Squeezebox touch as a source

 

Out with the old.....

Even with soundcheck mods, the Squeezebox Touch (SBT)  is a very competent but average transport.
The Squeezebox Touch was amazing technology a few years ago, and was a revolutionary product which introduced many unfamiliar people to the world of streaming music. Of course SBT was not the first product to stream audio. The Slim devices Transporter was released in 2007, and the touch came along in 2010.
To put things in context - the XBOX was streaming audio with XBMC somewhere around 2002.

The main problem with the SBT is the grainy sound that comes from its digital output. Its a good transport, but it is not great. You can do much better.
 CMP + cPlay (and Vortexbox) using a USB SPDIF converter sounds much, much better than the SBT.

The best sounding audio streamer I've heard would have to be the Netgear EVA9100. Basically this to my ears sounds just about on par with computer software like foobar, and this is much better than a Squeezebox.

However, if controlling music from your phone is your primary concern - Stick with the Touch.
the Netgear has a terrible web based browser, with a horrible GUI, which is very buggy.

In fact from  the point of view of usability. The Netgear is a bit old fashioned - you need to have the TV or other monitor connected to it and use a remote control to select your music. Only in this regard is the SBT better.

Edit 18/02/13:

The Himedia Q5 sounds a lot better than a Netgear EVA or a Squeezebox touch. It really is a great source You need to install the Neutron App for it to sound its best.- Highly recommended! See my review here!

In with the new....