Soundcheck's Touch Toolbox 3.0

[camtwister]

That rather clever chap named Klaus, under the nom de plume of Soundcheck, has published version 3 of his firmware mods for the Squeezebox Touch.

His blog is here:
http://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com/2011/11/touch-toolbox-30.html

I took a deep breath, held my nose and jumped into the dark waters of kernel parameter adjustments last night. I've installed the modifications as he recommends, paying particular attention to buffer values and the prioritisation of the PRIOIRQ47 process which looks after the SPDIF.

I only have one Squeezebox and so have been unable to do any useful A/B comparisons between unmodified and altered code. I'm mindful of the potential placebo effect but I'm going to declare to the world (wide web) that I have heard some genuine benefit, principally in dynamics and also in definition.

If you fancy an evening tickling your firmware and getting much better acquainted with WinSCP, it's worth the effort.

Bravo Klaus.

[camtwister]

After further listening I can confirm my initial impressions. Bass is tighter and articulation of all instruments is improved. The transients of percussive instruments are more accurately represented.

It's very much a digital presentation, whether streaming 128K AAC / 192K Ogg, Red Book or high resolution PCM files. I'm enjoying the precision of it and I'm a chap that sniffs vinyl for kicks, never mind listening to it.

Applying and tweaking Toolbox 3.0 on the Touch has enabled me, for the first time, to discern a difference in response when changing filters on my Rega DAC, when using the Squeezebox as a source.
I've been using the linear phase half-band and soft-knee settings by default. Today, I prefered the apodising filter. That is, a change from selecting 1 to selecting 5 on the front panel of the DAC.

[Covenant]

I think I will have a go at this over the weekend, I have Toolbox 2 and thought it made a big difference. I won't be getting rid of IR control or the touch screen however.

[Stratmangler]

I think I will have a go at this over the weekend, I have Toolbox 2 and thought it made a big difference. I won't be getting rid of IR control or the touch screen however.

Did it make a difference, or were you just pleased that the bloody thing worked after piddling about changing software settings without a safety net? :eyebrows:

[Covenant]

Yes a definite improvement. Only problem was loosing the settings when the software was upgraded. I have switched off the automatic upgrade now.

[camtwister]

...changing software settings without a safety net?


I'd like to think I was that brave, but the factory reset is there to break your fall.

[Stratmangler]

I'd like to think I was that brave, but the factory reset is there to break your fall.

I know, I was just having a larf :lol:
I'd want the bloody thing to work after all that malarkey.

[camtwister]

Jerry, did you implement version 3.0, this weekend? Any thoughts?

[Covenant]

I tried to but something went wrong and I got an error message that the file wasn't there.
I didn't have any problem with Toolbox 2.0. I think I will delete it and start again.

[Gazjam]

Stick with it Jerry, I found it better than the 2.0 mods.
One thing though, initially it was a bit "digital" sounding with the high's being accented.

After you have done the mods, and you find the same maybe try pasting THIS into WinSCP.

chrt -f -p XX 367 (Where XX is the value 41 - 59)
I find the higher numbers sound a bit more "etched" the lower sounding more bassy and full.
Try 'em in your system see what you think.
I've settled on 41

More info here:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showpost.php?p=667678&postcount=57

(it boosts priority for SPDIF which in my system - and others - seems to take the digital edge off.)

[Covenant]

Did you mean to include a link Gaz, I can't find it?
If it doesn't work this time I may need your wealth of knowledge and experience. (creep creep)

[Gazjam]

Did you mean to include a link Gaz, I can't find it?
If it doesn't work this time I may need your wealth of knowledge and experience. (creep creep)

Yep, fell asleep at the wheel again :mental:

Amended my original post.
Any problems Jerry gimme a shout mate.

[camtwister]

Ah, interesting Gary. I've also chosen 41 as the reference setting for SPDIF priority. Great minds and all that..!
I've been changing the priority by editing the usr/bin/tt file.
The default is PRIOIRQ47=40.
The alteration comes into effect after a reboot and is then permanent until the code is altered by the user.

[Covenant]

Right, just about got it working, for some reason the tar file didn't download properly. Dont like the screen turned off as I am not an I user. I feel like I have killed my Touch at the moment.

[Covenant]

All sorted including the change that Gaz suggested. Only listened through headphones ATM as my daughter has commandered my little music room. I might get a proper listen later on.

[Covenant]

I am impressed. Its as if my speakers have been shocked into life, everything has more punch and the bass has improved without being overblown.
I can see me sending Klaus another donation!

[Gazjam]

They're not half bad, a must if you own a Touch in my opinion

[Covenant]

Added the volume lock mod and installed Fideliser tonight. Another improvement.
Must stop this now. I have been thinking of getting a linear supply for my router!

[Gazjam]

its all good stuff, innit? :)

[AlexM]

I have just installed this on my SBT, used with Logitech Media Server 7.7.0.

Initial impressions are that there is a little more space and air in the midband, and bass is a little clearer and more impactful.

Having said that my system is being used with 'temporary' speaker cables, and the SBT is being used with Wi-Fi (shock horror) as the builder seems to have left the network cable under the new floor :rolleyes:.

In my experience, direct cabled connection sounds much, much better than Wi-Fi, but Souncheck mods v3.0 do seem to have improved matters somewhat.

