achieve this without incurring high costs associated with plastic injection tooling, we utilized a repurposed production line from an older Bluetooth speaker model. You can find more about our methodology details about this process on our website

The resulting Muse Luxe is blend of design eco innovation and product oddity. It resembles a commercial product in appearance but functions like a smartphone with an app store, serving as a platform for various open souce apps such as Squeezelite, ESPhome, and others. This contrast between its polished look and its experimental software platform may lead to some mismatched expectations.

Muse Luxe isn’t a typical consumer product where one passively enjoys a finished static product. Instead, it’s a dynamic, community-driven project. As users and enthusiasts of open-source software, you’re not just consumers; you are active participants in an evolving process.

Addressing your specific issues:
The line-in is function has only bee implemented in our simple bluetooth demo software indeed, never in Squeezlite, you could suggest the change in the github and we could help if validated to provide low level code for the codec.

Squeezelite Firmware Synchronization: The issue with Squeezelite not staying in sync in a group is related to the Squeezelite software itself.

Random Crashes and Static Noise: This issue seems to be specific to Squeezelite, as it does not occur when using other applications like Home Assistant.

Re-flashing After Battery Drain: The need to re-flash the device due to memory corruption is also a Squeezelite-related issue.

Poor Battery Life: We have made improvements in the USB C batch of our products, and according to my tests, the battery draining issue should be resolved in these newer models.

Weak Wifi Reception: We are exploring the possibility of adding an external antenna in the next batch. Additionally, we plan to publish instructions on how to retrofit existing units with this enhancement.

While some issues you’ve encountered are related to the third-party software Squeezelite, we are committed to continuously improving the hardware aspects of our device. We appreciate your understanding of the experimental nature of the Muse Luxe and thank you for being a part of this journey with us.

#4

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I’ve pretty much given up on these speakers when it comes to running squeezelite, too many shortcomings to be viable at this time.

At this point I only would hope the line-in could properly work so I can at least use the audio hardware. It appears however that even the esphome firmware has yet to support input for this DAC hardware.

#5

So I got one of these on a whim (and after a few glasses too many on my FR terrace) back in September 2022 from amazon.fr after reading about it in the slimdevices forum. I was not expecting too much and wanted to support the project.

My experience is pretty much the opposite, especially after a new neighbour back here at home got out his new wifi 6 router leaving my 3 squeezebox radios in a very poorly state :(. After playing around with it at my place in France, I swapped it with one of the radios from home.

  • synchronised playback works surprisingly well. not perfect by a large stretch, but surprisigning usable a lot of the time. Synched almost permanently to another squeezelite player upstairs in the ‘office’; often these are joined by a ‘real’ radio or two.
  • have not had to re-flash in a long time, even when battery dead, so cannot really comment on that. Battery life is more than OK considering how the product came about (and there are instructions for DIYers to modify / double battery life).
  • Wifi reception is ok, but my place(s) are quite small.
  • BTW blueetooth worked fine, but to be honest, I got this for squeezelite.

The biggest issue, and the reason why I am visiting this site again:

I do suffer from this. Some audio formats the player does not like; some streaming it does not like either (standard radio - Nova (Paris, France) and BBC Radio 6 play fine from memory - but Soundcloud does not play too well and YouTube is a bit hit and miss). So I was hoping that some of this might be fixed in a more recent squeezelite version.

  1. how do I (easily) check if I have the latest version.
  2. would a bug report be of any use, or is there no hope in improving this aspect?
  3. what logging is available / where etc (especially for a bug report).

I’m hoping my questions might be answered in a FAQ somewhere.

I will be back, but my time/opportiunities for all things squeeze (here and over al slimdevices forums) is unfortunately little/sporadic.

But great stuff, and thrilled to see that the squeeze ecosystem continues. BTW might be getting a ‘LE BOBO VÉLO’ antivol soon, thanks for the link to ros.fr!

#6

Easy way to check version is to go to the web page of the player.
If you have the ESP32 plugin installed in your LMS then you can get to that page via the LMS web interface at Settings/Player/ESP32
It will be shown at the bottom of the player web page.
That interface also provides a way to update the firmware - it is certain that you are not on the latest but that does not mean that the latest will resolve your issues.

You will probably get more LMS specific support at forums.slimdevices.com

#7

Many thanks Paul. Found the plugin you mentioned, installed it, and now via the muse player page I am updating the firmware to the latest version 2.1667-16 (I was on Firmware: v1.0-1306-16!).

Done. Now to see how that version performs.