Is the Squeezebox Touch complicated?

"Squeezebox Touch = entry-level digital audiophilia"

That's a good thing.

Simply add the right external DAC to meet your sound expectations and no longer entry level in performance IMHO, rather, already a serious contender for most audio hounds.

Agree with Mlsstl.

Overall, I find the Squeeze system to be quite straightforward and reliable, and a fairly mature product, but some comfort level dealing with computer apps is always recommended with these things. Its not nearly as easy as popping a CD in a CD player, but the advertised benefits should far outweigh the disadvantages for the computer literate. If you are computer literate, expect to reach a comfort level with the entire system and all the options within a few weeks minimum with some focus and effort. Its really not so bad if you have the chops to deal with this kind of thing. If not, it will surely become overwhelming quickly.

Most of the complexity comes into play when setting up a personal music server, which is where a lot of the benefits reside, but is optional. Connecting to the Logitech managed web service via internet for access to internet radio, Pandora, etc. is quite straightforward as those things go, and alone provides access to so many new music sources to soak in that you might not even get around to trying to set up your own server for your music for quite some time. PErsonally, it was about 1 year until I even got around to setting up a music server when I first started with this computer audio stuff. I spent the first year simply enjoying all th e new and good sounding music available via internet playing on my rig.

If you do a music server, there are some general complications that have nothing to do with Squeezebox or server.

One is getting metadata tags correct when ripping. SB system does not do ripping. You have to pick a program that rips to a compatible format (usually lossless .wav or FLAC for audiophiles) and makes it easy to get tags correct (song name, artis, album, etc.). HAving to edit tags after the fact is a real drag and downer. You learn to avoid it at all costs, but there will always be cases where some manual tag editing is needed. Best to do during the rip to get it right at the outset.

The other is backups. You have to maek sure you have something in place to quickly and reliably backup the files you rip. The worst is to lose a disk drive and have to rip (and tag) everything again. VERY IMPORTANT. Backup is another area that the SB system does not address, so you have to put this in place separately. Not hard to do, but not all backup programs are created equal and you gotta get it right.

Shakey, I'd say the same with SB touch with either my mhdt Paradisea or Constantine DACs.

Same true even with my older Roku Soundbridges I had prior to SB Touches. I moved to SB mainly to get to the newer technology from a user experience perspective.

The outboard DAC can make a huge difference, if needed, no doubt!

Maybe SB Touch + any mhdt DAC specifically is the secret sauce for high end digital audio on a budget?

"I run my SBT through a Maverick Audio TubeMagic D2 and the sound quality is at times breathtaking, and never less than extremely pleasing."

My DACs are different but I would agree with this assessment in my case as well.

No doubt some SB software still has some rough edges, especially with certain configurations (there are MANY possible). I use Logitech Server running on a WIndows 7 laptop, 2 SB Touches, 1 SB Radio, Softqueeze on my other laptop, and the SB controller and player android apps on my tablet. A pretty mainstream scenario for SB users overall I would say. I also use the browser based controller on various laptops in the house and also even on a small Dell Windows Mobile device. Everything generally works without issue for weeks on end. Periodic reboot/recycle of any server type device (once A week or so) is almost always a good idea.

"A lot of people use their music server PC for other tasks. That can complicate issues through no fault of the SB software. "

That's a good point. The less you do on the device where the server is running, the better from a reliability perspective in general.

IT also helps if you have a stable and reliable network, Wifi or otherwise, set up in your home.

SOmetimes, other activity on your network can also have detrimental effects like delays and re-buffering, but I have to say that this rarely if ever occurs in my setup despite often having two or even 3 other family members using the network concurrently. This was a significant problem with ROku SOundbridge, which is older technology. Of course, if your network is down, then you are typically out of business. Similarly if your internet connection or provider is down, no Internet radio. If your favorite internet radio station is down, then you are out of luck but just there.

No doubt there are a lot of moving parts at play. But I have to say that despite all the complexities and permutations possible, SB is a pretty mature technology and very reliable as a whole.

"Is it worth the upgrade to a Squeezebox Touch from a Squeezebox Classic 3 if it is being used with a W4S Dac 2?"

For CD level source material, I'd guess probably not just from a sound quality perspective. I found no significant difference in sound moving from similar older ROku Soundbridges to SB Touchs using the same external DACs.

If you have an interest in higher res sources perhaps but be leery regarding the actual improvement in sound quality and value proposition for many high res recordings out there.

One might make the move more just to get to more recent and better supported technology and usability features of the Touch. OR these might not matter much to some.

As usual, it all depends....

I moved from Roku Soundbridge to Touch devices over the last year or so mainly for better performance in regards to eliminating rebuffer events and delays during listening and for the Touch devices ability to display album art. The actual screen touch interface with the SB TOuch is also a very nice feature/enhancement in many cases.

They are due for a new model I would say but do not know of anything specific.

I have had similar concerns about SB. Can't be a very profitable line of products. I hope not. We'll see. I have not seen many software updates of late.