Logitech Squeezebox Touch DAC: How Good?

So far I'm finding that going using the analog outs of the Touch (Cardas Golden Ref interconnects into Cary SLI-80 into AU-24 into Silverline SR-17.5's), the following all sound very similar:
a. wireless out of my Mac (Leopard, not Snow Leopard) with cds ripped at 256,
b. wireless out of my Mac, with cds ripped Apple Lossless, and
c. SDHC card containing the 256 bit rate rips.

They all sound VERY musical, not fatiguing at all, with sufficient and extension to be very enjoyable. They are less saturated and less detailed and less extended than the sound out of my cd player (Cary 308T).

That said, it is EXTREMELY enjoyable. Somehow the convenience of flipping from album to album instantly, then jumping to internet radio - classical music out of France and Eastern Europe, .... there is HUGE pleasure in this.

I am increasingly curious to try a DAC with the Touch. Will probably happen early this coming week with a Bryston loaner from a good friend.

(DAN, the entire high end audio community of the planet earth is sitting on the edge of their seat waiting for you to lend me the Bryston DAC! ;-)

Art

Dan,
Lend Art the Bryston Dac so he can report if any improvements!

Art, I posted some initial impressions over on AC in the Bolder forum. Here's the link

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=79802.msg768829#msg768829

The bottom line IMO is that the Touch analog out is very nice but the digital out is the keeper. Having said that the digital out into my Noble modded EAD DSP7000Mk.III is still not as good as my PDT3 into the same. Having said THAT :-), it blows away my modded SB3 and comes very close to being my primary "non analog" source. For the money it fights way above its weight.

Thanks for the note Tony, it sounds similar to my experience on the analog side. I'll check out your note.

To be fair to Dan, actually I'm real busy too so it's more that we need to find a mutually convenient time.

Art

Can someone confirm that the Touch will do hi res 24/96 over USB? Currently, I am streaming AIFF files using iTunes from one Mac to another. Current setup looks like this:

Mac #1 (with iTunes library on external HD), which I access wirelessly from Mac #2 => external DAC => System.

With the SB Touch, I'd like to simplify this by connecting an external USB drive directly to the Touch. Setup would basically take the Macs and iTunes out of the equation:

External USB HD => SB Touch => DAC => System

So the question is: Will this setup do 24/96? Currently, it is my understanding that iTunes and the Airport Extreme wireless will only stream 44.1 Khz... The new setup would not be wireless, as the HD is connected to the Touch via USB.

As hi res downloads are becoming more popular I think it is wise to plan to accommodate these files.