Squeezebox Touch-tips, tricks & tweaks

nspindel

I'm struggling to figure out what you could have possibly done here, but.... If it's working now then carry on!

mdaudioguy

Drenis wrote: »

So you need to buy an additional PS to reap the benefits of this device? My gosh... $300 for the SQB and $200+ US for the power supply.... WOW... with taxes and shipping... its apparent that listening to music is to much money. No wonder us poor people stick to the crap we have to listen to our tunes.

Absolutely not! I'm so glad my ears aren't so trained and/or as sensitive as some... I never had an audiophile-quality CDP, nor probably the rest of the gear. Out of the box, the squeezebox products are probably fit for 99% of the population. These guys here are the elite 1%! :biggrin:

heiney9

FTGV wrote: »

Data loss.Volume reduction in the digital domain requires bits to be thrown away lowering resolution.However running ASIO or WASAPI modes bypass any windows volume control etc.


You gents with the Touch's need to ditch the cheesy RCA digital output con for a true 75 ohm BNC.

All true, but that's if you are using a USB or digital output of a PC not when streaming to the Touch, there are no plug ins or WASPI, ASIO settings needed.

Sherardp

Looking at an upgrade for my Touch. What do you guys think about the Sbooster products ? Also found this power supply that looked pretty good.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logitech-Squeezebox-Touch-Upgraded-Power-Supply-5Vdc-3A-/300600186374?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45fd2ad606

http://www.squeeze-upgrade.com/philosophy-behind-sbooster-concept-pm-29.html

Drenis

mdaudioguy wrote: »

Absolutely not! I'm so glad my ears aren't so trained and/or as sensitive as some... I never had an audiophile-quality CDP, nor probably the rest of the gear. Out of the box, the squeezebox products are probably fit for 99% of the population. These guys here are the elite 1%! :biggrin:

I'm the same, in all aspects. But it makes me very depressed that I've never heard a proper source. I honestly don't know what I'm missing for sound different from what I know of 128-320 kpbs mp3's to this lossless flac format. Hell I don't even know what a CD sounds like because my CDP is the optical drive in my HTPC (Sony PS2 prior out the analogs). This "hobby" really frustrates me because I feel as if I've spent thousands of dollars that took years to dedicate and it was all a joke.

Wow I'm cranky... I need some rum.

heiney9

Drenis wrote: »

So you need to buy an additional PS to reap the benefits of this device? My gosh... $300 for the SQB and $200+ US for the power supply.... WOW... with taxes and shipping... its apparent that listening to music is to much money. No wonder us poor people stick to the crap we have to listen to our tunes.

Yes, if you are looking for the best possible performance. Don't forget a dac to bring the total to a cool $1K or more :twisted:. It's worth every penny, IMO.

H9

steveinaz

Let the ripping continue! You power supply elves....GET BUSY!

heiney9

steveinaz wrote: »

EUREKA!
On a hunch, I deleted and reloaded Logitech Media Server. We're golden. I don't know if I screwed up a setting, misconfigured something, etc; but now we're rocking as expected. I did a quick a/b with a couple CD's I had ripped, and I'm struggling to hear any differences.

There we go.....

I don't know what I did, and I was trying to be somewhat diplomatic---but this thing sounded like ****. Maybe I was streaming flac as mp3 or something. At any rate, I'm feeling much better about this purchase. Had you suckers scared huh? :cheesygrin:

Next time don't be so diplomatic and we'll get you the answer you need sooner :cheesygrin:

Drenis

heiney9 wrote: »

Yes, if you are looking for the best possible performance. Don't forget a dac to bring the total to a cool $1K or more :twisted:. It's worth every penny, IMO.

H9

Try telling my other half that. I've tried to explain and I get the eye... she argues how I spent $800 on a HTPC that was supposed to do everything but for me to say I was wrong, well that's not her problem. I'm not allowed to buy anymore audio for the rest of the year.. She loves the hobby but not the debt from it.

heiney9

If it matters Steve I was trying to be diplomatic by not calling you a nut job about what you were hearing =Lol

steveinaz

Touche. LOL

brgman

nspindel wrote: »

Steve, btw, did you ever mention if you have an iSomething to run iPeng? That app is just a must have once you have a squeezie.

Please elaborate.There is a free app control for the touch.What makes this $9.99 well spent?

SCompRacer

The one from Taiwan looks like a nice build. I have no experience with either. IIRC you get two chassis color choices from Welborne.:cheesygrin:

Sherardp wrote: »

Looking at an upgrade for my Touch. What do you guys think about the Sbooster products ? Also found this power supply that looked pretty good.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logitech-Squeezebox-Touch-Upgraded-Power-Supply-5Vdc-3A-/300600186374?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45fd2ad606

http://www.squeeze-upgrade.com/philosophy-behind-sbooster-concept-pm-29.html

FTGV

SCompRacer wrote: »

The one from Taiwan looks like a nice build.

Agreed Rich it looks to be a nicely executed design.

