silverarrows;304424 Wrote: > Hi, > > I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out what the weak spot is in my > system. Right now I'm ripping my CDs in FLAC through EAC. I'm using > CDex to rip the CDs into MP3s at 320 as well. From what I hear, I > can't honestly find the difference between the two even though FLAC is > supposed to be significantly better. > > Secondly, my Squeezebox 3 is hooked via coax to a Micromega DAC 1. > Sound of the FLAC rips are pretty good but not nearly as good as my > Micromega Drive 1 through the same DAC. The CD transport is connected > through AES/EBU using a Nordost cable. The SB3 is using a relatively > cheap Monster cable from the SB3 although I'm not sure if that would > make such a big difference. In looking at audio equipment there are > tons of choices, not just for quality but for the type of sound. Is it > possible that while the ripped CDs could technically be better, it just > can't capture the "character" of the CD transport/DAC combo?
My best "HiFi" friend is into analog big time. Always has been and used to make statements like, "I will never own a CD Player." Almost true to his word, 10 years after everybody he has ever known owned a CDP, he bought a very nice Transport and Levinson DAC. Then the iPod started getting popular to which he would never own an MP3 or network media player. He still was playing LPs, but mainly CDs. Well he listened to my Transporter and said he would stick with LPs and CDs. So months later I invited him over to hear my Ayre Mono Blocks when I replace my Quick Silver V4s telling him I also had some new SACDs I thought he might like to hear. I put the SACD in and we sat down to listen. I put another disk in and he was pleased with the Ayre Amps. I told him I had another SACD to listen to so he said let's hear it. Toward the end, I asked what he thought. It all sounded great was his reply. That is when I told him he had been listening to ripped CDs on the Transporter and that I was just going through the motions of putting disks in the player, "He said no way, he would have noticed the difference". I then played his favorite CD he uses to test audio gear with from FLAC on the TP. He was dumbfounded. I challenged him to buy a TP for 30 days and listen only to it. Well he still has it and sold his CD transport on Audiogon. The Levinson is in the den now with an off of EBAY SB3. I think we fool ourselves into what sounds correct when our eyes see what the source is and we are comfortable with that source and the tone/sound of that source. He still spins LPs, but all of his CDs are ripped to FLAC and put away! In the end, sound is being reproduced from a recording of some type which then interacts with the available electronic equipment before being heard again as a source at the speakers. I think we all like a certain kind of electronics that has the type of sound we like. Is the digital information the CDT is feeding the DAC the same as the information the SB3 is feeding the DAC. Personally, I believe it is. All other equipment in the path being the same, the only real difference is the "electronic signature" that the CDT and SB3 leave on the music. With the source being in digital form, I think anybody would be hard pressed to define an absolute difference as if anything it comes down to shades, not colors. There are big differences once you "live" with equipment versus trying to A/B a lived with one with a new one. -- iPhone iPhone Last.FM http://www.lastfm.com/user/mePhone Media Room: Transporter, VTL TL-6.5 Signature Pre-Amp, Ayre MX-R Mono Blocks, Vandersteen Quatro, VeraStarr 6.4SE 6-channel Amp, VCC-5 Reference Center, four VSM-1 Signatures, Runco RS 900 CineWide AutoScope 2.35:1 Living Room: Duet, ADCOM GTP-870HD, Cinepro 3K6SE III Gold, Vandersteen Model 3A Signature, Two 2Wq subs, VCC-2, Two VSM-1 Bedroom: SB3, NAD C370, Thiel 2.3 Home Office: SB3, Parasound Vamp v.3, VSM-1 Sigs ------------------------------------------------------------------------ iPhone's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13622 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=47988 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
