Is the Squeezebox Touch complicated?

Shakey, I'd say the same with SB touch with either my mhdt Paradisea or Constantine DACs.

Same true even with my older Roku Soundbridges I had prior to SB Touches. I moved to SB mainly to get to the newer technology from a user experience perspective.

The outboard DAC can make a huge difference, if needed, no doubt!

Maybe SB Touch + any mhdt DAC specifically is the secret sauce for high end digital audio on a budget?

I guess my choice of words was clumsy above. I was trying to pay the SBT a very high compliment! I own one and love it.
By "entry-level", I was merely referring to the ridiculously low price (I paid $235 del'd from Amazon) for such a quality device.
I run my SBT through a Maverick Audio TubeMagic D2 and the sound quality is at times breathtaking, and never less than extremely pleasing.

A month or two ago I was hot and heavy to get into being able to play hi res files from HD Tracks and such, so I got a squeezebox touch. Since having gotten the squeezebox, I've used it a LOT, just getting to know it.

These are some of my observations. In my system, it sounds no better or worse than my Sonos, when playing "standard" definition files. I've also found that there isn't a whole lot of hi res music that I'm interested in. So far, I have about a dozen albums in hi res format, but really have to wonder if it was all worth the expense of the hi res downloads.

The squeezebox is quirky. Sometimes is doesn't want to work and needs a reset. Sometimes it won't read my library and I'm running mine hard wired to my router and have my music on an NAS. The available software is also quirky. The Logitech software plain sucks and iPeng is rough around the edges.

Quite frankly, in terms of usability, the Sonos system is head and shoulders about the squeezebox. The Sonos always works and the software is refined.

Of course the downside to the Sonos is that it doesn't do hi res and you can't control it with an IR or RF remote (which is a biggie for me).

When I'm having a party or something and pass the ipad around so that guests can add to the play list and control the music, I use the Sonos. It's just plain fool proof. When I'm kicking back and just listening to music, I use the Touch because I can control it with my Harmony 900 via RF.

In the end I just kept both. The Sonos is reliable and the Touch was so cheap that keeping it isn't a big deal.

"I run my SBT through a Maverick Audio TubeMagic D2 and the sound quality is at times breathtaking, and never less than extremely pleasing."

My DACs are different but I would agree with this assessment in my case as well.

No doubt some SB software still has some rough edges, especially with certain configurations (there are MANY possible). I use Logitech Server running on a WIndows 7 laptop, 2 SB Touches, 1 SB Radio, Softqueeze on my other laptop, and the SB controller and player android apps on my tablet. A pretty mainstream scenario for SB users overall I would say. I also use the browser based controller on various laptops in the house and also even on a small Dell Windows Mobile device. Everything generally works without issue for weeks on end. Periodic reboot/recycle of any server type device (once A week or so) is almost always a good idea.

Periodic reboot/recycle of any server type device (once A week or so) is almost always a good idea.

My Linux (Fedora Core 12) music server has been up for 235 days straight. The last reboot was when I cleaned the dust out of the box. Didn't even reboot when I upgraded to LMS 7.7.1.

The Touch and SB3 have been on the entire time, too, without a reset. My SB Radio and the SB Controller are the only ones that periodically need a power reset - perhaps every other month or so.

I find the Squeezebox system, including the server software, remarkably stable. A lot of people use their music server PC for other tasks. That can complicate issues through no fault of the SB software.