View Full Version : Touch
Stratmangler
11-12-2010, 15:54
I am currently in PC World playing on the demo Macs - Logitech Squeezebox Touch is currently £200 in store.
Must be bargain of the year :)
It's on Amazon at £199.99 too, interestingly enough it's also available for £299.99, and £478.99 from the Amazon marketplace...bonkers!
They must have discounted it for Xmas.
Cheers for the nod Chris, my mate's in the market for one
i finally bit the bullet and bought one today at Richer sounds for £199
alfie2902
11-12-2010, 22:52
Not much help to you now Jon, but Pixmania are doing them for £182 http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/5966330/art/logitech/squeezebox-touch-wi-fi-mu.html there's also a voucher code somewhere on the net that knocks the P&P off.
I got mine about 3 weeks ago delivered in 2 days & good service from Pixmania.
Sounds bloody good into the AN Dac too :)
if i want it it has to be now so i went to mr Richer, i have yet to fire it up Alfie , best wait till i'm sober me thinks, i'm going to run it with a stand alond 1TB HD i hope, i had a listen to a Linn Ds today, i was most underwhelmed so the touch was the order of the day
Rare Bird
11-12-2010, 23:26
Any cheap Sonus
:sofa:
Any cheap Sonus
:sofa:
i did look at them but I didn't want multiroom so went for a touch and cheaper too, both do 24 bit
alfie2902
11-12-2010, 23:36
Well Jon it only cost you £13 more to get it there & then (£18 if I could find the voucher code) so hardly matters really.
I've not tried it off an HDD. I just installed Squeezebox server on my 2nd system's PC & pointed it at my Foobar2000 flac library & stream via wi-fi. It was up & running in a few mins. I'm controling it with iPeng on my iPhone, which works very well.
I've since downloaded SqueezePlay on to the PC & can now have the same music playing on both systems controled by my iPhone. The Sync is about .5 of a sec out atm though so need to work out how to delay the earlier one. It worked great last night though with some friends around!
Rare Bird
11-12-2010, 23:45
i did look at them but I didn't want multiroom so went for a touch and cheaper too, both do 24 bit
Hi Jon
I was just wanting the Bridge with ZP90 Zone player & controller.
thats a question i was going to ask about the iphone or touch being compatable, in that case i won't need a addtional controller? which are best part of £160, i have got to suss out a good uploading program to use then, i have tried Foobar but found it a bit frustrating and hard to fatherm but i'm a bit of a numpty, i have got a program called "Songbird" which seems to be ok, any ideas for a layman like me or is there bundled software with it, as i say it is still in it's box at the moment as the pub beckoned
Rare Bird
11-12-2010, 23:56
you can use an iPhone with Sonus
alfie2902
12-12-2010, 00:11
thats a question i was going to ask about the iphone or touch being compatable, in that case i won't need a addtional controller? which are best part of £160, i have got to suss out a good uploading program to use then, i have tried Foobar but found it a bit frustrating and hard to fatherm but i'm a bit of a numpty, i have got a program called "Songbird" which seems to be ok, any ideas for a layman like me or is there bundled software with it, as i say it is still in it's box at the moment as the pub beckoned
iPeng app cost £5.99 but is great! My SB remote is still in the box unused, so if you have an iPod touch or iPhone that's the way to go IMO. iPeng can control multiple squeezebox players hard & soft.
If your files are on your external HDD the SBTouch will use its internal SBserver & just play the files once it has scanned the music folder on the HDD so no other software is needed. I already use Foobar on my PC so just pointed SBserver (that I downloaded on to my PC) to the files I already use.
i reallly want to start agian with my uploads to get them all in the best quility i can so what program do you suggest apart from foobar ,i have had trouble with a few cds that only seem to upload with very bad distortion Damien Rice "o" being one any ideas
Ali Tait
12-12-2010, 09:00
I use EAC- exact audio copy. Not the easiest to use but once it's set up you don't need to touch it again,and it's free. A few folk here use it,so plenty help available.
Thanks Ali i will give it a go, perhaps i will need some tutorials, my wife has told me i can't open my touch till Christmas or i'm not getting a present from her, bloody women :doh: we shall see:eyebrows:
Jon.
