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Duet vs. Touch for quality

Hoolio

pfm Member
Hi

Can anyone clarify for me if there is any difference in quality between a Squeezebox Duet and a Squeezebox Touch, if I am running Ethernet cable to it and then digital out to my Beresford DAC?

I've read threads here which suggest the Squeezebox Touch is superior to the Duet in sound quality - is that just with regard to the internal DACs in them?

A Duet in excellent condition has come up for sale here in NZ and the appeal is that my wife has a work iPhone she isn't allowed to put apps onto (ridiculous, I know) and is also a technophobe…so having the Duet remote for her to view and control music is appealing. I've not seen any Touch come up for sale here and US amazon seems risky with the device age getting on 10years in some cases now...

I know I could build a Raspberry Pi, but it wouldn’t have an screen interface…or am I being dim and there’s a cheap and easy screened device option to dedicate to this purpose?

The Duet option for internet radio as well as accessing all of our old iTunes files seems like a nice and easy fix for my situation.

Thanks
 
my music sits on an external hard drive plugged into an old mac mini - will the Duet be able to access the music files 24/7? Or does the mac need to be 'awake' or logged in?
 
I have not compared how the Duet (Receiver) and Touch sound with my DAC, but there are a few technical considerations to keep in mind:
- The Duet is limited to 96kHz on its SPDIF output, whereas the Touch, with the EDO plugin, goes up 192kHz and has a USB Output which can be used with many DACs for superior results.
- The SBT can also act as a basic file / music server (a computer or raspberry is much better at it tough).

I would pick the SBT, or a Raspberry/Touchscreen/PiCorePlayer in the case of DAC with a USB input.
 
I know I could build a Raspberry Pi, but it wouldn’t have an screen interface…or am I being dim and there’s a cheap and easy screened device option to dedicate to this purpose?

In terms of a screen interface you'd probably want to use a smart phone or tablet app to control it rather than the Duet remote. An app would work whether you're using a Duet, Touch or Pi. I've got a Duet feeding into an MDAC and use Squeeze Ctrl on a Android smartphone and tablet (other apps are available). The Duet remote stays in the cupboard until I want to reconfigure anything, which isn't very often these days.
 
I've had SB3s (3), a Duet and two Touches. And a pi.

I'd go for either a Touch or a pi. Both allow for 192kHz if that's important.
I occasionally found the duet to be a little flakey in operation - not connecting when it should, and the searching a little tricky and/or time consuming, compared with Touch. The remote, whilst smart looking is not really easy to use I found. I now have two Touches in daily operation, and much prefer the interface.
Controlling a pi with a tablet or phone is another option, and probably lower cost and just as good SQ. And if you don't like it you can always turn it into a light controller or thermometer or something.. :rolleyes:
 
The Duet wifi connection can be a bit flakey, I agree. The Touch is rock solid.

The controller is a great piece of kit. I sold mine, as I had gone over to tablet based playback control, and then bought one back on ebay, b/c I missed it's functionality. Did you know it can also be used to playback? It has a little speaker built in.

If it was me, I'd be a bit wary of buying some of this stuff, as it is old.

The Duet is probably worth buying just to get the controller. If it was me, I'd buy it - but I agree with the others that your best bet is something new that can function in the Logitech/LMS/SB ecosystem. I suggest looking at allo.com for their "audiophile" Raspberry Pi based units. Once you set one up it will just work and it will give you a lot of features and flexibility-in addition to LMS. If you do that, the Duet box can be another endpoint somewhere in your home, or a backup box.
 
Thanks everyone, I think I'll go for the raspberry Pi option to get the 192hz...must confess I'm a little stumped how the Duet can reduce the quality if it has a hard wired Ethernet cable running into it and I run a digital out to the Beresford DAC...but then I'm uneducated in such things

Just read on the Pi forum that you can repurpose an old android phone to use as a remote - brilliant! Don't know why that didn't occur to me...excited about setting up a Pi now, cheers all
 
I think people were saying to you the Duet doesn’t sound as good as far as the Analog out, not the digital out.

iPeng is great on OS.
The Android apps vary - try them and see which one you like. Some of them don’t scale up well to all tablets.
I use one called Orange Squeeze.
 
I used to have the Duet, and loved the controller. Using the digital out into a DAC sounded better than using the analogue out, but changing to an Innuos Zenith into the same DAC was a noticeable improvement, as was getting a different DAC. I have never used a Touch, so my experience may not help you.
I also use Orange Squeeze with the Zenith, on a cheap tablet, and it seems to work OK, but there is very little choice with the Zenith.
 
Man in a van, that Archimargo blog is PERFECT. I've been struggling to find something pitched at the right level for my noobness, that doesn't go to too painful a level of condescension. Much appreciated

It's making me rethink the touch clone option again...but having just blown all available funds on new speakers, amp and cables (plus pesky home renovations), I think I'll just go a RPi 3 and upgrade to the touch clone when the funds recover.
Cheers
Kent
 
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