This is a double post that is also in the Digital Mod thread. Seemed like it belongs in both.
Bolder Analog & Digital Mods w/ Deluxe Power SupplyAlright, so I’ve had my Bolder modded Squeezebox Touch for a few weeks now and wanted to give my opinions. I had Wayne do the digital AND analog mods to the unit along with building me his brand new “Deluxe” power supply. I also have a stock Touch that I did some comparisons with.
For anyone interested in my accompanying gear, please look here. I will at least point at that the DAC I used is a Wyred4Sound DAC-1.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=systems;area=browse;system=1367Out of the Box:First thing I did was put my new Deluxe power supply into my stock Touch and sat down for about an hour listening session. As Wayne described, I did think the presentation was a bit rough with the bass sounding a bit bloated and overall slightly distorted. After about 45 minutes, things did seem much better. Wayne said this could last for several weeks but I thought the majority of it went away the next day. Not completely but mostly.
The Next day I got the modded Touch out and hooked up the Deluxe PS to it and used the digital output to my DAC. I didn’t notice much harshness so I assume mostly the “out of the box” woes stems from the power supply. At least in my set up it did.
Back Story:I had owned a stock SB Duet previously. I personally found the analog outs pretty subpar. At the time, I was in between DACs after selling my PS Audio DLIII and hoped the Duet could hold me over but I couldn’t do it. I sold it a few weeks later and stuck to my Oppo BDP83 SE as a source even though I wanted a media server. I’ve had a Touch since it was released. I do find the analog outs of the Touch far superior than the Duet. However, IMO still just not at the level it needs to be for a quality audio system. At this time, I still didn’t have a dedicated DAC as I was waiting for the Wyred4 Sound DAC-1 to be released. The Touch mainly sat idle until I got this DAC about a month later. Upon getting the DAC-1, I was VERY happy with the Touch>DAC1 combo. My goal had been to meet or exceed the performance of my Oppo BDP83 SE. The DAC-1 uses the same family of ESS Sabre chips as the Oppo SE except a higher model. I am THRILLED with this DAC. It has the same sound characteristics as my Oppo SE but does it better.
Now for some impressions. Note that this is a synopsis based on two weeks of listening. Not out of the box.
Analog Output:Here is my opinion of the stock Touch analog outs vs a Bolder modded Touch analogs. As I already mentioned, I find the Touch analogs “adequate”. Quite good for what one would expect out of a $300 device but doesn’t perform at the level of “better” gear. I found the Bolder modded Touch a pretty significant upgrade via analogs. It was pretty apparent something had changed in my system when I switched over. Much bolder, cleaner sound. Microdynamics came through more effortlessly. When I threw the Deluxe PS into the mix things got that much better. The PS seemed to really help the bass get cleaner and helped imaging in the overall sound.
Digital Output:My experience with the digital outputs was a bit less dramatic than the analogs. What I mean is that I DO hear the difference between the mods/PS but not to the same extreme as the analogs. I feel like my stock Touch into my DAC-1 sounds VERY nice. Adding the digital mods and/or PS REALLY does help refine the sound and takes my sound to the next level. Here is the way I describe the difference. I think it does everything better to a small degree and the sum of its parts yields a very nice upgrade that his hard to describe in words but you know it is there. It’s like I find it hard to focus on any one expect of the sound and say “Gee, the bass is so much more refined” or “the soundstage grew quite a bit”. I can’t put my finger on exactly why it sounds better but it definitely does. When I listen to my modded Touch, the sound really PULLS me in and doesn’t want to let go. When I use the stock Touch, it still sounds great but a bit less involving. I really hope this makes some sense. I don’t want to leave the impression that the modded Touch is an insignificant upgrade, because that isn’t true. I have ZERO hesitation in the money I spent on my mods/power supply. My system has never sounded better and the Bolder mods/ps is part of the equation.
Mod or power supply?:For anyone wondering which made the bigger impact on my set up, the mod or the power supply. I did a comparison of the Stock Touch with the Deluxe PS against the Modded Touch with a stock wallwart using the digital outs. My opinion is that the modded Touch/Wallwart out performed the Stock Touch/PS. I didn’t find the difference night and day but preferred the sound. I think what stood out to me was the microdynamics. They were much easier to hear. Also, cymbals and such seemed to come through easier. Without the mods, they were kind of lost in the mix. Again, either configuration was better than the stock Touch with wallwart. After this I put the PS back into the modded Touch and my magic sound was back.
Final Thoughts:I’m sure someone is wondering which configuration sounds the best. Here is my opinion on that. If I was forced to choose between a Bolder analog mod (even with the PS), I’d still keep my stock Touch into my DAC-1. The Bolder analog modded Touch is a large improvement over the stock Touch BUT still can’t quite reach the level of throwing my DAC into the chain. If you wanted to keep a simple set up and avoid using a DAC or wanted a quality sound in a 2nd set up, I think the modded Touch via analogs is a great investment. But if your goal is to maximize your sound to the highest potential, I recommend a Bolder digital mod/ps and get yourself a quality external DAC.
I’m sure results will vary with everybody’s gear and the synergy you have in components. But these are my impressions on my system. For me, the digital mods with PS is the way to achieve the highest level I can get and glad I went this route. In the end, I won’t use the analog mods that I paid for, but hey, I wanted to experiment and glad I did it.
Hope this helps some of you. And a special thanks to Wayne who was very courteous and helpful answering a lot of emails from me. Greatly appreciated and thanks for the quality work.
Mike
