Squeezebox Touch VS CD Player

[breakers808]

Hi,

At the mo I have a good basic audio set up.
Arcam CD92T
Mordaunt Short Mezzo 2
Orelle 100RX Amp
Rega 2 Record Player

I'm not really clued up on the latest gizmos,but I've read good things about the Squeezebox and that it rivals good cd players up to £1000?.I intend to sell my CD92 and rip all my cds to 320kb/s and and store them to use on the box.
I've read conflicting things though,that It needs a £500 dac ,and others saying the basic unit with built in dac is as good as his cyrus transport and dac.Will it be as good as my arcam which only a few years ago still stood up to players £800-£1000 and the dcs ring dac is very good.I just want to be able to put a 1000 odd of my best songs and listen to them without keep changing cds

many thanks

[Voice_Coil]

I had a sb 3 , i stopped using it because the digi out was pants on my dac, a cheap dac but one that always worked very well on all the transports i cared to throw at it.

I then used the same sb 3 with the stereo rca outs, and was pleasantly surprised, but , suffice to say i lost interest and sold it.

NOW im considering using a soundcard with a digital out and running that into a dac......

[AmDismal]

I currently use a SB3 into the Audiolab M-DAC, and it works very well. I've had the SB3 for years, really sold on the whole Squeezebox interface - indeed it's a pleasure to return to it after a long time of using the PC as source.

The current model, the SB Touch, sounds OK IME, but is improved by a decent DAC, as you would hope. I would say it is pretty well good enough for your system, but it would be worth expecting to get a DAC fairly soon. The Arcam is a pretty decent player.

One thing - rip to FLAC, not MP3. FLAC is an identical copy of the CD, and is about twice the bitrate of 320k MP3. You really don't want to rip your entire collection, then find that adding a DAC means that you can really hear the difference between MP3 and lossless, so you need to rerip everything. That is a lot more costly than buying the wrong hardware!

[breakers808]

Alright,cheers.A lot of my music is downloaded as MP anyway,so converting to FLAC won't improve things.Don't seem to be able to find lossless downloads anywhere.Also,some original CDs say before year 2000 don't even sound as good as 320mp3,and some of the compilations don't sound any better than 128 and the dance music mixes done on cheapy record decks even worse,so I dunno.

[HectorHughMunro]

For the CDs, I agree with Adam, go for FLAC. As your system develops, it will become more transparent and you might regret ripping to lower quality.

The Touch is the best sounding of the Squeezeboxes and probably sounds as good as a £350 CDplayer IMO. It improves with a decent DAC.

[Voice_Coil]

lol, now im looking at the touch on eBay...

[russ abbott - royds brother]

2nd hand sb3.

[Voice_Coil]

2nd hand sb3.

ive had one, didnt like the digital out....are you suggesting i get one ? or that you want to sell one ?

[russ abbott - royds brother]

No, just a suggestion to the op.
Didn't bother with an external dac as i found the benefits minimal.

[macvisual]

My tuppence worth input;

Using a S'box Duet streamer into a Musical Fidelity M1 dac (around £400), listening to the likes of Linn radio/jazz streamed at 320kbps is very very good. But my thousand pound's worth (ish) of Audiomeca Mephisto cd transport is better quality.

But the streaming audio route is mainly hassle free, convenience listening compared to changing cd's.

[Chumpy]

Good luck aurally/every which wise.

Unless you can access real, I advise forever hanging on to your vinyl/tape, or CD.

[Voice_Coil]

No, just a suggestion to the op.
Didn't bother with an external dac as i found the benefits minimal.

oh, ok, also, agree on the external dac.

[russ abbott - royds brother]

Good luck aurally/every which wise.

Unless you can access real, I advise forever hanging on to your vinyl/tape, or CD.

[darfy]

I wouldnt bother selling your Arcam for a touch- You have a great CD player- you will not get much more for it than buying a new Touch
I have a Touch running into a Naim Amp and have had an Arcam 9- The touch is better than the SB3 via the dig out but it will not match your CD player it will be miles behind- less weight, detail treble and will be thin compared to your Arcam

For ripping your CDs I use EAC- to FLAC takes some time to set up once done- is fairly easy use.

[falcoron]

it will depend on the dac you buy, the better the dac the better the sound full stop, like any cd player out there a better dac will make it better.
I had a sugden master class at £3500 and a mate makes hand built valve dacs, i attached it to the sugden and it was much better so the sugden went as any cheap cd player with this dac sounds superb, i dont beleive a transport give much but a dac will.
I now use the SB touch with my valve dac and have not missed a cd player since.
If i want to play a disc i use a cheap sony bluray attach my dac and i have the same superb sound which ever scourse i use

[Matt J]

The only gain you'll get from the switch is convenience, FWIW I didn't find the SB DAC to be any better or worse than all manner of CDPs. YMMV blah blah...

There's no way on earth I'd go back to a CDP now, and I don't even own a SB any more.

[breakers808]

Matt J,

What do you use to listen to your music?
I'm not into a PC based system.From what I am understanding now is that there still isn't anything out there better sounding or comparable than a stand alone cd player,unless you own a recording studio or spend a £1000 on a dac for a SB touch

[Purite Audio]

When you rip a CD into a lossless codec, it is identical to the original CD, there is no reason why a hard disc based system should sound worse than a standalone cd player.
Keith.

[falcoron]

you dont need to spend 1K on a dac, mine was £400 the MF is the same and gives great results as does a holst of others.
The dac in the touch is simple and cheap does a job i suppose but not to audio fool standards

[Voice_Coil]

there is no reason why a hard disc based system should sound worse than a standalone cd player.
Keith.

but some say it does keith, some say it does.