Sherardp

Thanks guys I'll give it a shot and see how it does.

nspindel

Actually you are right, looks like now there is a free controller app from Logitech, that must be relatively new. At one point iPeng was the only app around. The big thing that iPeng will let you do that the Logitech app won't is that it actually becomes a Squeezebox player as well (although you do have to pay a couple bucks more for that). So if you open the right ports on your router and forward them to your server, you can actually stream your whole music collection to your phone. I barely put music on my iPhone any more because I just stream it through iPeng. It uses your data plan, of course, but I have wifi at work.

mdaudioguy

Having used all the apps, iPeng (iPhone) and Squeeze Commander (Android) both just seem to have a nicer interface than the Logitech app, but you do have to pay a few dollars for them...

brgman

I'll give it a whirl.what the hell.

Sherardp

I use Squeezepad App with excellent results.

nspindel

Checked out the Logitech app. Limited functionality compared to iPeng. I can't even program the alarm clock on the Squeezebox Radio with it - total deal killer for me. Yes, seriously Plus, the ability to use your iDevice as a Squeezebox player is such a big advantage over any of the other apps. iPeng is still king.

steveinaz

I am really liking this HDD/Touch combo. Detail retrieval in the extreme, extremely smooth quality to the music. I think there is a lot to be said about music via hard drive storage. I suspect the elimination of the optical reading, the method of reading pits, laser servo drives, etc, may point to some interesting theories--this much I do know, I haven't heard data pulled to this "depth" of detail before, and the Touch does an excellent job delivering that stream, unadulterated. I think it comes down to good 'ol simplicty again. Read the data straight from the HDD, rather than jumping thru the many hoops of pulling it from an optical disc.

I can say with confidence, using the SQB Touch via a good DAC, involves NO compromise that I can detect. (assuming lossless files used). If you are sitting on the fence, take it from this fussy ****, you will not be disappointed. Add to that, street price runs about $240---what do you have to lose? I'm making all these observations with a bone-stock unit; no upgrades, running wireless.

Outstanding. Can't wait to hear some hi-res files thru the Benchmark.

This "technique" is definitely worthy of a power supply upgrade, fuzzy dice, and a cool license plate frame.

nspindel

And a paddling?

steveinaz

You betcha, tidey-whities and all.

heiney9

Steve, I'm glad you got it figured out and it's working splendidly for you. For a small second you had me questioning my sanity when you weren't getting good results. Because I have never been able to tell the difference between the SQB or my transport.

nspindel

Steve next up for you is some 2496 stuff - give that Benchmark of yours a real workout!

steveinaz

Whatever reloading the software did, it brought this pup to life--that's for sure. Did a boat load of critical listening early this morning.

I'll defnitely be downloading some hi-res stuff soon. This was one of my motivations for going with the touch/computerized music. My next move will be to replace my BluRay with an Oppo BRP, as I have more confidence in it as a transport for times when I want to spin a disc. The panny will go in our bedroom.

steveinaz

Ok fellas
How do I get the touch to just display artist/album, and drop the "year" when looking thru my library?

It looks like this:

Fagen, Donald - 19XX - The Nightfly

I want this:

Fagen, Donald - The Nightfly


Another "oddity" after getting connected, I went ahead and turned my firewall back up "medium" on my modem. The Touch still works fine, but the LMS "diagnostics" shows ports 3483 and 9000 "failed." How can that be? The touch seems to be operating just fine??

heiney9

You need to go into the SQB software and fiddle with the display settings and "uncheck" the year. I think that's where you do it.

H9

nspindel

Go to the Interface tab in the SqueezeCenter settings. All sorts of customizations you can make, one of which is "Show Year with Albums". Disable that.

As for ports 9000 and 3483, I think you're confusing the settings on your modem with the settings on your server. Blocking 9000 and 3483 on the modem will prevent you from being able to access your Squeezebox library from outside of your home. I allow those ports to be open on my router (equivalent to doing the same on your modem), and then I forward them to my server, so I can access the music from outside. But that has nothing to do with what is happening inside your home on your own private network. You would need to block 9000 and 3483 on your server in order to block Squeezebox from working on your network.

Think of it like a house - the devices on your network, including your server, are like the rooms in your house. Your modem is like the front door. If you lock the front door, and you're outside the house, you can't get into anything in the house. But if you're inside the house, you don't care if the front door is locked or not, you can still get in all the rooms if they are unlocked. If you unlock the front door and all the rooms are unlocked, you can go from outside into any of the rooms. If you leave the front door unlocked, but lock the door to the bedroom, then you can't get in the bedroom, whether the front door is unlocked or not. Same concept for network ports.

steveinaz

nspindel wrote: »

Go to the Interface tab in the SqueezeCenter settings. All sorts of customizations you can make, one of which is "Show Year with Albums". Disable that.

It is disabled---but, I've noticed that the SQB pulls data from both tags and how you have your directories named--intermixed somewhat. My sub-directories are named including year, ie "D:\Music\Baker, Anita - 1984 - Rapture." It must be pulling the date from the directory name.

What convention do you guys use for naming sub directories? Mine are like this:

\Music....
\Baker, Anita - 19XX - Album title
\Beatles, The - 19XX - Album title
etc...