Building a second system around the squeezebox touch

[admin_exported]

My second system consists of a squeezebox touch fed into a $60 Creative speakers.

I don't want to upgrade the source, but want to upgrade the amp/speakers. An active system like the creative speakers I have will do, or I could go the amp/speaker route.

Would prefer bookshelf speakers that I can put on a bookshelf. 🙂 and an integrated amp that doesn't take up too much room.

Shouldn't be too expensive since I don't want to upgrade the source, should still come across as an upgrade from the 2.1 speakers I currently have.

Any recommendations?

 

[Anonymous]

What's your budget? At the lower end, I can't recommend the Audioengine actives enough for a simple neat 2nd system. I have the little A2's and they have a surprisingly big sound (and no noticeable distortion at sane listening levels) and sit very happily anywhere I've put them...

 

[Anonymous]

I don't have so much a budget, as wanting something 'balanced' with the sb touch dac as a source. I'll try the audio engine actives.

 

[Anonymous]

I went out and got the A2s today. Haven't plugged them in yet.

 

[Anonymous]

Hooked them up, and very impressed. Definitely worth an audition for anyone looking for a sub $500 system. Flac -> SB Touch -> AudioEngine A2.

This is hifi enough for me. ;-)

 

[Anonymous]

Congrats MoData, am glad you like them! Can't take all the credit though, have to tip my hat to WHF for their original review, which was enough to convince me to give them a try! ;-)

 

[Ambrose]

Hi MoData,
I am looking at changing my system currently and was curious by your main system below.

1. SB Touch (Modded) -> [Optichord] ->Rega Dac -> [Crimson Plus] ->Rega Mira 3 -> [CSS]-> Rega Rs5

Particularly, the SB touch which looks to tick many boxes for me but am concerned that this maybe the weak link in a system as compared to the rest of your components.
Also, how does Sonos compare or is the fact that you have seperate quality DAC and AMP bypass any weak points in the SB touch?
I guess the SB is just streaming from PC, being a preamp and control interface in your setup?
Am I unduly concerned here. Sorry if I am being dumb!

Finally, do you connect directly to PC/laptop (or wireless) or external HD?
Cheers
Ambrose

 

[Anonymous]

I'd say generally, a quality DAC (think Berensford, CA DacMagic, Rega DAC, and probably in ascending order) you'll overcome any shortcomings in whatever wireless source (eg airport express, SB touch, sonos). I know the sonos does 24bit (and think the SB does too?) while the airport express only does 16-bit digital output, but if the majority of your music is stored as FLAC or Apple Lossless rips of CD's or lower quality, this won't matter. Personally I've gone the Airport route, but that is largely due to getting one for wifi Internet first (the streaming option was a bonus), having all my music already in iTunes, and having numerous iPods/iPhones in the house. If I was starting from scratch, I might well go the Squeezebox + NAS route, as it means you don't have to have your computer on, but I can't fault the Apple solution for ease of use, integration of all my devices and a continual improvement of software and functionality... (for example I can now stream video from my laptop to my iPhone and send the audio to an airport express simply due to a free software update, and streaming from any device to any airport express can be controlled from any other, with a very consistent interface)

Sonos is definitely good, but rather overpriced IMHO (on a par with wired Incognito costs)... Horses for courses I guess, but with a good DAC, just choose the source that suits you best...

 

[Pedro2]

Hi Ambrose

I too use a modified squeezebox receiver as a main component. Unlike the touch, it does not handle anything higher res than 24 bit 48k whereas the touch will handle 24/96. I don't think that the Sonos can handle 24 bit but I may be wrong.

The mods to the receiver include a better 'clock' amongst other bits and pieces (no prizes for guessing that I'm no techi) as well as a top quality linear power supply (Teddy Pardo).

The sound is very close to one from a good quality CD player. I have read somewhere that whereas all digital files are capable of being bit perfect if you use the correct ripping software (e.g EAC), the differences in sound quality is down to the timing of how the information is processed. Sorry but I've no longer got the link to the article which explained this. Seems to make sense in some ways but can't comment on the physics involved!

System: Squeezebox receiver (modified + linear power supply), Beresford TC7510, Creek OBH22 passive preamp, Roksan L111 power amp, Neat Motive 2 SE

 

[Ambrose]

Thanks Fred K and Pedro for your responses to my questions which has put my mind at ease.

I hope to make use of my existing avr amp (arcam avr280), dvd player and B&W ASW2 sub. I have a old dacmagic 1 in loft so could bring that out of retirement

Am thinking maybe connect SB touch through dac, then through AVR amp, and that way I can still make use of existing kit.

I might consider portable harddrive to start with rather than NAS. Do you think this will work?

Just need to try out some smallish bookshelf speakers to replace M1 sats then..............

decisions decisions................

Cheers Ambrose

PS - looking forward to Rega dac review!!!!!

 

[nads]

Thanks Fred K and Pedro for your responses to my questions which has put my mind at ease.

I hope to make use of my existing avr amp (arcam avr280), dvd player and B&W ASW2 sub. I have a old dacmagic 1 in loft so could bring that out of retirement

Am thinking maybe connect SB touch through dac, then through AVR amp, and that way I can still make use of existing kit.

I might consider portable harddrive to start with rather than NAS. Do you think this will work?

Just need to try out some smallish bookshelf speakers to replace M1 sats then..............

decisions decisions................

Cheers Ambrose

PS - looking forward to Rega dac review!!!!!

using a Dac Magic with a SB Touch is a waste of time. I found no improvement. I did with my SB3 though.

the Touch DACs are good.

 

[Anonymous]

The DAC in the SB touch is pretty darned good, so you might actually need a pretty expensive external dac to make it worthwhile to have a dac in the chain. I might have been happy enough without the rega dac if I had A/B tested it. However, I bought the DAC before I bought the sb touch.

Having said that, you should then ascertain whether the sb touch is a good enough transport. It sound better than a older toshiba dvd player that I have (coupled to the rega dac). However, I did not spend the time to hook up the dac with a better transport, to see if the transport makes any difference at all.

Some folks think that the rega dac is an improvement even when coupled to the saturn cd player (which costs around two times the cost of the dac). Not sure if that's the case, or whether the sb touch has parity with a transport like the saturn cd player. Then it becomes a question of whether you want to spend the money for that marginal improvement...