Squeezebox touch firmware mods

hi james,
i have been looking at theese mods.i have been off work today so thought i would have a go.i am not very good when it comes to doing things like this but you have to try or you will never learn.i get so far then it is just way over my head.i will leave it for now,wait and see if others think its worth the trouble.personally i would like to enable the mods but i am stumped.regards scott

Personal opinion but for me, and I've done the hardware stuff, the touch isn't worth the effort. Of course, if you already have one, why not give it a go.

You can disable the volume control in Squeezecenter, if you haven't already, with a few clicks; and a few more will force FLACs or whatever to stream as WAV. Similarly you can reduce the brightness on the Touch, and turn the screensaver off. These are all standard options, don't involve downloading any software of unknown provenance, or risk destroying your Touch or invalidating your warranty. I'd try them first - if you can't hear a difference, think carefully before running the risk of screwing your Touch up irretrievably. Why on earth the guy chooses to run the Touch with such a small buffer size is beyond me - it must increase the workload and, in his own words runs 'the Touch on the edge" and risks crackling. Why bother!?

Can the techies among us please try this and report back?

ASenna04

quote:

Originally posted by likesmusic:
... These are all standard options, don't involve downloading any software of unknown provenance, or risk destroying your Touch or invalidating your warranty. ...

Likesmusic.

Don't worry. If you run into problems just reset your SB Touch to factory settings. The only hassle is that you will then have to set it up again. I've been there.

Best wishes,
Peter

hi,
i took another hard look at the mods and gave it another go.i managed to get my head round the set up and got into the touch.i have only altered the buffering and disabled the analogue out and usb out.i will disable the wlan when i eventually run some ethernet cable under my flooring.as rosewind quite rightly suggests there is no way of causing damage.a factory reset does exactly that.
js,
not sure how you can dismiss the touch as you have.i was speaking to my dealer about my front end and the possibility of changing my touch to unitiserve.he has used both and thinks i would gain nothing by changing.each to there own though.
as for better sq after applying mods i have to say i couldn't tell any difference but i have only done two of them.regards scott

quote:

Why on earth the guy chooses to run the Touch with such a small buffer size is beyond me - it must increase the workload and, in his own words runs 'the Touch on the edge" and risks crackling. Why bother!?

I can usually hear the difference in buffer size even though it should only affect latency but I agree with this. On the edge is rarely best regardless and you'd hope they chose their somewhat fixed buffer size with some of this in mind. Perhaps 7- 8000 is a nice compromise for a well setup network but maybeit's just that the buffer implementation could be better in general (like in most computer setups) if it's causing a significant varience in sound. It seems a lot of trouble for that bit of kit. It's not a bad thing for it's intended use but this is silk purse stuff to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Scooot:

js,
not sure how you can dismiss the touch as you have.i was speaking to my dealer about my front end and the possibility of changing my touch to unitiserve.he has used both and thinks i would gain nothing by changing.each to there own though.

If the un-modded Touch is as good as a UnitiServe and the mods improve it, then a modded touch will be better than a Serve. If your dealer is right that is. That would be a silk purse full of money out of a sow's ear!

likesmusic,
nobody has said a touch with the mods is better.my dealer may have implemented the mods himself before making that statement,i dont know.i did say i could hear no apparent difference with the mods i applied.if funds allowed i would love a unitiserve keeping all naim for me would be the best option.but having a sn/hc/ndac i do think the touch is a very good transport and when fund allow would seriously consider my next upgrade a 202/200 or 282/200 before changing my front end.one thing for sure though by adding the ndac it did add big gains to the touch going from my sn internal dac.
the naim family is growing bigger and bigger and i am convinced one day they will bring out a product like the touch.for me that will be a great day.a simple transport connected to a nas at a decent price.cheers.regards scott

Scoot
sure thing - I've two Squeezeboxes and a Duet controller myself and think they're splendid. A Touch goes to 24/96. If the sync light comes on on the nDAC, then the DACs buffering and clocking should take over, so mods or a Serve shouldn't make much difference. Your dealer sounds like an honest bloke to tell you to keep your Touch. Others have told folk on here to get a UnitiQute or NDX just to stream to an nDAC!

Try for yourself. I thought the sonos better and the serve once more. It's not about price. I don't hate the touch and even bought one to experiment but would honestly rather listen to standard def on a Sonos. Borrow a Serve, rip to it and play both. Only way to be certain. I'm sure your dealer is honest but he's possibly also not as well versed or critical as others. It's for you to determine.

When you say you prefer the Sonos js, do you mean in general, or specifically with the Naim DAC?

In general with any better DAC and dig out. Give it a go some time. It's not quiter but a bit more natural in character. Sort of as if it were advantageously dithered.

Has anyone here managed to get a Touch to work directly on a network with a NAS? I can't seem to load and run Squeezebox server software without a PC in the mix. I can get the Touch to see and read the NAS as drive Z on the PC for example, but this needs the PC running Squeezebox server to be on, so defeats the object.

Rockindoc.

I use mine connected to my Synology 209+ NAS (and can also reach my Vortexbox Ripper if need be).

Synology NAS hard-wired to Wireless Netgear Router which then transmits wirelessly to my SB Touch. No issues.

What is your hard-ware set-up like?

Best wishes,
Peter

Your Synology NAS has a UPnP server aleady on it, most NAS's I've come across don't seem to.

Rockindoc, I have been looking for a NAS with UPnP server built in, but not many seem to. This would allow me to run the NAS through my router such that the computer would not need to be on for me to stream to my internet radio. I think this is what you need?
Most NAS's have their own server and won't let you add a UPnP one, though I believe you can hack a Buffalo Linkstation to add the SqueezeServer....

quote:

Originally posted by Rockingdoc:
... I can't seem to load and run Squeezebox server software without a PC in the mix...

Rockingdoc.

You need to have Squeezecenter installed/enabled on your NAS - see the NAS documentation. When it has been installed, your SB Touch will locate it on your network after you have set up your Touch correctly (including security settings). If the problem is that yor Touch can't find the NAS wirelessly (after you have installed Squeezecenter on the NAS) then use a network cable for installation. Then remove the cable and test the signal strenght , first next to the NAS and then in the spot where you intend to use the SB Touch.

Best wishes,
Peter

So glad I can't hear differences in buffer sizes!!

Tog

Says more about the kit and application then the general technology involved.