New software mods for the Squeezebox Touch...they work.

[Gazjam]

Just want to endorse Gazjam's enthusiasm for this mod and to thank you, Ed, for making the process available and for the simple instructions to apply it.

The Sbooster makes a dramatic difference but much like the old X10D buffer, it seems to give with one hand and take with the other, so you have a different presentation that is not necessarily "better" overall but could still be preferred, depending on the rest of your system and personal flavour you prefer.

This mod is fascinating in that you can adjust the settings to match your system, so I can see a lot more people being happy with the result. Being able to make the changes while listening is quite enlightening in terms of judging the effects and takes away the normal A/B comparison issues.

I only applied it last night and I think you need to live with a given setting for a while to get an average, because it's easy to fine tune one album/ production then change to another and start tweaking again

And the effect? Well, primarily think of it as a treble control or a sharpening tool in a photo manipulation program. It is possible to increase detail and leading edge definition to excess - beyond a balance with other frequencies or other considerations. Personally the greatest gain for me is the reduction in the graininess which the standard touch suffers from. The presentation is more refined and the soundstage cleaner (lower background noise?). I have some initial reservations about the effect on the bass but I need more time on this one. The increased inner detail highlights a musicians technique, the diction of a vocalist (Paulo Nutini sounded very Scottish and Melody Gardot had sticky lipgloss ) but I'm thinking this is at the expense of an holistic rightness; with Luis Salinas, before my attention seemed drawn to the tone of his solo acoustic guitar, the reverberation of the wooden body, the rattle of the obviously metal strings and the creaking of his leather guitar strap - all elements that were creating a quite solid illusion of a real person and a real instrument. Now I seem focused on the finger slides, the plectrum technique, the attack and decay of each note.

Now if I can just find that magic number that balances the two.....

Unreservedly recommended as worth the little time and effort to experiment.

that "magic balance" you speak about seems to have been worked out by John Swenson over on the squeezebox forums - at least with his system/ears.

He's took the mods one step further and tweaked additional system processes as well as SPDIF.
When john suggests an impovement, I make a point to check it.
Have a play with his settings, see what you think?

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...t=89359&page=9

I feel these mods are system dependant and subject to the usual "one mans meat.." caveat, but the mods DO work.
Been on my hols, not home till Monday, will be having a go with them myself.

G.