New Logitech Squeezebox Touch Anyone?

[Anonymous]

matengawhat:

all my music is ripped in lossless - and the squeezbox and my cdp play throught the same dac - but can't help but think that the music has lost some of its rhythm and sounds perhaps a little muddled - not done any back to back testing yet though so could be my imagination!

there is a massive volume difference between my cdp and the squeezebox

I find that itunes Apple lossless codec rips markedly inferior to my own FLAC files rips for sound quality. Night and day.

Download a trail copy of dbpoweramp or media monkey, make a new rip of a couple of your fav CDs into FLAC, then try back to back with the originals for reference.

 

[Anonymous]

matengawhat:
the squeezbox and my cdp play throught the same dac - but can't help but think that the music has lost some of its rhythm and sounds perhaps a little muddled

there is a massive volume difference between my cdp and the squeezebox

If they are both playing through the same DAC then the volume should be the same, it's the same digital stream. Have you got the volume on the squeezebox set to less than 100% ? If so then that will, a: make it quieter, b: reduce the quality.

 

[matengawhat]

the volume is set to 100 and the difference is massive

 

[matengawhat]

i had turned smart gain on and i guesssed it would equlise the volume and pick the optimum level - but thinks it just lowered everything to the minimum - turning off seems to have raised the volume and equalised the difference a little also the music sounds a little more rounded

 

[smbmetal]

matengawhat:i had turned smart gain on and i guesssed it would equlise the volume and pick the optimum level - but thinks it just lowered everything to the minimum - turning off seems to have raised the volume and equalised the difference a little also the music sounds a little more rounded

Hi matengawhat,

How have you find the touch now that you have had chance to play with it? Do you like it's sound quality vs a traditional CD player? Finally, would you recommend it?

 

[Anonymous]

I've been trying the Touch and wrote a review here:

http://www.itwriting.com/blog/reviews/review-logitech-squeezebox-touch

Love the Squeezebox system and have SB3 classics + a Boom already. I like the Touch well enough: sound quality is great, and (small point I guess) I like seeing the album cover on the Now Playing screen. I was disappointed though that the direct-attached hard drive idea doesn't work well; apparently it is OK if you only have a small library. I'm a bit puzzled though by the touch screen - not sure that it's worth it when you are sitting at a distance across the room. I still mostly use the remote, or a PC app or web browser to control it.

Tim

 

[smbmetal]

timanderson:

I've been trying the Touch and wrote a review here:

http://www.itwriting.com/blog/reviews/review-logitech-squeezebox-touch

Love the Squeezebox system and have SB3 classics + a Boom already. I like the Touch well enough: sound quality is great, and (small point I guess) I like seeing the album cover on the Now Playing screen. I was disappointed though that the direct-attached hard drive idea doesn't work well; apparently it is OK if you only have a small library. I'm a bit puzzled though by the touch screen - not sure that it's worth it when you are sitting at a distance across the room. I still mostly use the remote, or a PC app or web browser to control it.

Tim

Thanks Tim for your review. Don't think it's enough to tempt me away from my CD player. I have no interest in using my comptuer for music, I was just interested in using an external hard disk plugged in the back, but it sounds as though there's a few issues if you have a lot of tracks. Like you say it probably needs more RAM.

 

[Anonymous]

Read the review in What Hifi - I was hoping it would be a bit more detailed. It did mention the need to install server software that I wasn't aware of. Can this software be installed on any external hard drive or does it have to be a NAS?

Also, is the device limited to just playing music or can it play video files as well?

 

[nads]

flannel:
Read the review in What Hifi - I was hoping it would be a bit more detailed. It did mention the need to install server software that I wasn't aware of. Can this software be installed on any external hard drive or does it have to be a NAS?

Also, is the device limited to just playing music or can it play video files as well?

a basic version is already on the touch for playing the music on any attached USB drives.

Music only.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Will the Touch power a USB-powered hard drive? Or does the drive need to be powered separately? Edit: Ah, found the above links to slimdevices forums - good info there.

Will The Touch let the drive go to standby when there is no playback and then wake the drive from standby? e.g. one of these http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=11156 (it has 'auto' mode on the power switch).

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, I too am thinking of investing in the touch, NAS and a high quality DAC in the hope of increasing sound quality, so would appreciate thoughts fro current users. I sm thinking of the touch as I would prefer a touch screen system for trolling through my music

 

[tino]

Hi, I too am thinking of investing in the touch, NAS and a high quality DAC in the hope of increasing sound quality, so would appreciate thoughts fro current users. I sm thinking of the touch as I would prefer a touch screen system for trolling through my music

Funnily enough, the touchscreen is the least used aspect of my Squeezebox Touch. The remote control functionality is so good (like automatically increasing screen font size when you use it), you won't be needing to smudge the screen with greasy fingerprints. You can also control it from a separate smart phone or web browser on a computer. Sit back in your sofa, control the Touch remotely and enjoy.

PS There are occassional big fluctuations in price. A lot of us on here got the Touch for £135 recently.

 

[Anonymous]

would certainly like to spend less, can you point me in the right direction as the best price I have found is £200?

 

[tino]

Unfortunately £200 is the best around at the moment (Currys, PC World). The £135 deal was from the latter. But keep a look out on the Logitech site for blemished box sale, or for flash discounts - you will see them on this forum usually.

 

[Anonymous]

will do many thanks

 

[Tonya]

Yeppers, the Touch certainly does rock.
But a word of warning - it will indeed play files directly from a connected HD or flash drive, but don't expect lightning search times when browsing said drives.
For the system to function correctly and efficiently, you must have an instance of Squeezebox Server running in some other device, such as a PC or ideally a compatible NAS drive (see the other Squeezebox post near this thread!).
The Touch itself has a tiny version of the software but it is slow to scan new drives and the system doesn't really fly until you set it up as described.

The USB input is really only meant to play the occasional file or two, as the unit will attempt to scan and build an index for each attatched device, something which isn't very practical on a large USB device.

However in saying that, once set up correctly with the afformentioned NAS, you will wonder how you ever got by without one.

A bit like Sky+ really, it does indeed revolutionize your listening habits . . . . :dance:

 

[smbmetal]

Thought I'd update my own thread!

I did purchase a SBT in the end, just before they stopped making it

. Probably the best value piece of hi-fi equipment I've ever purchased, easily matches my old Arcam CD92T cd player for sound quality. Such as shame Logitech have ceased production of it.

 

[smbmetal]

Just for a bit of nostalga fun.

My SBT touch is STILL going strong. I had to get the iPeng app though when the iPhone stopped supporting 32bit apps.

I still think the SBT is an awesome device. Hopefully I've not Jinxed it haha.