Experiences with Squeezebox Touch 'Toolkit' 3.0

[twelvebears]

Any of you chaps played around with this?

Just wondered what your experiences have been and if you feel it's worth the effort?

Also what compromises does it cause in terms of key functionality?

Oh and one last thing, if I disable native playback on the touch and force decoding on the server, will I have any network problems? (I have a gigabit, wired network, no wireless).

Thanks Chaps!

[DaveK]

Hi Steve,
I am fairly certain that both GazJam and Covenant have done this with positive effects - I tried it and got lost somewhere in the middle of the code changes so I'm still running the unmodified software.
One or t'other will be along soon I'm sure to contribute.
Dave.

[Covenant]

I do think it is an improvement albeit a small one. How many improvements do you get that cost nothing though? No compromises that I am aware of except that it defaults to screen off in the mistaken belief that everyone has some other method of controlling the server. I dont have an iphone or ipad so have to switch the screen back on.

[magiccarpetride]

Any of you chaps played around with this?

Just wondered what your experiences have been and if you feel it's worth the effort?

Also what compromises does it cause in terms of key functionality?

Oh and one last thing, if I disable native playback on the touch and force decoding on the server, will I have any network problems? (I have a gigabit, wired network, no wireless).

Thanks Chaps!

I'm presently up to my eyeballs with the Touch Toolkit 3.0. From my perspective, this toolkit transformed my Touch from a nice little digital transport into an audiophile-grade transport (I am feeding digital coax into Gatorized Caiman DAC).

I'd say that unless one is ready to accept certain compromises, the toolkit may not be able to deliver its full potential. By compromises I mean killing the wi fi and going full wired via ethernet, killing the analog outputs, disabling the screen, locking the digital volume control at 100%, experimenting a bit with the buffer size, etc. Plus, you absolutely must replace its switching wallwart power supply with a decent linear PSU.

But the icing on the cake is the ability to play with various settings in the /usr/bin/tt file. This is where you stand a chance to transform your by now authoritative player into a truly high-end player that can make your system sound like one of those super expensive audio systems. That part, however, is not for the faint hearted, as it requires a lot of trial-and-error, and a lot of reading and learning.

P.S. No adverse effects in my system from decoding on the server, I'm streaming large high definition 24/96 PCM without any hiccups.

[AlexM]

FWIW, I have gone back to the default config as it didn't really make any difference as far as I could tell. I didn't use the SBT Toolkit to disable the display as this was too much of a reduction in functionality for me.

I did an experiment to compare CPU utilisation using server-side decoding to PCM, compared to decoding on the SBT, and found that server-side decoding resulted in higher CPU utilisation on the touch, very much so for 24/96 playback. IMO this isn't going to help, and was the exact opposite of the stated reason for doing this.

Others report significant changes in the sound, but nothing to get excited about as far as I could tell. It is just another thing for some to obsess about.

Cheers,
Alex

[twelvebears]

FWIW, I have gone back to the default config as it didn't really make any difference as far as I could tell. I didn't use the SBT Toolkit to disable the display as this was too much of a reduction in functionality for me.

I did an experiment to compare CPU utilisation using server-side decoding to PCM, compared to decoding on the SBT, and found that server-side decoding resulted in higher CPU utilisation on the touch, very much so for 24/96 playback. IMO this isn't going to help, and was the exact opposite of the stated reason for doing this.

Others report significant changes in the sound, but nothing to get excited about as far as I could tell. It is just another thing for some to obsess about.

Cheers,
Alex

Well I've had to rest everything as something had buggered the digital output from the Touch, so all I was getting from my M2 was hiss at a very high level. :scratch:

I'm about to discover if the reset and reinstal has resolved things....

[stu.dio]

I use TT3 and love it - but If compromise is not an option - the 2 biggest (obvious/audible) improvements I found were taking decoding out of the SB onto server side (which you don't need TT3 to do this) and giving the SB a very good PSU (again nothing to do with TT3)

[seoirse2002]

mmm, thats whats making me not want to touch the touch,and I have no dac yet,so Ill see when stans bushmaster comes out....I wait patiently

[Covenant]

I don't think you can do any damage by playing with the software. The reinstall removes all traces. I am certainly not computer literate but I can do the TT3.0 mods in about 15 minutes by just copying and pasting the commands from Soundchecks web page.
These mods seem to be the equivalent of cables-some hear a difference and others don't.

[twelvebears]

mmm, thats whats making me not want to touch the touch,and I have no dac yet,so Ill see when stans bushmaster comes out....I wait patiently

It did btw....