Another Heads up for SB Touch owners...

[Gazjam]

I've installed the previous mods Soundcheck put on his Blocg and can say they make a good improvement.

The second version of his mods look even better...
worth a punt for sure.

http://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com...r-network.html

[magiccarpetride]

I've installed the previous mods Soundcheck put on his Blocg and can say they make a good improvement.

The second version of his mods look even better...
worth a punt for sure.

http://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com...r-network.html

Can you elaborate some more on what kinds of improvements have you noticed (as well as what kinds of improvements have you attempted)?

I've only tried forcing the SB server to convert FLAC to PCM before sending to the Touch, and it made audible improvement for sure.

Curious to know whether abandoning WLAN for Ethernet is worth the hassle...

[Gazjam]

No worries Alex...I THOUGHT you'd be one of the guys to notice the post...

Like yourself I found getting the server to decode Flac (rather than the Touch doing the number crunching) made an improvement.

This is where the Soundcheck mods are coming from, stripping the Touch's workload back to the bare minimum.
His Linux scripts from the first version of the mods basically switched off unnecessary startup services making the most of the small CPU and memory resources of the Touch.

The new ones (available Sunday 9th apparently - he's sanity checking them before he puts them out there...) prove to go a step further, by switching OFF the Touch's display, which according to himself and john Swenson (He who is to be trusted in all matters Squeezebox...) makes the biggest improvement.

Like Soundcheck says on his blog, the mods he proposes reduces the functionality of the Touch to that of a Duet, but I use Ipeng on my Ipod Touch to control my music anyway, so if the improvement with the screen off is a big step up it wont be TOO much of a problem.
That said, I glance at the Touch to look at whats playing, how long to go etc, so maybe it will be a step too far.
But if its an improvement in sound worth keeping...great!

I found the mods gave the Touch more detail and the soundstage was better defined and more 3D.
There was less "hash" in the sound with the treble sounding smoother but more incisive.
Overall not night and day...but very worthwhile to eek the most out of the Touch.

Well worth trying and easily reversible with a Factory Reset.

Just out of interest Alex, another good "free" improvement IMHO to the Touch's sound is to upsample 44Khz redbook Flacs to 96Khz using the SOX within Squeezecentre.
More solid sounding with more air around instruments, particularly noticable with orchestral/live recordings.

Its just a matter of adding a text file in the Squeezebox directory on the server and changing a setting in SqueezeCentre itself, restarting the server and your done.

Hope this helps,
Gaz

[Ali Tait]

I'll be trying all this too, fairly soon I hope. just waiting for a copy of XP to arrive, and I'll be flattening my old laptop, put the new XP on,and using it to run squeezeserver. Been used to the sound of the Touch as a standalone player, so it will be interesting to hear the differences.

[magiccarpetride]

No worries Alex...I THOUGHT you'd be one of the guys to notice the post...

Like yourself I found getting the server to decode Flac (rather than the Touch doing the number crunching) made an improvement.

This is where the Soundcheck mods are coming from, stripping the Touch's workload back to the bare minimum.
His Linux scripts from the first version of the mods basically switched off unnecessary startup services making the most of the small CPU and memory resources of the Touch.

The new ones (available Sunday 9th apparently - he's sanity checking them before he puts them out there...) prove to go a step further, by switching OFF the Touch's display, which according to himself and john Swenson (He who is to be trusted in all matters Squeezebox...) makes the biggest improvement.

Like Soundcheck says on his blog, the mods he proposes reduces the functionality of the Touch to that of a Duet, but I use Ipeng on my Ipod Touch to control my music anyway, so if the improvement with the screen off is a big step up it wont be TOO much of a problem.
That said, I glance at the Touch to look at whats playing, how long to go etc, so maybe it will be a step too far.
But if its an improvement in sound worth keeping...great!

I found the mods gave the Touch more detail and the soundstage was better defined and more 3D.
There was less "hash" in the sound with the treble sounding smoother but more incisive.
Overall not night and day...but very worthwhile to eek the most out of the Touch.

Well worth trying and easily reversible with a Factory Reset.

Just out of interest Alex, another good "free" improvement IMHO to the Touch's sound is to upsample 44Khz redbook Flacs to 96Khz using the SOX within Squeezecentre.
More solid sounding with more air around instruments, particularly noticable with orchestral/live recordings.

Its just a matter of adding a text file in the Squeezebox directory on the server and changing a setting in SqueezeCentre itself, restarting the server and your done.

Hope this helps,
Gaz

Wha-hey!

OK, first off, please send me more details on how to add a text file in the Squeezebox directory and how to change the setting in Squeezecentre. Would love to try that tweak!

I've been messing with converting some red book CD tracks to 24 bit, but I'm not able to detect any difference. Perhaps this tweak with increasing the sample rate will be more pronounced?

Like yourself, I'm not sure if I'm willing to sacrifice the utility of the Touch screen -- I am used to glancing at it for a quick info, rather than lifting my remote control.

What I'm mostly interested in is disabling the analog outs, and checking whether it makes any improvements. Have you tried that?

