Slim Devices Transporter Hardware and Internal Pics

The Transporter features some hefty hardware in comparison to the Squeezebox (or any other Network Streaming Music players we've seen). Here's an overview of what you'll find inside of the chassis:

At first glance there doesn't seem to be all that much under the hood, however I'm not really an advocate of jamming in additional electronics just to make the inside look cool. The audio electronics and majority of the hefty components are kept to the back, away from the electroluminescent display components located in the front of the Transporter. Notice the physically isolated 5V power supply for the displays and CPU.

A small S/PDIF board sits atop the analogue output stage - a fully balanced system. This is where you'll see the AKM AK4396 multi-bit delta-sigma DAC (it's actually a dinky little chip for all the hoopla) and a gaggle of NE5534 op-amps.  The board seems well laid out and organized.

This is where the "magic" happens. The CPU and new TransNav tactile knob are located up front along with the dual fluorescent displays. Check the orange tape - no vibrations allowed… The TransNav is the first of its kind that I have ever experienced. It is an electronically-controlled knob that can give tactile response to scolling through lists and also stop when the top or bottom of a list is reached. It also supports a pushbutton functionality to allow you to drill down further into menus. The bottom line is that you should run out to a dealer just to experience this thing - it's truly amazing and I hope it's not patented by Logitech so that we see it showing up on more products across the industry.

Here you can see the 802.11 b/g mini-PCI card with dual Wi-Fi antenna connections. Partially hidden are the dual 3.2VA NUVOTEM toroidal transformers (yes those are actually mini toroidals) in 9V and 18V configurations. These are used to step the voltage down to the appropriate level for the power supply.