Like Ali, I use EAC to rip.
Just about every other ripping program I’ve tried has given me problems of one sort or another.
http://blowfish.be/eac/index.html
and
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8238
Hi Jon,
EAC is all well and good, but it's a bit of a slow process IMHO, and the tag information isn't the best.
I did my 2.5k using dBpoweramp, take some time to configure the secure ripping settings, it also has the advantage of providing batch conversion support, so you can rip your CD's to FLAC to use as your masters, and also convert the FLAc to VBR Mp3 for use on your mobile devices with a couple of clicks, and a bit of processing time.
FYI the touch is 'multi room' too, I noticed that you'd mentioned that was why you hadn't gone for Sonos.
Are you going to run SqueezeServer on a PC, or the embedded one in the touch?
I use WinAmp to calculate ReplayGain, as you can utilise this with the touch, 'Album' or 'Track' a feature that the more expensive Sonos does not support.
And finally, I use 'SqueezeCommander' on my android phone to control my 4 players, there must be an equivalent for Iphones.
Are you going to connect it to your network at home?
Oh and PS. Are you using a laptop? If you've got a lot to do it might be worth investing in an external CD ROM, I used Samsung Writemaster (about £30), or a plextor if you have the dosh, less ripping errors than an internal laptop drive, and much quicker.
alfie2902
12-12-2010, 14:36
i reallly want to start agian with my uploads to get them all in the best quility i can so what program do you suggest apart from foobar ,i have had trouble with a few cds that only seem to upload with very bad distortion Damien Rice "o" being one any ideas
Whoops I didn't understand what you meant by uploads Jon. I now take it you mean 'ripping' :)
As said before EAC or dBpoweramp are about the best as they use an online database called 'AccurateRip' to check your Rips against to confirm they are accurate.
EAC is free but does take a little understanding & setting up, but there's plenty of guides to set it up for the best Rips http://web.archive.org/web/20071105104019/www.teqnilogik.com/tutorials/eac.shtml . There's an add-on called 'Flac Front end' which converts the WAV files to Flacs & can be set up to convert after each Rip. Mp3tag is a nice little program that can be used for editting tags & adding album artwork. EAC is slow but secure! http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
dBpoweramp does all the above in one package & is a little faster but comes at a cost of $38. There is a 21 day trial you can download, so you could try them both & choose if you think dBpoweramp is worth the cost over the free but slower programs. http://www.dbpoweramp.com/
It's worth taking your time & getting the Rips accurate & then BACK THEM UP! You will only need to rip once then :) there's plenty of guides but this is my favourite http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Computer-Audiophile-CD-Ripping-Strategy-and-Methodology long winded but worth the read.
You could have a nice libarary of well ripped Flac files by Christmas day Jon & your Touch will be plug n play on christmas day!
Hope this helps :) Cheers, alfie.
Thanks for all the info chaps lots to digest there, Plextor thats a blast from the past i used them in Scusi form many moons ago when i used to "Backup" play station games for the kids on a scusi only pc running windows 98, all chucked in a skip now i think, but i can see the logic in a stand alone ripper
Looks like i will probably use dBpoweramp, i like the look of the format, it will be connected to the home network so hopefully it will grap all my itunes stuff as well, this is already up and running between three computers sharing all libraries the main (my) library is on a seperate hard drive already.
I have a Blackberry and my wife has a iphone so these can be brought into play as controllers or just look for a cheap logitech controller not sure if i will need them yet anyway, lots to do and learn then.
Thanks again guys
Jon,
If your CD's have any scratches, and you use a USB external drive, the re-ripping process requires that the drive should flush its buffers when it tries to re-read frames in dBpoweramp, and apparently plextors have the ability to use...oh its a TLA beginning with 'F'...FUB or FSB, anyway it's a bit quicker! I did mine happily with the samsung, it just takes a little longer for it to flush the buffers.
The squeezebox controller is ok if you aren't running lots of players, or if you don't use big playlists, mine's been unplugged for 6 months, the phone apps are usually more efficient.
Anyone want to buy a Squeezebox controller?...I'm a rubbish salesman :doh:
Stratmangler
12-12-2010, 21:27
I don't use playlists - I usually search by artist and then play whichever album it is I want to listen to.
