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Got the Touch, Now What?

I just purchased a Squeezebox Touch. This is my first attempt at anything other than cd. I want to get this running properly wthout too many mistakes. I know there's probably no one perfect way to do this, but clearly some ways are better than others.

I have J River and Itunes on my desktop. I thought I'd rip all my cd's to J River (apparently this plays 24/96 files and itunes doesn't?)and then stream wirelessly from my desktop to the squeezbox, through my dac and out through my stereo.
I have a Cambridge Audio 840c and I thought I would utilize the DAC from it. Does it sound like I'm headed in the right direction?

I currently have itunes and a few hundred discs loaded using apple lossless, however I've read that ideally I create FLAC files for use with the touch instead? I'd like to have the files be some type of lossless to preserve the sound. I'm not concerned about file size because hard drives are cheap these days. I've got about a thousand cd's to work with so I really want to get this mostly right the first time.

I'm guessing at most of this so I would really appreciate any suggestions. Sorry if my explanation above sounds convoluted please bare with me.
Thanks,
Mike
ndfan
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Mike- I'm no expert on computer audiophile but it sounds correct to me. I ripped my cds to flac files and stream them wirelessly to a Squeezebox Transporter. I am taking the analog output from my modified transporter into a line input on my pre-amp. The only functional difference is that you have added an outboard DAC btwn the SB network player and your pre-amp. Should work fine.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,649 posts
 
You do not use jRiver or iTunes with the SBTouch (although you can use them to rip/copy/load files onto the PC). You use the Squeezebox Server software on your PC. SBS can read most formats including FLAC and whatever is in your iTunes directory but you should go through the setup procedure to tell SBS where the music files are.

And, yes, you can feed the digital output of the Touch into the 840C.

More of my comments here: http://www.stereophile.com/content/logitech-squeezebox-touch-network-music-player

Kal
ppridday
28 posts
 
I just bought a Touch as well and am planning on using it while travelling. I am thinking of converting my CD's to FLAC with EAC to a 2TB portable hard drive. I will then plug the portable hard drive into the Touch, then analog out to a Headroom Little (it's what I have now) into a set of Senn HD600's. Does this sound viable even though a newer outboard DAC/headphone amp would surely be better?

Long term I am planning on using the Touch digital out into a PS Audio PW DAC and then eventually adding the Bridge thereby negating the Touch. At that point it would go back to the travel bag.

Does all this make sense? **and I thought getting a turntable set up right was tough... :-) **
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,649 posts
 
If you are thinking of connecting the HD directly to the Touch by USB, it is not a good idea. The Tiny SBS in the Touch will have a hard time organizing and accessing such a drive and the USB connection may not be able to power it (unless it has an external PS). You are better off with a PC running the host-based SBS.

Running it into a Headroom amp is OK if the Headroom amp has a volume control.

Kal
ppridday
28 posts
 
That does make sense. I have a laptop that could to host the SBS program. Again, this will be used during travelling as I am on the road (hotels) up to 7-8 months of the year. Tough to drag a PC along but I always have a laptop.
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