If I understand the original post correctly, Firedog intends to use a separate DAC to do the actual analog to digital conversion. In this architecture, the Slim player will pass the digital bit stream to the DAC which will jitter buffer it, retime it, and do the actual digital to analog conversion. In this architecture, Slimserver will transcode the material to lossless and the Slim player will recover the bitstream and transmit it to the DAC.
Assuming you start with a lossless source (FLAC, Apple Lossless, or a disc), the transformation from bitstream to analog signal in the final DAC will have a large effect. If I were using this architecture, understanding the role of the Slim player, I would use a Squeezebox for this application. Since you would not be using the Squeezebox or Transporter audio outputs, both players should sound identical in Firedog's proposed architecture. Both have optical digital outputs which would probably be the way to go. FLAC and Apple Lossless have been validated, so starting with FLAC, Apple Lossless, or WAV material, the Slim player will deliver the original bits to the DAC. You should hear sound very similar (identical) to what you hear playing the original lossless digital recording in this system. Do beware of placebo effect when making evaluations. If you do careful double blind testing, you should not be able to tell which source (CD transport or Squeezebox) is in use. Audio reviewers (hard disks sound better than CD's) fall for placebo effect every time. In summary, start with a Squeezebox and trade up to Transporter if you plan to use its audio outputs. Both are damned good. You can always use the Squeezebox in a second system or with a Tivoli table radio. -- dlhamby ------------------------------------------------------------------------ dlhamby's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12801 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=41160 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
