Logitech Squeezebox sound compared to CD Player

have had two opportunities to listen to SB based systems and both fell well short of the cd player in the same system (sony 5400 and rotel something?). sorry but it wasn't really even close.

no doubt that other set-ups could yield other conclusions but this has been my limited experience with it. for the money spent....the SB seems like a great value but it didn't appeal to me much sound quality wise.

THe DAC in the newer TOuch is supposedly better than prior models and some have praised it, especially for the price.

I use external DACs only. TOuch + good external DAC to personal taste is hard to fault IMHO.

I'll second Mapman's comment. The SB3/Classic and Duet models were fairly good mid-fi in terms of sound quality. They improved substantially with the use of an external DAC.

The Touch is significantly better by itself. I know some still prefer an external DAC, but as noted, I ran a side-by-side, synced and level-matched comparison between the Touch and a Lavry DAC for several weeks. I routinely found myself unable to tell which was playing unless I checked the position of the input selector on the amp.

Now, that may be due to my pedestrian system, aging ears or utter lack of audiophile sophistication, but I'm enjoying my music.

With a relatively low up-front cost and the money-back guarantee, it strikes me as a pretty easy decision to find out for one's self.

The SBT hits way above its weight class when used with a high end outboard DAC. For something that costs less than the tax on some people's interconnects, its well worth trying it out. I'm using it with a nice quality DAC and I'm continually impressed by it.

I think a good external dac would make a huge difference. Neither system I heard fit that bill.