Woohoo! New Touch arrived this evening and within 5 minutes it was playing music. It took me longer to unbox it than it did to drop it on my network. It is very nicely designed. Think the size and shape of an SB3 with a larger version of the Controller built in. Quite elegant really!
There have been tons of discussions about whether it is the perfect Squeezebox and I'll leave that for others to debate. What I will say is that it appears very well designed, extremely intuitive to use - particularly if you already own a controller - and very slick to see the album artwork sitting there.
Of course, none of that matters if it doesn't sound great. I plugged it into my Oracle DAC1000 so that both it and my Duet were just a button press apart and synced both together. My first reaction was that I couldn't even tell when I switched between them. The differences were indeed subtle and not tonal in nature. But, after sitting through two albums that I know well - one of which was a 24/96 recording, I have to say that I definitely give the nod to the Touch. It is subtly more refined and defined.
I will say that the difference is not as significant a difference as between my Oracle CDT and the Duet - that difference also has some tonal differences as well as a more more refined/defined presentation. But then, that config is also using a balanced JPS Aluminata digital IC where the Duet and Touch are not.
Bottom line, if you've been on the sidelines with digital playback, you need to check out the Touch. It definitely takes the Squeezebox lineup more into the mainstream yet does so with sound quality approaching the Transporter. Couple this with iPeng on your iPhone or iTouch and you've got a great setup for an amazing price.
What I have not yet done (and probably won't anytime soon) is to attempt to run the Touch off a locally attached hard-drive. I doubt I will simply because my SB3 and Duet are also wireless and it would require a double wireless hop to go from Touch to router and back again to SB3 or Duet.
