diego;581640 Wrote: > Hi there all! > > > > 1. Has anyone noted a important improvement using an external DAC? > Which DAC, and how is it connected? > > 2. What is, technically speaking, closer to the "naitive" format used > by the touch, S/PDIF or USB? I mean, with which connection could one > by-pass more of the potentially low cost/quality audio components built > into the Touch? With other words: A decent USB-to-S/PDIF converter costs > about the same price as the entire Touch, so in case, USB transports the > "naitive" signal, some USB-to-SPDIF converter is used inside the touch, > and probably its not of the best quality. > > > Thank you! Diego
S/PDIF is an officially supported output from the Touch, USB is not. There is no USB -> S/PDIF converter inside. The processor in the Touch directly outputs I2S which is fed to the internal DAC and S/PDIF. Both these are reclocked by the local oscillator before going to the DAC chip or digital outputs. The result is fairly low jitter. The reason for using the USB connection to a DAC is if you already have a very high quality USB DAC which does not have an S/PDIF input. As to your first question, yes you can get better sound by going with an external DAC. Its very hard to tell you which one, thats a very personal choice. I build my own DACs so I can't tell which of the commercially available ones will sound "the best". I haven't done much listening to commercial DACs recently. I certainly have not heard everyone on your list. If I were going to buy a DAC now it would be the Audio-GD DAC-19DSP. But thats my own preference. The Touch even on its own can sound quite good. To get the best out of its analog outs there are some things you can do which elevate the performance. There are quite a few threads about this both here and in the audiophile forum. There are quite a few people that hang out here that don't believe any of these things make any difference. There is nothing stopping you from trying them out and seeing if it makes a difference for you. Member soundcheck has a webpage http://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com/p/squeezebox-touch-great-base-for-network.html with many such tweaks and and a small script which can be downloaded to the Touch which implements some more. For me the number one things are: Run external server, not a USB drive plugged into the Touch. Use a wired connection to the server (not WiFi) In the server transcode any format you play to PCM These are all things you can do without changing the Touch in any way. Then there are soundchecks tweaks which change some parameters and turn things off inside the Touch. These are reversible, a factory reset takes them out so there is no risk to trying them. Then there are hardware tweaks (only recommended for hardware experts). The analog outs have cheap electrolytic caps in series, getting rid of these can significantly improve the sound. But this voids your warantee, is actually pretty tough to do and has significant risk of destroying the Touch, so don't attempt unless you really know what you are doing. Another hardware tweak is to unplug the screen. (you can still use any of the other remote control methods) All of these together will give pretty astonishing results directly from the analog outs. Try some of the software tweaks before deciding on getting an external DAC. John S. -- JohnSwenson ------------------------------------------------------------------------ JohnSwenson's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5974 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82110 _______________________________________________ Touch mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
