Another Heads up for SB Touch owners...

[WAD62]

Hi Chaps,

Very interesting stuff, still trying to get my head round what you're up to...

Correct me when I go wrong;

1. You've done some software mods on the Touch to make it a more efficient 'client'
2. You're using the touch purely as a 'client'
3. You've added a SoX plugin to SqueezeServer which is up sampling everything to 24/96 pcm (is that the right term), and streaming that.
4. You're going to hard wire the touch via the Ethernet port. Probably essential because of 3

Now how does this affect my world...(he said in a selfish manner!)

In my main system I take the digital out from a receiver into my Audiolab 8000DAX (max sample rate is 48k), I've done plenty of A/B testing and can not differentiate between the receiver (playing FLAC), and my CDM cd transport.

So upsampling to 96k is futile for me at the moment due to my DAC limitations

I'm using 2 SB receivers, and one SB3, so bandwidth might be an issue, if I were to upsample there would be an increase in traffic of about 400%. So hard cabling would be essential.

I'd be interested in your comparisons between standard CD playback and the upsampled FLAC version (sorry if I've missed this already).

It would also be interesting to compare the standard receiver vs the standard touch as a DAC source playing 16/44.1 redbook, sounds like the touch may have a few too many bells and whistles, probably bad coding by logitech.

I've been trying to find the device specs for the receiver vs the touch but logitech aren't very forthcoming, as they are mini computers it would be nice to see their processor and memory specs.

I'm having a Jonny Nash moment

[jbloggs]

why dont you buy it and let us know...

I already know of someone who has purchased one and he has stated he had a decent improvement in sound quality...

[magiccarpetride]

No idea Alex, sorry!

Try Google?

It was a bit tricky, I think I may have found it. Now, I've applied the mods, but is there a way to tell that the mods actually took?

[slate]

I've been trying to find the device specs for the receiver vs the touch but logitech aren't very forthcoming, as they are mini computers it would be nice to see their processor and memory specs.

Hardware details
http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.ph...wareComparison

Be aware that the Wolfson WM8501 DAC in the Receiver is a 24-bit 192 KHz BUT the CPU in the receiver is not able to handle the load; hence the default rules in the SBS server is to transcode (SoX) when playing highres on a Receiver.

[WAD62]

Hi Jan,

Cheers for the info...

I've got 2 receivers (one into an additional DAC), and an SB3 (that uses the Burr-Brown PCM1748E which I think is 24/96 capable).

I thought I'd spotted that somewhere, re. the receiver's DAC hi res capabilities. Have you used it at a higher resolution?

I'm using 7.3.3 (SqueezeCenter) on a linux platform, and SoX is conspicous by its absence, what version of SqueezeServer are you using using 7.5? And is SoX bundled in with it, or is it an optional plugin.

Given that the DAC on my main system (Audiolab 8000DAX) is only capable of a maximum of 24/48 upsampling is rather pointless for me at the moment, but it might prove useful in the future.

Edit; One further thought, what are the implications of upsampling via SoX with respect to ReplayGain? (answered my own question below

Edit#2; I also run winamp against the same FLAC library I use for my squeezeboxes, this goes into an M-Audi 2496 soundcard.

There's a SoX input plugin for Winamp, FFSox, now downloaded and installed, with some very interesting results...

Firstly when checking my current playback form the M-Audio mixer I spotted that it was at 48K, I'd used the default settings which was using the Multi media codec and not the stereo one. So after switching to the stereo codec I was back to 44.1, with a noticeable improvement.

FFSoX for winamp page;

http://in-ffsox.sourceforge.net/

FFSoX is an input plugin, which provides not only upsampling capabilities for multiple file types, but also respects replaygain both album & track, and additionaly replaygain pre-amp. So one has to turn these off on the standard playback options, as the 'effect' is already being applied by the input plugin.

I've set the upsampling to 24 bits & 96khz (highest quality conversion), the highest my card will support, along with Album ReplayGain and +3db ReplayGain pre-amp to emulate my previous playback settings, and turning off Winamps own Replaygain processing.

There is a definite improvement in sound quality, particularly in the smoothness of the top end, everything seems more controlled (not in a bad way)...I like it

Not only is it an improvement on the original FLAC, but it is also an improvement on the original CD (which sounds identical to the FLAC). Is it the 24bits or the 96Khz or both? Time for some research

N.B. there is an overall increase of around 10% cpu usage for one stream, so this technique may give rise to a performance issue on the squeezebox server when running multiple clients

[Gazjam]

Regarding upsampling Flacs to 96khz...

Klaus (Soundcheck) reckons his mods work better with 16/44 "native" rather than with upsampling the Flacs to 96khz...
Will try that one tommorow.

Interesting...

[WAD62]

Regarding upsampling Flacs to 96khz...

Klaus (Soundcheck) reckons his mods work better with 16/44 "native" rather than with upsampling the Flacs to 96khz...
Will try that one tommorow.

Interesting...

Yes very...it's certainly noticeable through my soundcard from winamp @ 4608KBPS!!!!

I doubt I'll bother with SoX on my SB server as it won't have the grunt...

However I am going to try some dBpoweramp .wav upsamples (I wonder how the upsampling algorithms compare) on my SB receiver , at least I'll see if the Wolfson DAC really is 24/192. Not a strategy but worth a test

Edit; Neither the receiver or the SB3 will play anything above 48k, unless I've ducked up the conversions...

Edit; That appears to be their limit due to processing limitations, despite the DAC's capabilities.

Think I'll start a separate thread on upsampling in general...rather than hijacking this one

[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

I'm just joining the fray in singing the unreserved praises to this batch of mods. As of last night, I too am the one who took the plunge and applied many of the software mods to the Touch.

The only mod I wasn't able to try out was switching from the wireless to the wired ethernet (reportedly the most important mod of all). Still, with this vital piece of the mod missing, I am happy to report that the other mods made a hell of a positive difference.

I warmly recommend to all Touch owners to go ahead and apply these mods. Actually doing the mods is easy-peasy, there's absolutely nothing to it (even for me, and I'm a certified Luddite and a guy notorious for being allergic to technology).

My main objection was turning off the screen on the player; however, now that I've done it, and in hindsight, I kind of feel that the screen was a bit tacky and cheesy. Since I'm using the remote anyway, I really don't need it at all.

So now it's all about the sound quality. And my god, the improvements in that compartment are nothing short of breathtaking! On tracks where I thought I've heard it absolutely all, I'm now hearing brand new details in crystal clear clarity. I'm not going to say that now everything feels much louder, but it does indeed feel much more PRESENT.

I can't wait to get to the point where I can apply the WLAN mods, as these are supposed to really open the player up (apparently the wifi module in the player is the biggest culprit in introducing the noise and other disturbances; obviously, getting rid of as much noise as possible allows the music to bubble up to the surface in its full glory).

Anyway, see fer yerselves, you won't look back after you apply this super easy, 10 minute walk through a very straightforward menu that Klaus so generously prepared for the community.

[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

Soundcheck is at it again, this time offering the biggest bang for the buck. Over the weekend he had just unveiled his touchtoolbox20BB1, which purports to fix the volume at 100%, and KEEP IT FIXED.

You can read more on his blog: http://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com...beta-blog.html

To my ears, this mod, of all his other mods, makes the most dramatic improvement in the sound quality. Going back to the non-fixed volume, after experiencing this fix, reveals how soft and wobbly the signal is when not truly fixed (even when forced to be at 100% loudness).

That's not to say that some people will not prefer the soft and wobbly sound. YMMV.

[jbloggs]

Thought this the best place to post this (apologies if wrong):

Logitech Touch - £189.99 (delivered)