The Squeezebox Touch’s internal DAC is very good

The philanthropists and publicists at Logitech Australia have made good on their promise to send me a Squeezebox Touch for review. Click the link and you’ll see the Squeezebox Classic is now MIA in the Logitech Store. A shame, as I always thought it a better product than the Duet. Isn’t everyone using iPeng these days?

I did a bit of quick A/B-test listening yesterday with Sarah Blasko’s “As Day Follows Night”.  The internal DAC on the new Touch is superior sounding to the Classic, no doubt about it. It’s not quite as fluid as the TeraDak Chameleon, but it’s probably on a par with the Cambridge DacMagic – there’s plenty of leading-edge and inner detail.  Comparing the analogue outputs of both the Touch and the Duet sees the former as less veiled and far more detailed.

There’s been a bit of squealing about local pricing on the Touch: AU$549 (vs US$300), but if I were looking to upgrade the sound of my Classic, I’d buy a Touch over a similarly-priced delta-sigma external DAC.