Article: Logitech Squeezebox Touch Review

[tennisarm]

@ Juergen & Encore,<br />

<br />

Could you explain what a linear power supply is and where it can be bought? <br />

<br />

cheers,<br />

Father12

[.Sup]

Wonderful review Chris. I have a question though- does it support internet radio listening? I am currently subscribed to Sky.fm Premium internet radio and would like to stream that through the Touch to my dac.<br />

<br />

Thank you, Peter

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi .Sup - Thanks for the kind words. I just played some Sky.FM music via the Touch. There is also an app to that can be installed, by browsing the app menu on the Touch, that's called Sky.FM. I installed the app as well. There is a place to enter account information, but since I don't have one I can't tell you what it does.

[.Sup]

So there is hope! Fantastic, I will search for this app and try to learn more about it. Thank you very much! If I do decide to get the Touch I will be sure to post my impressions about it and the app here.

[JR_Audio]

In some very basic words a linear power supply does have a mains transformer, an rectifier, some charging capacitor and a voltage regulator. So you have basically to deal only the some mains frequency to filter out and that can be done relative easy. A linear power supply can't be used over a larger mains voltage range like 100 V – 240 Volt, it must be bought to a specific mains voltage like 115 or 230, or must have a selector / switch to change from 115 to 230 or back.<br />

<br />

A switched power supply basically transforms (switches) the mains frequency into higher frequency region (depends on the products how far outside audio bandwidth, and also the method to do this), in order to have higher efficiency and so smaller size and weight. But this higher frequencies are much more difficult to filter out, so typically you get more noise on the power supply. They do work normally over a wide mains voltage range from 100 to 240 volt.<br />

<br />

There are huge differences in the quality in both technologies of power supplies and you must be aware, that a good linear power supply will cost you similar or more than the Squeezebox itself.<br />

<br />

This one is relative reasonable, but no idea about the quality:<br />

<br />

http://www.welbornelabs.com/squeeze.htm<br />

<br />

A friend of mine has this one and is happy with it:<br />

<br />

http://www.teddypardo.com/products/Powersupplies/TTouch.html<br />

<br />

A very good reputation has this one:<br />

<br />

http://www.paulhynesdesign.com/page7.html<br />

<br />

I have my own linear power supplies, so I personally can't give you any personal advices.<br />

<br />

Juergen

[Encore]

I have this: http://www.boldercables.com/servlet/-strse-395/%22Standard%22-Linear-Power-Supply/Detail<br />

<br />

Apart from its ugly looks, it really works wonders. In every system I've heard it, it has made a very clear difference, using the digital out and an external DAC. I haven't experimented with the analog out.

[tennisarm]

Thanks for the explanation and links - however, I indeed ask myself about the sense of a power supply more expensive than the SBT itself. Would be interesting of course to hear before buying. Maybe I'll check if those are available here in good ole Germany.<br />

<br />

Best regards,<br />

Father12

[Encore]

Father12, I can understand your reservations. However, I've heard my Bolder power supply making the difference between acceptable and not acceptable sound. It's been a while since I compared in my own system, but I recently heard it with a Mcintosh MCD500, which was fed the digital signal from a SB Duet. The sound went from harsh and digital to acceptable by switching to the Bolder supply.<br />

<br />

However, there are alternatives today that are better than they were when I bought my Duet a couple of years ago. Specifically, I'm very hesitant to spend too much money on a PSU for the SB Touch. Given its 96 kHz limitation, this device will also only be an interim solution. I'm considering the Olive HD, which should have a decent power supply, I'm told.

[tkirmuc]

VERY promising device. If it is able to play albums with no gaps (e.g. 'The Dark Side of The Moon') - I want one!<br />

<br />

Can you confirm if it plays FLACs gaplessly?

[loserica]

Yes, it does support gapless playback.