Sounds like I'd probably get on with The Controller;)
Will,
I'm in a bit qaundry now thinking i should of gone for a Sonos maybe instead, pm me about the controller anyway
cheers
Will,
I'm in a bit qaundry now thinking i should of gone for a Sonos maybe instead, pm me about the controller anyway
cheers
I'd better clarify my position on the controller....
I use 7.3.3 version of SqueezeCentre on my server, the controller is fine like most software until you stress it.
I may be pushing the stuff to its limits, 4 players, 30K tracks, and a little 1.2GHz NAS.
The problem is if you use big playlists (over 1k tracks or so), and you use synchronisation amongst multiple players, and switch between them, is that one can get the server into an irrecoverable CPU peak that requires the server to be recycled.
This is due to the controller's obsession with downloading all playlist info, not just the first screen, as you switch to a player, and if you then switch to another player before it's finished, there appears to be a 'deadlock' at the backend DB, probably just task contention.
I use SqueezeCommander on an android phone, and it 'es la cohones de los perros' (rubbish spanglish), I can not praise the developer enough. £2.50 and my whole system works beautifully.
It's worth buying a dedicated android phone just to run it on, if you don't have one already, it only gets the data it needs per screen. But I'm sure there must be an Iphone alternative...
I believe you made the right decision, Sonos is just a tarted up clone of SqueezeBox, and it doesn't support audiophile (Album) ReplayGain.
I'm sure I could crash a Sonos system in just the same way...:)
I don't use playlists - I usually search by artist and then play whichever album it is I want to listen to.
Sounds like I'd probably get on with The Controller;)
You will, and I think the latest version of 'Jive' the java controller app is better with 7.5, the Touch server app version (I think), 7.4 was a bag of bugs introduced by Logitec trying to re-write everything, at 7.5 they managed to fix most of them.
For ripping CDs I have recently started using Ripstation Micro (http://www.ripstation.com/rsmicro.html)...
For ripping CDs I have recently started using Ripstation Micro (http://www.ripstation.com/rsmicro.html)...
Does it have access to anything other than FreeDB which can bit a bit sketchy sometimes, spelling errors etc.
Does it have access to anything other than FreeDB which can bit a bit sketchy sometimes, spelling errors etc.
It uses (I think) it's own (http://www.getdigitaldata.com/AppSignUp/RipStationSignUp.aspx) facility for getting meta data + album covers, there is also an option to get covers from Amazon...
It uses (I think) it's own (http://www.getdigitaldata.com/AppSignUp/RipStationSignUp.aspx) facility for getting meta data + album covers, there is also an option to get covers from Amazon...
I just spotted the FreeDB logo on the link page, so I jumped to that conclusion...
Although (he said contradicting himself) for some more obscure stuff FreeDB is often the best or only source.
I'm also dithering between a Touch or Sonos ZP90. My WIFi router is in a different room from my pc, I understand that with the Sonos if I want to stream music then I need to buy a Bridge (BR100) to overcome this problem, but what about the Touch, do Logitech do something similar?
I don't have an external DAC at the moment so was wondering which has the better inbuilt DAC, also I have read that the Touch has problems when connected directly to a HDD, anyone any experience on this?
Stratmangler
13-12-2010, 13:10
The Touch is already WiFi capable - it'll run quite happily on your network.
You'll need to install Squeezbox Server on the machine with the library.
Or you could just connect up a USB HDD, preferably powered seperately, with your music on, and use the inbuilt TinySC client built into the Touch.
I believe the stuttering issues are non existant with CD spec files.
Ali Tait says his stuttering issues are next to non existant, and he does play a fair bit of 24/96 stuff.
The benefit of running SBS from a seperate serving machine is that the heavy processing elsewhere makes the job easier for the Touch to cope with.
There is also a facility to downsample on the fly (ie. 24/192 files down to 24/96) as the players will only cope with 24/96.
This downsampling does not work on the Touch/HDD standalone setup as it's far too processor intensive.
I think the Touch on its own sounds bloody good.
A better DAC later on would be the icing on the cake, but I don't think you'll find the Touch wanting initially.
