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Squeezebox Touch £134.99 at Amazon UK

Excuse my ignorance as I don't do any streaming or downloading of anything at the moment. Does this £135 model play internet radio (presumably all free) and enable you to download via subscription from companies such as Spotify? Or what does it do?

Does it connect direct to a hifi amplifier via phono leads in the usual way? What else is needed to make it work and what improvement (if any) would it give over a top notch FM radio (I use a Sansui TU 9900)?

Sorry if these are dim questions - I'm new to this streaming stuff and still buying records and CDS!
 
Yes, it does, but many are streamed at very low bit-rates and sound very bad...

There are a few that stream at 128 and above but most are at 64 or less!

How many CDs do you have, ripping them is quite the chore!
 
Basil said:
It's even better than that, using 'synchronise' you can slave the Touch to the Duet and they both play the same music.

That makes it very easy to listen for differences...

Got to admit, I was disappointed... it is pretty much unanimous over the various forums that the Touch is supposed to be so much better than the Duet... if only folk would take a little more care with their listening tests...
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If you switch between two things playing in sync, you are not actually comparing them playing the same thing, so no wonder you can't hear a difference. You need to take a lot more care with your listening test IMO.
 
AndyU said:
If you switch between two things playing in sync, you are not actually comparing them playing the same thing, so no wonder you can't hear a difference. You need to take a lot more care with your listening test IMO.
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Ok, I'll bite, how do you figure that one out?
 
Perhaps we could set up a Touch with/without external DAC at Scalford, the difference here is so marked I really cannot understand how you could not hear the difference,and I didn't add an expensive DAC just the new M2Tech EVO DAC.
Keith.
 
Brian said:
I have a Squeezebox Classic and it sounds just as good if not better than my Meridian 206B and Rotel 965BX. Basically, the squeezebox sounds very, very good imo.

I've tried it with a few DACs. Bereford, DPA Little Bit 3 and Lavry DA10. The Beresford made no discernible improvement, the DPA did something I couldn't put my finger on and the Lavry did much the same. I sold all of those DACs at a small loss having tried them and haven't missed any of them. I'm fairly sure a good quality external DAC will improve the Squeezebox but I have still to find one that does so significantly in relation to the cost.

I'm considering buying the SQ Touch merely to have a second unit to use upstairs.
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My classic SB3 sounded better with a better Maplins power supply and better with a Beresford dac but the SB+ blows the whole lot away, more in the soundstage department than anything else.

Simon
 
Does anyone use their touch offline connected directly to a USB hard drive (2.5", USB powered)?

I had an SB3 at one point and encountered endless connectivity/drop out issues on both internet radio and streamed music (perhaps due to the distance from the router), and would prefer not to rely on Wireless. Wired networking is not an option either.

The reason I ask is that, although the SBT is specced to function from a local USB drive, nearly all of the negative reviews on Amazon identify various failures when using the device to access local USB storage.
 
Basil said:
Ok, I'll bite, how do you figure that one out?
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You are comparing (say) the first eight bars of Beethoven's Sixth with the next eight bars. Two completely different bits of music! Yet to you they sound 'the same'? You can't tell the difference between two passages of music? What differences can you expect to identify with such a test? Surely you need to listen to the same passage(s) of music on the two DACs and judge each.
 
Purite Audio said:
Perhaps we could set up a Touch with/without external DAC at Scalford, the difference here is so marked I really cannot understand how you could not hear the difference,and I didn't add an expensive DAC just the new M2Tech EVO DAC.
Keith.
Click to expand...

I would gladly run this kind of test if I get a room at Scalford (there is an allocation).

Tim
 
AndyU said:
You are comparing (say) the first eight bars of Beethoven's Sixth with the next eight bars. Two completely different bits of music! Yet to you they sound 'the same'? You can't tell the difference between two passages of music? What differences can you expect to identify with such a test? Surely you need to listen to the same passage(s) of music on the two DACs and judge each.
Click to expand...

Wow...

Are you being serious here?

I see no ';-)'...

This has to be be one of, if not the silliest thing I've ever heard from the 'foo brigade'...

Kudos!

P.S.

There is another way to check, using two sync'd squeezeboxes, I'll see if you can figure it out...
 
At £134.99 I've just succumbed too. Will have a play to see what it's all about. All my CDs are already ripped to iTunes for my phone anyway so guess its worth a punt.
 
Basil said:
Wow...

This has to be be one of, if not the silliest thing I've ever heard from the 'foo brigade'...
Click to expand...

What on earth is foo about two completely different DACS sounding different?

What on earth is foo about Keith's £300 DAC sounding better than the DAC inside a modestly priced network player?

Enjoy your music Basil. :)
 
It said 3 in stock but something about not being available for two days, that was before the page vanished. So perhaps the offer could return again, hope so.
 
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