[Joshua_j]

sorry for this, but how does this differ from the transporter? ie in what situation would one buy a transporter over this?<br />

Thanks<br />

Joshua

[loserica]

The Transporter has a better circuit, with better power handling (two separate toroidal mini-transformers) and I think better regulation, also it has a better DAC , has balanced outputs, has word clock in and out, can be used with in an effects loop (for instance with a sound processor for equalization). <br />

So, the analog quality should be better, not speaking about the extra options not found on the Touch. Only as a digital transport, it still should be a little bit better. Now ,how much better, that is another story. I bought the Touch to use it as a digital transport, but that was also because I had a Weiss DAC2 with firewire input, and the extra cash for the Transporter to use it only as a digital out seemed too much. But still, Transporter is the better player or transport.<br />

<br />

Adrian

[Joshua_j]

Adrian,<br />

Thank you for the concise answer. Makes sense to me, but my wallet doesn't like you now <br />

Joshua

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[firedog]

There is quite a bit of discussion on this at the Slimdevices forum. Especially from the SB beta-testers, who have a lot of experience with both the Touch and Transporter.<br />

<br />

Summation of what they say:<br />

<br />

Transporter sounds better through analogue outs: as digital transport only, the Touch is very close to the Transporter. The consensus there seemed to be that if you planned on using your SB unit as a digital transport only, and already have a good external DAC, not much reason to buy the Transporter over the Touch.<br />

<br />

BTW, lots of users on other forums report improved analogue sound from the Touch by upgrading PS. Some also claim improved sound from the digital outs with better PS.

[tennisarm]

I copied the complete iTunes folder on an USB drive connected to the SBT. Unfortunately SBT server seems not to recognize the playlists. Strangely enough - when I choose the server software on my Mac in order to stream the music from the computer, the playlists are in. You just tick iTunes somewhere in the options and there you go.<br />

Do you have similar problem or does somebody know, if the server software on the SBT itself is able to cope with iTunes data? Would be perfect of course, as you don't have to define your playlists from scratch...<br />

<br />

Thanks for your help!<br />

<br />

Father12

[Wavelength]

Father,<br />

<br />

A playlist is a linked list of files and folders. Ounce you move the files to another drive all linking to the playlist is gone.<br />

<br />

Thanks<br />

Gordon

[tennisarm]

Thanks Gordon. Well, you think that is so although I copied the very same folder structure...? I'm really not sure that is the case. But who am I...?<br />

<br />

Cheers, Father12

[Wavelength]

Father,<br />

<br />

A linked list of files includes the source drive. Anytime anything in the link is changed, then the link is broken... including moving the songs to another drive.<br />

<br />

Also playlists are not included in the music file system. They are located in a different folder.<br />

<br />

Thanks<br />

Gordon

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[tennisarm]

I talked to the german hotline and the guy there told me it should work. But not being a native speaker, I'm not really sure if he got the point. <br />

<br />

Gordon, you're talking of absolute links, but I think it would not be a problem to have relative links if it is programmed like that. Within the iTunes folder there are 4 "iTunes-specific" files and I think that the playlists are fixed there - in one of these 4 files.<br />

<br />

I'll keep on asking around to see if I can find out more. <br />

<br />

Cheerio,<br />

Father12

[Enicar]

My experience with the Touch and a USBdisc is not a positive story.<br />

Disconnecting and connecting the disc is a nuissance. The Touch will refuse attach the disc and e.g. tell me it could not connect to the wifi? <br />

I can not recommend the Touch with a USBdisc. Sadly I thought this combination would suit me and is why I bought it.<br />

<br />

There is of course a possibility that the Touch does not like my Verbatimdisc but it really seems as the firmware is lousy.<br />

<br />

[tennisarm]

The idea is to let the USB disc connected and not to plug it on and off all the time. It tried 3 discs and only the 3rd was recognized (WD Elements 250 GB). This one runs pretty much flawless since then. There's btw no need to unplug it once it's connected as you can store new files then via the network.<br />

I attached a second one via WLAN yesterday - took me 5 minutes and that was it.<br />

<br />

So in total I see only 2 issues with my setup: no playlists from iTunes so far and jumping to next song before it's finished from time to time.<br />

<br />

Cheerio, Father12

[Enicar]

No one would be happier than I if I could leave the USB-disc attached to the Touch all the time.<br />

Have not been able to reach it through my network even if the Touch gladly connects to various internetradio stations. (I really like that)<br />

Time to call in the network technician I guess to get some relief. <br />

<br />

Thanks for your answer Father12<br />

[KeithL]

I read that streams from a directly connected usb drive sounded worse than streams from a network. Also navigation of files on the usb drive is meant to be limited.