I'm also dithering between a Touch or Sonos ZP90. My WIFi router is in a different room from my pc, I understand that with the Sonos if I want to stream music then I need to buy a Bridge (BR100) to overcome this problem, but what about the Touch, do Logitech do something similar?
I don't have an external DAC at the moment so was wondering which has the better inbuilt DAC, also I have read that the Touch has problems when connected directly to a HDD, anyone any experience on this?
Hi Rich,
I actually started a thread on this sort of subject as I have a mate who wants to play file based music but he isn't too IT savvy (not suggesting you're not by the way), and the touch with an HD plugged in looked like a nice simple starting place.
The thread was 'help me save my mates from the evil world of brennan...' bit of a stupid title I'm afraid, must have been down the pub beforehand :doh:
But there is some info there, I know there are some limitations when you use the Touch as both server and player, I think there was a link to the 'slimdevices forum' on that very subject...playlists are limited to 100 tracks for example. So it all depends how you want to use it.
I'm running a QNAP TS-119 1.2Ghz Turbo NAS as my server (7.3.3 more efficient on a linux platform than 7.5 which the touch runs), plugged directly into my Sky router, and have 2 receivers, and one classic throughout the house. Which is very nice for me, but a bit to stomach initially.
For the price of the Sonos you could add an additional DAC to the Touch, and a really nice amp, and Sonos does not support Audiophile ReplayGain.
I think the Sonos is just a wireless enabled Sony music centre, but then again I may be biased.
If you wanted to do it cheaply, you could use an old second hand laptop as your server plugged into the router, it doesn't need to be very powerful.
The Touch is already WiFi capable - it'll run quite happily on your network.
You'll need to install Squeezbox Server on the machine with the library.
Or you could just connect up a USB HDD, preferably powered seperately, with your music on, and use the inbuilt TinySC client built into the Touch.
I believe the stuttering issues are non existant with CD spec files.
Ali Tait says his stuttering issues are next to non existant, and he does play a fair bit of 24/96 stuff.
The benefit of running SBS from a seperate serving machine is that the heavy processing elsewhere makes the job easier for the Touch to cope with.
There is also a facility to downsample on the fly (ie. 24/192 files down to 24/96) as the players will only cope with 24/96.
This downsampling does not work on the Touch/HDD standalone setup as it's far too processor intensive.
I think the Touch on its own sounds bloody good.
A better DAC later on would be the icing on the cake, but I don't think you'll find the Touch wanting initially.
Cheers Chris, I think in that case my mate could easily live with the 'limitations' of the Touch as both Client & Server, and the DAC will be far too good for his ears anyway...
It's probably only idiots like me who want to create their own random play 'radio station' in 4 rooms simultaneously ;)
Is now a bad time to discuss Argentinian football players? :eyebrows:
Stratmangler
13-12-2010, 13:30
Is now a bad time to discuss Argentinian football players? :eyebrows:
My thought on wantaway players is let 'em go.
There is no one player out there can do it without the rest of the team.
I'm more unhappy with the potential unsettling effect this can have on the rest of the squad.
I'm sure Mr. Tevez does not fancy buying himself out of contract, in which case he should find that three and a half years is a long time to spend running out with the reserves.
My thought on wantaway players is let 'em go.
There is no one player out there can do it without the rest of the team.
I'm more unhappy with the potential unsettling effect this can have on the rest of the squad.
I'm sure Mr. Tevez does not fancy buying himself out of contract, in which case he should find that three and a half years is a long time to spend running out with the reserves.
I'd love to see the owners call his bluff, and that brat Ballotelli might be starting up front too...a couple of matches away to Accrington Stanley might be what they need. :lol:
I'd better not hijack the thread, sorry no more football, especially after Carlisle's abismal effort at the weekend...well it was against both Dagenham & Redbridge :doh:
Stratmangler
13-12-2010, 14:04
I'd love to see the owners call his bluff, and that brat Ballotelli might be starting up front too...a couple of matches away to Accrington Stanley might be what they need. :lol:
I'd better not hijack the thread, sorry no more football, especially after Carlisle's abismal effort at the weekend...well it was against both Dagenham & Redbridge :doh:
I've decamped to the appropriate cupboard;)
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