Stereophile Rated the Sqeezebox Touch Class D

Kbarkamian ,Riffle, Herman, and all who have added there opinions, Thank you all for your comments.

I will continue to enjoy my Sqeezebox Touch and for now I will keep my subscriptions to the Audio Mags.
But, I will never again put much creedence in the so called subjective rating system.

I respect Kal for calling it like he sees it. Unfortunately, he was called out by his boss and deleted his post. Something about "Personally, I don't feel it appropriate for a Stereophile writer to post private communications on the Web". Thank you Your Highness, Mr. Atkinson. As it is, the most important point to me, aside from not giving a damn about their ratings, is that a few of their writers have honesty and class. But, not as many as some online mags I like such as 6moons, TNT, and Affordable Audio. Just remember, enjoy the music (oh, that's another one)! ;)

I think you're still missing the point. Think of it this way. ALL OF THE RECOMMENDED COMPONENTS ARE RATED AN A. Then break it down within that A to a ranking of A-E with D and E specific to value for money rankings.

I liked J.A.'s reply, and I agree with him.

When used through its internal DAC and analog outs, the Touch is a darned good $300 device, but it's nowhere near the world's best components when used that way.

When used as a digital transport feeding a good DAC, however, it functions markedly better (which is how I am using it right now), and it is practically a steal. But then it's abilities as a musical device depends on the DAC you're using, and there's no way they can deal with that as part of their recommendations.

Maybe in the next round they'll add a note that says "even better when used a digital transport."

Of course, Kal covers that well in his review.

Atkinson (Stereophile Editor) addressed this directly on www.audioasylum.com .

He said that the D rating applies to using the analog outputs and doing no upgrading at all, such as different power supply.

Personally, I think D is too low for the analog outputs. I'd go C at least and probably B. I find the tone is overall quite good, and what is missing is the last iota of detail that provides imaging and the kind of great nuance you would expect out of an A rated system.

Also I think he was a bit harsh in failing to note how he would evaluate it as an interface to a high end DAC. From what I read about experiences using it to interface a DAC, it should rate B at least and perhaps even A for that application.