Regards,
Alex

[stu.dio]

They're not half bad, a must if you own a Touch in my opinion

+1 - got my SBT today - searched the forums here for some tips - saw this thread, intrigued and 2hrs later, massive headache from a 15 min bout of stress when the SBT was locked out and went invisible on the network - but all working now, it so so LOVELY I have never heard my Wadia 12 DAC sound so good. I agree with peoples findings here, especially the cohesiveness, silky smooth presentation - just simply great.

[Covenant]

Stick with it Jerry, I found it better than the 2.0 mods.
One thing though, initially it was a bit "digital" sounding with the high's being accented.

After you have done the mods, and you find the same maybe try pasting THIS into WinSCP.

chrt -f -p XX 367 (Where XX is the value 41 - 59)
I find the higher numbers sound a bit more "etched" the lower sounding more bassy and full.
Try 'em in your system see what you think.
I've settled on 41

More info here:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showpost.php?p=667678&postcount=57

(it boosts priority for SPDIF which in my system - and others - seems to take the digital edge off.)

I got round to trying this mod with TT 3.0 and like it. This is an 'on the fly' adjustment, did you make it permanent Gaz and if so, how?

[lovejoy]

Quite timely that I've read this as I actually removed TT3.0 over the weekend concluding that it just sounded a bit too 'digital' for my system as it stands, but I'll have to have another go with the SPDIF priority altered.

The tweaking came about over the weekend as I'd finally got around to borrowing some SPDIF cables from my local friendly dealer. I'd bought my Naim DAC back in the summer and have been very pleased with it but my SBT had been plugged into it using an old QED digital cable (which in fact might have actually been a video rather than an audio cable) so I decided I needed to finish things off with some better cables, so I ended up borrowing Chord Prodac and Anthem SPDIF cables: To cut a long story short, the Prodac was a healthy step up from the QED I was using so I was all ready to purchase that. That was until I sat down last night to listen to the Nick Drake "Five leaves left" hi-res master I'd just purchased through the Anthem - Holy Moley! It sounds crazy to be using an SPDIF cable from the Squeezebox that cost as much as the Squeezebox, but my God it works! To do a sanity check I went back to the Prodac and played the same thing again and it was akin to switching from FM to AM. That's my Christmas present to me sorted out then!

Next comes the rather thorny subject of Ethernet cables, but that's a long and rather different story and I don't want to hijack this thread with that.

Thanks for the tip on SPDIF prios, I'll give that a go, but time to enjoy the SBT with the new SPDIF cable for a while in stock form first I think.

[Covenant]

If you figure how to make it permanent Rich, please let me know. Gaz must be busy partying....
I really like Mike Homar's cables with the SBT but intend to try a glass toslink cable with the new Bushmaster as Stan says the optical input has been improved.

[lovejoy]

Hi Jerry,
If my memory serves me correctly, you need to edit the file /usr/bin/tt to make the changes permanent. I use a terminal to ssh into the SBT from my Mac (ssh -l root <SBT IP address>)

then
vi /usr/bin/tt

Do a search ('/' in vi) for PIDIRQ47

If you hit the right occurrence of this string then you should see a block of hard-wired values for all of the different processes, if not then press 'n' to find the next occurrence until you get the one where you see all of the values.

Delete the current value using the x key which will delete the character under your cursor, now use 'i' for insert and type in your new PIDIRQ47 value - If you make any mistakes press escape to stop inserting characters, then press 'x' to delete what you don't want again, then 'i' again to insert.

Once you're done, save by pressing Escape, then ':' to issue a command, then 'wq' which is 'write, then quit' which will save the file and exit vi. Reboot and you're done.

I only use vi because I'm used to using it. I think you can also use edlin on the SBT which is somewhat more intuitive.

Hope that helps!

[Covenant]

Brilliant, thanks Rich. I will give it a go.

[lovejoy]

Just about to give it another go myself.

Popped back into my local dealers (and yes, it seems to be becoming more like drugs lately) to return the cables I loaned over the weekend and seeing as Chord had just shut down for Christmas and they didn't have an Anthem digital in stock, I took the rather worrying opportunity of borrowing the Indigo to try on the end of the SBT, purely for shits and giggles, just to hear the law of diminishing returns kick in and be sure I'd hit the plateau of the SBTs performance curve.

I'm half an hour in having been swapping between Anthem and Indigo for each track - Looks like I just made an expensive mistake and we're now into the realms of "Is that REALLY a Squeezebox Touch making that incredible noise?".

Oh crap!

[lovejoy]

TT3 installed - Almost removed again having tried the lower range of values of SPDIF priority settings. I was just finding the same as I did before - just a bit too much glare in comparison with not having TT3 installed. Maybe my results are skewed because I also have Triode's EDO mod installed. Having raised the value of SPDIF priority though I'm a lot happier. Currently running at the maximum value and things are sounding good. Still need to compare higher SPDIF values + TT3 vs no TT3 though before settling on a final setting though.

[icehockeyboy]

Yes a definite improvement. Only problem was loosing the settings when the software was upgraded. I have switched off the automatic upgrade now.

What automatic upgrade?
Are you talking about the one from Logitech?
I thought they'd stopped those......:scratch:

[Covenant]

What automatic upgrade?
Are you talking about the one from Logitech?
I thought they'd stopped those......:scratch:

Not when I wrote that they hadn't! It's an old thread I resurrected.