Another thing you haven't touched upon (no pun intended) is the WLAN vs. Ethernet. Is the difference that noticeable? I'm asking because going to the Ethernet might be a huge hassle for my listening room configuration.

Have you replaced the PSU on the Touch?

[Gazjam]

I'll be trying all this too, fairly soon I hope. just waiting for a copy of XP to arrive, and I'll be flattening my old laptop, put the new XP on,and using it to run squeezeserver. Been used to the sound of the Touch as a standalone player, so it will be interesting to hear the differences.

XP Ali...?

thats so 2008...
remind me about fitting Win7 when its MY turn to get the the curry in...

[Ali Tait]

Yebbut I now have a superdooper 17 inch Sony Vaio laptop with quad 2.4 gig processors and 6 gig of RAM...

..so the plan is to flatten to old laptop, put a copy of XP on, and use it purely to run squeezecenter.

[Gazjam]

Wha-hey!

OK, first off, please send me more details on how to add a text file in the Squeezebox directory and how to change the setting in Squeezecentre. Would love to try that tweak!

************************************************** ****************
about the Upsample with SOX tweak...


You need to create a new text file with the following text in it
(just copy and paste everythng between the dashed lines)

---------------------------------------------------------------
flc flc * *
# FT:{START=--skip=%t}U:{END=--until=%v}
[flac] -dc --totally-silent $START$ $END$ -- $FILE$ | [sox] -v0.95 -D -q -t wav - -t flac -C0 -b24 - rate -v -s -M -a 96000
---------------------------------------------------------------
(dont include any spaces after the "96000" as it wont work if you do)

when you have that pasted into a text file save is as "custom-convert".conf NOT "custom-convert".txt
(In the "Save As" dialogue (when saving your text file) You need to change Save as Type:Text Documents (*.txt) to "All Files" and change File Name to custom-convert.conf - MANUALLY type in.conf...)
ok?

in Windows 7/Vista it gets saved into "C:\Program Files (x86)\Squeezebox\server"
I'm not sure about the file location for Windows XP?
************************************************** ****************

I've been messing with converting some red book CD tracks to 24 bit, but I'm not able to detect any difference. Perhaps this tweak with increasing the sample rate will be more pronounced?

The reason your conversion to 24 bit on some Flacs doesnt make much difference is that the SB Touch AUTOMATICALLY converts all 16/44 Flacs to 24 bit!
Upsampling the Sampling Rate (as opposed to the Bit Depth will actually DO something )

Like yourself, I'm not sure if I'm willing to sacrifice the utility of the Touch screen -- I am used to glancing at it for a quick info, rather than lifting my remote control.

What I'm mostly interested in is disabling the analog outs, and checking whether it makes any improvements. Have you tried that?

Yes I have.
I tried that as part of the overall changes to the Touch that Soundcheck recommended, so cant comment honestly on that individual tweak, all I can suggest is to say JUST DO IT...and dont try to think too hard about it beforehand.
Let your ears be the judge

Another thing you haven't touched upon (no pun intended) is the WLAN vs. Ethernet. Is the difference that noticeable? I'm asking because going to the Ethernet might be a huge hassle for my listening room configuration.

See the above...
I had wireless issues in my house since Day 1 as I have 10 inch stone walls throughout my house and WiFi just isn't geared to work with that!

Have you replaced the PSU on the Touch?

Haven't done that yet Alex..if I will at all.
Conflicting opinions on this one, a bit contentious to be honest.
I know linear PSU's CAN make a difference..I noticed this with my Caiman when I fitted a linear PSU with that....but the Sb Touch is different in that it has switching Regs inside it already..kinda making a linear EXTERNAL PSU redundant.

That said, I've fitted Mutara Regulators to my Caiman to great effect..they are Switchers and STILL....the Linear PSU is an improvement with the Caiman.

So I'm, still open minded on that one personally..but I'm not shelling out £000's on a Teddy Pardo (etc) supply on a "What if??".

That help?

[Gazjam]

Yebbut I now have a superdooper 17 inch Sony Vaio laptop with quad 2.4 gig processors and 6 gig of RAM...

..so the plan is to flatten to old laptop, put a copy of XP on, and use it purely to run squeezecenter.

Hey..that'll work!

(By the way...6gb of Ram is so last Tuesday...)

[magiccarpetride]

That help?

Thanks a million, Gaz. I'm with you -- Teddy Pardo PSU more expensive than Touch itself, what's the point? If it makes that much of a difference, I'd rather spring for the Transporter.

Speaking of Transporter, I seem to recall that someone somewhere had made some serious comparisons between Transporter and the Touch into Caiman. Couldn't find the winning/losing side, declared the listening match a stalemate. I'd be curious to hear if the same comparative test could be now done between the Transporter and the Touch into gatorized Caiman? Judging from my initial impressions (as of last night/this morning), Touch into gatorized Caiman via digital coax is now seriously pushing the sound quality into the esoteric, multi-thousand dollars audiophile paradise. Curious to hear whether Transporter could keep it up with this new kid on the block?