As is echoed by people above, the SB3 and other Squeezeboxes are bit-perfect digital transports. They do have different amounts of jitter in the SPDIF output, but it's debatable if it's even audible with any DAC out there.
Basically most modern DACs are 'pretty damn good'. Good enough that they can be hard to pick out in a blind test. However they can be picked out because each one sounds different due to the type of DAC chip and related circuits. I like the proposed 2/3 speakers, 1/3 power amplifier budget. At worst you might want to do 1/2 on speakers, 1/2 on power amp. If you're looking for an amazing DAC, consider the Transporter, it's far more value for the money than the over-priced, IMO obsolete, CD player. -- SuperQ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SuperQ's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2139 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=69480 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
