I've gone digital.

[pre65]

I've taken the plunge and gone digital.

Thanks to Greg doing me a great deal on a new Squeezebox touch I can now play the many FLAC files that reside on my computer hard drive,and initial impressions are very good so many more CDs will now be converted to FLAC with EAC.

For the time being the standard wall wart PSU will suffice but I am using a separate DAC. I do have a TDA1541 DAC PCB to complete one day, but the AK4393 e-bay DAC sounds just fine.

[bikerhifinut]

I got one of these Squeezebox Touch just over a month ago. At that time the best deal was at Curry's PCWorld of all places, £50 less than amazon!

A couple of things Philip:

1) Why convert CD's to FLAC if you have plenty of memory/storage available why not just do a straight .WAV rip? Thats what I have done so far. I haven't gone down the High res avenue yet.

2) I'd be interested in how the analogue output of squeezebox compares to using a DAC. I am just using its own analogue output and have been reasonably impressed so far.

3) I'm contemplating a better PSU to replace the switchmode thing it has now. According to the label on the back it requires 5Volts at 3A and although laying hands on a suitable transformer aint hard, I am wondering what path to take for the regulator. I can buy a 5amp one from maplins but wonder if it's good enough? Only one way to find out I guess..............................

4) Do you find it a fiddle on to use? I find it just a bit too "Geeky" and a bit flaky at times. I confess to being a complete technophobe when it comes to matters computer. I'd have gone for something more user friendly like an Olive etc but for the fact that the squeezebox seems unbeatable for £200, compared to £1k plus for most of the competition.

[pre65]

1) a. People with better ears than me swear they can't tell the difference between WAV and FLAC.

b. I like the way EAC works, by reading "dodgy" bits of the disc multi times till it gets the digits right.

2) I have not got long enough interconnects to try the analogue out.

3) 5A would be well enough, seems it runs with less than what is the start up current.

4). I've only had it two days so still getting used to it. Time will tell.

And I still need to sort out a safe way of protecting my digital data. A backup of some sort after every addition to the list should do.

[dan_s]

Digital makes quick access to your music.
There an ipone/ipod app called ipeng that lets you use it as a remote for your logitech streamer.
Try a DPA/Deltec DAC, imo my DPA Enlightenment is better than a new Cirrus Logic CS4397 based DAC that I have.
I had two Western Digital and one Seagate hard drives fail, under warranty, all 1TB. My lesson from that was to make at least two backups.

[FreddieT]

I've had a SB Touch for a while now, using it first with the analogue out and then with a Rega DAC. The analogue output is good for a sub £250 device; but the result with the Rega is in another league. I think Philip is using the Touch in the best configuration from my experience.

I've just replaced the Touch with a Oppo BD95 in my main system for streaming & SACD duties. This has a very good internal DAC but on PCM still sounds better through the Rega to my ears. Direct DSD conversion from SACD is a different matter. I agree that the Touch user experience could be better; but once you've got used to it you can start to explore some of the other features. I like the internet radio and it was one of the first devices to work with the Radio 3 HD AAC stream. The SB is now in use in the second system in the kitchen and used frequently. My only gripe is that SB server doesn't work on all NAS and playing files from USB or SD is more pain than it should be.

Summary - SB Touch is great value. The iPod/iPad app is excellent.

F.

[Ali Tait]

There is also Squeezecommander for Android phones.

[Brian]

I control my SQ Classic with iPeng. It works really well and is only £4.99.