Logitech Squeezebox sound compared to CD Player

Back to addressing, the ops original question, IMHO, the SB Touch out of the box and even more so with and external DAC is highly competitive with some of the best digital rigs I have heard out there at any cost. So I would start there.

Then if for some reason you think there is more needed, and you have the appetite to customize, you might try some of the blogged custom software tweaks referred to and see what if anything might happen from there.

SB Touch is a win/win no matter what in comparison to CD players in general as long as you are comfortable with teh basic idea of getting into computer audio and understand the potential benefits.

Otherwise, just keep things simple and stick with a CD player and be done with it.

BTW, I just added a second SB Touch to my other system in my family room today in addition to the one I have been running in my main rig for several months now and to teh SB Radio I use in my bedroom.

Thanks again for all the great responses. I am looking forward to trying the SBT as it seems like such a great value. They can be had new for about $200 now (or a little more)seems like it is worth a try. I would still keep my Universal Player & use both, why not?

TM, good luck. We'll be interested in your findings. Let me know if I can be of any help with the Touch.

Thanks Mapman (and everyone else who contributed here). I am now looking for a super deal on one. My goal is to pick up a brand new one for about $210 or so which I think is gonna be possible soon . I will let you know the results. I will start out using it totally stock (with no DAC) & get a point of reference from there. I will be streaming ripped CD's via FLAC files on Media Monkey, and WAV & AIFF files from itunes to start. Also will be streaming Radio Paradise MP3 192 Kbps internet radio. Should be fun.

Good luck and I think you will be fairly impressed with the Touch on it's own. But it really needs an outboad DAC to shine. I use Media Monkey to sync my iPod, but you really won't even need it to stream to the SB. You will use the Logitech Server software bypassing any other file management system.

Shakey