Squeezebox, let's try again.....

Many moons ago I bought one of the original Slim Devices Squeezebpx units.
I liked the idea of packing away the CDs, getting rid of the CD player and having access to an electronic music library.

So far so good, and the sound was perfectly ok, but that bloody display was a pain and the interface was clunky to put it mildly. I stuck with it and even upgraded to an audiophile version (SB+) but ultimately that interface saw me returning to CD and latterly mac+dac.

Sometime poster here, Basil kindly visited recently and brought along a Squeezebox Touch & Duet. With the Touch, gone are the concerns around the old three line display and the clunky interface, and the unit can operate via a Duet handset or a number of remote applications for smartphone. I'm running Logitec remote app via iPhone 4 and it works very well indeed.

In addition to the above it will also run Spotify and host of other similar services - and you don't actually need a PC to use those services, just a network connection and internet access.

During Basil's visit we ran the Touch via analogue out and also via optical into a Dacmagic.
This enabled easy toggling between the two, and I can report that the outputs were sufficiently close that on occasion we forgot which input was which. So reports of the Touch having a well sorted dac and analogue stage seem well founded, and exactly as it should be given the the very thorough Stereophile magazine bench test findings, which found nothing at all amiss.

I'll do some more listening with/without external dac, but so far it looks like one less box is on the cards....

Lots of this will be old news to many, but I'm very impressed with this little box and especially given the discounts that often apply. Mine cost £180 and they've been down to £135 on occasion. I can't think of anything else with this level of versatility and fundamental transparency and anywhere near the price.

 

Agreed, but I still think an Apple into a good DAC is just as good and much more user friendly, albeit more expensive.

 

Agree with your comments Rob and given I don`t have a separate DAC at the moment I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the analogue out.

My only real bug bear is its very time consuming to rip and store cds, I have probably manage to do about 75 so far, so a long way to go before I can pack the cds and cabinet away to make more room for vinyl storage.

I still find the interface a bit clunky but acceptable

Oh I was one of the lucky ones snagging the hardware for £135.....a complete bargain in my opinion.

Andy

 

Hey Rob,

CD player? I don't remember seeing a CD player in the Quad room? An old 303 and some lovely Quad kit, but no CD... nor in the '70s room, a large amount of brushed aluminium, but again no CD player. ;-)

Don't forget we also couldn't tell the Touch from the Duet with any consistency, either.

I've just finished recording a new track, using the Arcam CD, DVD, Touch and Duet, which are uploading now, still using the computers line-in.

I've ordered one of those Behringer UCA202, and I'll repeat the test with that, plus I'll do a couple with the Behringer and the PC's input and see if anyone can tell them apart...

Did find a problem with the PC line in, play a CD that has a high record level and it overloads badly...

Albeit, A LOT more expensive! Pretty though, the Mac book pro... all amuminiumy and what not! And that back-lit keyboard, mmmmm-mmm!

Yeah, ripping CD's is not for the faint of heart, I started before my CD collection was too huge, about 250-300 and that took me about 2 months, despite being retired and able to spend as much time at it as I wished...

But once done, the ease with which you can access your music is just... well outstanding, and setting up playlists for parties, shindigs or even hootenannies is very easy, but as I discovered this weekend, using the Duet remote, it truly shines for quiet nights in listening to music on the sofa... no need to get up to change cds!

 

That was a couple of years ago.
I do have a CD player up on that pile in the 70s room - a Meridian 206.

 

I had the delta sigma version of the 206 a cracking cdp

SB touch for £135 I've not seen them under £200 used

 

Yeah they were £135 on special at Amazon (One of their approved suppliers if I recall correctly) In fact that was the delivered price!

The offer was on over the Christmas period and was offered intermittently and would change almost within the timespan of a mouse click. I missed it several times before finally snagging one at this price. There was a thread about it across on the Wam which is where I got the heads up for the deal.

 

Yes!

Of course...

You mentioned it while I was there... I truly have the memory of a goldfish!

 

It should be remembered that any Squeezebox makes a fabulous Internet Radio Tuner. The BBC Radio 3 HD stream at 320kb/s AAC is amazing.

And, of course you can get German Radio 3 (WDR3) and high quality streams from all over the world. I only have bout one third of my CDs ripped - and, such is te choice with internet radio, I hardly ever listen to them.

Is Squeezebox output now in your daily diet, Rob?

 

Hi Brian,

Yes it is, both for playing my own library and Internet radio.
Not yet tried it with BBC HD radio but perhaps I'll look at that this evening.

Regards,

 

The Duet is on the Logitech website for £119 at the moment.

 

Damn, missed that (been away for 2 weeks)

 

I must confess I'm also pleasantly surprised how well my SB Touch sounds, through its analog outputs.

I tried 3 dac's so far. (and will try some more, to 'squeeze' more music out of the Squeezebox)

1. Cambridge Audio DACmagic. (did a lot for my previous, SB Classic, but barely anything for the SB Touch)

2. Metrum Acoustics NOS quad dac. (very small dac, which cost around the same a the Cambridge, but sounds lot better. (evertyhing the CA did right, but then more so!)

3. The Naim dac. (very expensive, but within my modest syste, way overpriced in relation to the improvements it brougt, being slightly more natural, more body, more depth)

I'm curious towards the Rega dac, but so far I can't really complain about listening trough a bare SB Touch.
(imho it does all the basics right; open/transparent, sparkling, detailed treble)

 

Hi Alco,

Nice to see you here.

Agree with on the SB Touch.

I have a Dacmagic here and that doesn't make it sound any better.
Some dacs might well eek out a tiny difference but the SB itself is fundamentally very good, as you say.

 

Would any of you agree thatthe DAC's which really DO sound "different" from most others are actually messing the signal up rather than actually "improving" it these days?

 

Hi Dave,

Yes I think that is the case, once you get above the base level which I think is set by products such as the V-Dac and Cambridge products.

Not sure I'd say 'mess-up' though unless its related directly to transparency. Setting out to make something sound different and being honest that perhaps this moves away from absolute transparency is perfectly fine. If someone prefers that take on things then great.

Dave, you and I will remember when Meridian were one of the first uk companies to adopt CD. Their original Philips based machines all contained dacs which boosted bass and shelved down treble - subtle but over a sufficient range to be audible.
Arcam did the same.

It made early CD more likeable for those used to vinyl and it masked issues around low signal level nonlinearity in those early converters.

 

Interested in your opinion on using the squeezebox's attenuated outputs direct into a power amp over the fixed output through a pre amp? like many current integrated amps mine can bypass the preamp and be used as a power amp.

 

I've not tried it but it should work well. Its a digital volume control so you'll lose resolution at low signal levels. I think you can reduce by 48db playing a 16 bit file via a 24 bit control, theoretically without loss.
The worry for me would be a software glitch that set output to max in error. Far less likely with a good old analogue knob!

 

Thanks for the reply Rob. I like the idea of a squeezebox feeding a hidden power amp/s. My ideal being just a pair of speakers and a squeezebox in view.

A single remote that controls content and volume would be great too.

 

SB Touch and active speakers