What IS the Squeezebox Touch?

[webby]

I've seen lots of comments about the SB Touch lately and I've had a cursory look at it but I wonder if any Touch users could enlighten me as to what it really is?

As far as I can tell, it's a streaming device, much like the Airport Express. It has a built in DAC and analogue and digital outputs just like the AE, but in addition it has a touch screen and a remote control. However, the AE is £80 and the SB Touch is £250.

Is that it? Is it essentially an AE with a screen?

Cheers

[Peter Galbavy]

Nope, a touch more complicated (pun intended). It can work as a standalone music player, is not tied to a particular server platform and is reported as having a very fine quality DAC stage.

I have a number of Squeeze products and I like them and the culture behind them. The whole software base is open source, applications and patches are available and it all works together really well.

[Techno Commander]

If only they did a version that would play video files as well??

[Clive]

What's needed on a PC for it to act as a server for a SB Touch?

[Ali Tait]

You just need to download Squeezebox Server Clive.It's free.

[Clive]

Thanks Ali, sounds useful for a kitchen system I'm planning.

[webby]

Is it fully compatible with a mac?

[Welder]

This should answer most questions regarding this product.
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Logitech-Squeezebox-Touch-Review

[webby]

This should answer most questions regarding this product.
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Logitech-Squeezebox-Touch-Review

Thanks John.

[michaelhigh]

This should answer most questions regarding this product.
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Logitech-Squeezebox-Touch-Review

Good review, concise, succinct. Brilliant, Welder.

[slate]

Is it fully compatible with a mac?

yes, Squeezebox Server also comes in a mac version

You can download here and get started
http://www.mysqueezebox.com/download

[technobear]

In addition to the fine DAC stage, the Touch also has a fine digital output - much finer than that in a Squeezebox Classic or an Airport Express.

Combined with a Beresford Caiman, this pairing is for now probably the best value there is in digital audio replay.

The new Audiolab MDAC, when it finally arrives next year, is going to have to be quite something to surpass this pairing for value.

[jbloggs]

For those interested another review can be found here in Stereophile (http://stereophile.com/computeraudio/logitech_squeezebox_touch_network_music_player/)

[Welder]

Thanks jbloggs :)
I wouldn’t have known that USB output was a possibility with the touch. This makes it altogether a different prospect. It would mean I could keep to my preference for USB Dacs and get rid of the aging laptop I’m using as source. I’m already feeding the laptop with a remote hard drive so it’s a small step and very cost effective to move to a touch and finally get rid of all the problems associated with getting bit perfect audio from the various and mostly horrendous OS available.
In my experience ALL the problems I’ve had with fikle based audio have centered on the computer.
Yep, you can get bit perfect audio from most OS but it can be a struggle and windows of course is limited to 24/96 and will be for the foreseeable future. Apple, well, don’t even go there. Linux, I would love to but the geek factor wipes it out for most I suspect.

Interesting to note that even the die hard “if you aint got this kit you might as well listen to mp3” at Sterophile got a excited at both the sound quality and convenience of the touch. Maybe we will have to read a bit less of the usual snobby and badly informed bollocks from the Hi Fi press, Hi Fi sales reps and finally hear some balanced and rational comments concerning file based audio.

I cant help but comment on the number of times I’ve read from these golden eared reviewers who profess to have “the knowledge” and the experience in Hi Fi matters comments about how all this is new to them. Unfortunately I doubt it will stop them writing at some point that the touch+Dac couldn’t quite perform to the standard of their idiotic expenditure on more traditional Hi Fi, but hey, progress perhaps.

Lets hope Logitec get the USB output sorted soon. I'll start saving now :)

[magiccarpetride]

In addition to the fine DAC stage, the Touch also has a fine digital output - much finer than that in a Squeezebox Classic or an Airport Express.

Combined with a Beresford Caiman, this pairing is for now probably the best value there is in digital audio replay.

The new Audiolab MDAC, when it finally arrives next year, is going to have to be quite something to surpass this pairing for value.

I wholeheartedly concur. I bought the Touch only because I wanted to enjoy my growing collection of high definition music (24-bit/92 kHz). I wasn't expecting, even in my wildest dreams, that I'll be also getting a much improved reproduction of the low resolution music (i.e. the red book format, 24-bit/44.1 kHz).

But man, was I completely blown away when I plugged the Touch into the Caiman and played the first few bars of Annie Lennox "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" (just a regular CD rip). All of a sudden, it felt as if I've spent at least $5,000.00 on the upgrades. The music, real music, just started pouring out of my Maggies.

I can't recall when was the last time I've had such a magnificent, uplifting experience while listening to music. I don't know what secret sauce they put into Touch (must be some combination of low jitter clock and some sort of ultra high quality software drivers in Linux).

Worth every penny, and then some. Probably the best purchase you can make on the market today. Pair that transport with the Caiman, and you'll start sounding better than some high end systems that retail for $10,000!

Plus, there's a growing array of neat tweaks and mods that you can apply to the Touch to take it to even higher heights. The best part -- all those tweaks are free.

[amdismal]

I wouldn’t have known that USB output was a possibility with the touch. This makes it altogether a different prospect. It would mean I could keep to my preference for USB Dacs and get rid of the aging laptop I’m using as source. I’m already feeding the laptop with a remote hard drive so it’s a small step and very cost effective to move to a touch and finally get rid of all the problems associated with getting bit perfect audio from the various and mostly horrendous OS available.
In my experience ALL the problems I’ve had with fikle based audio have centered on the computer.
Yep, you can get bit perfect audio from most OS but it can be a struggle and windows of course is limited to 24/96 and will be for the foreseeable future. Apple, well, don’t even go there. Linux, I would love to but the geek factor wipes it out for most I suspect.

I'm not sure that the Touch is the right product for you. If you just want to use USB DACs, I would have thought that a laptop would be a much better plan tbh.

The Touch acting as server has a rather cut-down version of the Squeezebox Server software, and many of the plug-ins that give the Touch its main advantages do not work - Spotify does not, the complex browse methods, and so on. I had a Touch for a short time in my system, but moved over to a direct-PC basis via USB, with no change in the sound and a lot more convenience, even though I was using a 'proper' server. (The Touch can only ever support 24/96, by the way, if that counts for much to you. Personally I think that's fine.)

I would strongly recommend trying Linux (Ubuntu) on the laptop - check that it works (most laptops are fine). I have an IBM T41, old and clunky, but it works much (MUCH!) faster now with Ubuntu. I've also installed it on everything else now, including the computer in the main system. It saw the USB DAC (Caiman) straight away, and just works.

The install is dead easy - you just download it and put it onto a USB pen drive, and boot from that. It will partition your HD, allowing you to boot up into Windows later if you like (i.e. if you don't like Ubuntu!), and can easily install in just a few gig. If you're not precious about the laptop anyway, what have you got to lose?

It installs with Rhythmbox, which is a very nice audio player, and there are plenty of others to choose if you like. There are a couple of things to get used to, but for me I'm totally converted, despite only moving to Ubuntu a few months ago after decades of Windows!