If you've listened to music reproduced by the cheap sound cards fitted to most PCs, you'll be rightly sceptical about the sound quality of a PC-based jukebox. But money spent on good quality audio hardware is money well spent, and I've been impressed by the quality of the sound produced by our jukebox.

I did a parallel listening test with several CDs that had been imported to the jukebox. I compared the output of a Meridian 208 CD player, playing the original CDs, with the output from the jukebox. Other equipment used was a Meridian 201 preamplifier, a pair of Meridian 205 power amplifiers, a pair of Cambridge Audio R50 4-way transmission line loudspeakers, and a Meridian 209 remote control to switch sources. This is not modern sound equipment but it was among the best there was in its day, and it compares favourably with all but the most esoteric modern equipment. I found that it was hard to convince myself that there was any difference in sound between the original and the jukebox, and I certainly wouldn't say that one was any better than the other. The sound quality is certainly good enough for me.

Where the sound is conveyed from room to room using the CAT5 Blaster QC transmitter and receiver, I haven't done such a careful comparison. But the sound quality, as monitored with a Denon RCD-M35DAB amplifier and the revealing Boston Acoustics Sub-Sat Six speaker system, is certainly good enough for me.