[cloudbaseracer]

I am looking to get one of these but have no interest in staring at a glowing screen 10' in front of my listening chair and will control the unit with iPeng. 

Have you guys determined if the screen can be turned off?

Cheers,

James

[JEaton]

There's a 'screen off' screensaver that can be invoked while playing, while stopped, or while off.  You can also set the screen brightness to a very low level.  At the lowest level anything on the screen is very close to invisible.

[cloudbaseracer]

Thanks so much for the answer.  I thought for a while that I had asked a strange question.

Cheers,

James

[AphileEarlyAdopter]

This probably is a digression - CBracer how do you like the sound of your setup ? I am running a Touch (with a Welborne labs power supply that is currently burning in) into a Panasonic SA-BX500 (via a zu ash cable) biamping a Silverline Sonatina speakers. I am thinking I am getting audiophile quality sound out of my setup. What about you ?

[BPT]

I too like screen off, but when I choose 'screen off while playing" it doesn't show the songs when I advance--it just stays black. The SB3 screen would come on for a few seconds to show the new song and then go black. Anyone else experience this and have a solution?
Chris H.

[lcrim]

I have the Screen Off while Playing set as well.  With the SB3 this afforded a small but discernable improvement in sound quality. 
John Swenson, a digital guru of note from both the Logitech Squeezebox Forum and Audio Asylum, may have a software solution that turns off the power to the screen and notes an improvement in sound quality again while the setting does not at present improve sound quality.
I used John's script via ssh into the Touch to shut off power to the wlan card on my unit.  I also have a Bolder PS and a Zu Ash coax into a modded MF V-DAC and the sound quality is high end even on Red Book rips (16/44.1) 
On 24/96 material the quality is stunning, I wish there were more Jazz released on 24/96.  Having said that, my TT setup is still more pleasurable to me.
BTW, up arrow on the remote reveals whats playing.

[BPT]

Larry:
Up arrow works--thanks.
Did you notice any improvement in sound quality with the WiFi card powered off?
Chris H.

[lcrim]

Larry:
Up arrow works--thanks.
Did you notice any improvement in sound quality with the WiFi card powered off?
Chris H.

Chris:
The improvement is not night and day but discernable.  John Swenson found the same thing.  The turnoff can be verified using Netstumbler a software that is free and searches for WiFi devices that are operating in the near range. 
Its worth doing, a free improvement.

[BPT]

Just wanted to comfirm that the sound quality of the Touch via analog out does indeed improve while listening with the screen powered off.
Chris H.

[lcrim]

Chris:
Presently, the setting to turn the display off doesn't actually kill the power to the screen, its still powered but not backlit.  There may be a software hack to accomplish power off in the future but not yet.
On the SB3, turning off the screen actually turned off the power not just dimming the screen and did make a slight improvement.

http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=pcaudio&n=74394&highlight=John+Swenson

[PeteG]

I have the screen off on Play Now/Stopped and using my Duet remote to navigate, can’t say I hear a big difference.

It would be nice to kill the power to the screen altogether.

[lcrim]

With the Touch and the SB3, the screen is part of the player (this is not true with the Duet) and by reducing emissions from the screen, sound quality will be positively impacted.

[cloudbaseracer]

This probably is a digression - CBracer how do you like the sound of your setup ? I am running a Touch (with a Welborne labs power supply that is currently burning in) into a Panasonic SA-BX500 (via a zu ash cable) biamping a Silverline Sonatina speakers. I am thinking I am getting audiophile quality sound out of my setup. What about you ?

Well, I think it sounds pretty good.  The biggest issue I have is that I am running two of the amps and therefore the volume gets off occasionally on one of the units.  It is always the one on the right even though they are beside each other.  I have not heard my speakers in my location with anything else so it is hard to comment.  The one thing I think I notice is that the amps do not have a huge amount of bass control and the soundstage seems to get a little muddy when driven at higher levels.  I have surmised and been told this is just due to a lack of power. 

I will tell you that I like the simplicity of not having a DAC or pre-amp in the system and will probably loose the disc player once I get a Touch.  Which - thanks to the guys on here - I now know I can turn off the display on.

Cheers,

James

[AphileEarlyAdopter]

Well, I think it sounds pretty good.  The biggest issue I have is that I am running two of the amps and therefore the volume gets off occasionally on one of the units.  It is always the one on the right even though they are beside each other.  I have not heard my speakers in my location with anything else so it is hard to comment.  The one thing I think I notice is that the amps do not have a huge amount of bass control and the soundstage seems to get a little muddy when driven at higher levels.  I have surmised and been told this is just due to a lack of power. 

I will tell you that I like the simplicity of not having a DAC or pre-amp in the system and will probably loose the disc player once I get a Touch.  Which - thanks to the guys on here - I now know I can turn off the display on.

Cheers,

James

James, thanks for the reply. The Panasonic receivers need some good power conditioner. Possibly one of those Power Factor correction devices will work (MIT, Running Springs Audio Haley, Adept response, Uber buzz etc, Furman) . It also depends on the speaker. I use highly efficient speakers (made for SET amps) so I have not run into these issues, I think. Also, the Panny responds to better/less jitter digital inputs.
(oh ..the simplicity you point out is a great point ..I love it)

[AphileEarlyAdopter]

I..
On 24/96 material the quality is stunning, I wish there were more Jazz released on 24/96.  Having said that, my TT setup is still more pleasurable to me.
BTW, up arrow on the remote reveals whats playing.

Larry, I doubt digital can approach the "realistic" sound of a real vibration converted electrically and amplified on the spot. It is quite possible the sound may not be high fidelity (some point out the distortions in a LP playback) but I feel it is absolutely "realistic" and enjoyable. With digital, there is always a layer of haze/veil all the time. When I improve the digital input, it gets less and less but never goes away. Maybe I should spend the big bucks on digital to get the absolutely finest digital playback. But my MMF-5 with a Monolithic SOund phone pre is absolutely wonderful (even though I am lazy and listen to Touch more),.