MySqueezebox.com & Squeezebox Server

[george gan]

What would be the best way to maximize the sound if I want to play the SB through my Home Theatre syste.

Would A DAC help that much along with the Boulder Cable modifications.?

Any help greatly appreciated.

[garymc]

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george gan wrote:

What would be the best way to maximize the sound if I want to play the SB through my Home Theatre syste.

Would A DAC help that much along with the Boulder Cable modifications.?

Any help greatly appreciated.

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the TOUCH has a very good DAC but is also a good digital transport. Of course DACs are a bit of a personal taste. Each has its own "flavor" and preferences for the sound of individual DACs differ. I use a TOUCH through a Benchmark DAC (with S/PDIF input). I also use another TOUCH via the DAC of my home theatre processor (also connected via S/PDIF).

The good news is that you can connect both the TOUCH analog out and digital out > DAC at the same time and easily switch back an forth to AB the analog vs digital out.  If it were me, I'd try it without the DAC first to see what you think. Although I use the Benchmark, it is only because I already have it (I replaced the benchmark in my main stereo system with a TRANSPORTER). I wouldn't have bought the Benchmark DAC simply to use with the TOUCH.

[jrling]

Welcome some help on best SB product to buy purely for audiophile quality, not ease of use.

I want to run a SB product purely as a transport playing FLAC files to connect via coax (S/PDIF) to a high quality DAC. So the internal DAC and analogue outputs are not of interest to me.

I will also be running it on a wired LAN connection NOT Wi-fi.

So I am questioning which of Touch or Receiver would give superior low jitter S/PDIF output. Ruling out Transporter as too expensive for this use. I will probably upgrade the power supply or run it on batteries.

Therefore my question relates to which SB product has the better quality and design of the digital circuits inside feeding the Coax S/PDIF output.

Many thanks
Jonathan

[garymc]

The consensus by many people (some who have done serious engineering tests) indicate that the TOUCH far exceeds the Receiver (or SB3) as a digital transport via S/PDIF.  So I think you have a clear answer with the TOUCH.  If the TOUCH had been available when I bought my Transporter, I'd never have purchased the Transporter.

[garymc]

....and as far as I know, the receiver is no longer even available for sale (discontinued). Add to this, that the receiver is a pain in the *#$ to set up if one doesn't have the CONTROLLER as well. And other than setting up the receiver, the apps available for iphones, ipads, and android phones are actually better controllers.

And the TOUCH deals with more types of streams natively (a big deal if one wants to listen to certain AAC streams via mysb.com) and I recall can deal with hirez files (96/24).  So again, the TOUCH is an easy answer.

[jrling]

Again thanks.

I wondered if you or others had tried battery power supply on a TOUCH? LiFePO4 battery packs seem to offer great performance with minimal noise and capacity long enough to play  between charges. Cheap and simple too.

[garymc]

The TOUCH powersupply is considered pretty quiet.  But you might find this thread useful:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82648&highlight=touch+power+supply

[garymc]

Pay a lot of attention to the posts by Phil Leigh and John Swenson. They know what they're talking about and can back it up with engineering!