[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Anyone using a Shigaraki or Progession DAC?
Hi, I use a non-oversampling DAC with my SB1 and love it. The DAC produces a very natural sound, not a million miles away from my vinyl setup, without the artifice of something like the little Musical Fatality DAC. Regards, Stuart. -- Stuart Mason ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
RE: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: FLAC vs. VBR MP3: should I hear adifference?
-Very- few people can tell the difference between a properly encoded Mp3 and a FLAC. You'll need a golden system AND golden ears. I have to disagree. Being in my mid-forties, I certainly don't have golden ears (if I ever did) and my system is reasonable but by no means high end. I can tell the difference and I'm sure most folks with normal hearing could. Spotting the signature artefacts of compression is I suppose, a wee bit like looking at those 'magic eye' pictures or spotting the ad-break warning marker on the corner of the TV screen. Most folk don't see them, but once spotted you can't easily fail to notice them. Agreed. Also like spotting JPEG and MPEG artefacts in pictures and videos. I know plenty of people that just don't see them until they are pointed out. ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
RE: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: FLAC vs. VBR MP3: should Ihearadifference?
Good analogy but needs some qualification. A DVD is more like a 96kbps mp3. A D-Theater tape is more like a 320kbps mp3. With D-Theater it is *very* much more difficult to spot the MPEG errors due to its much higher bandwidth. You need much better equipment and knowledgable eyes to see the problems. Mark Again I think this is very subjective. For me it is more like: DVB-T = 96kbps DVD = 128kbps High Bitrate MPEG-4 or H.264 = Almost as good as I can tell :) But then that's just me... ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: optimal sound level squeezebox2?
Sorry if my post was unclear. 100% (aka 40 on the player display, 11 on the web interface) is still -0dB. The older volume mapping was neither linear nor logarithmic, rather it was the best mapping we could do with only 8 bits of resolution and still have audible differences at every step from 0 to 40 on the display. So, the steps at very low levels were audibly large and at high levels where audibly small. What we changed was that we added higher resolution volume control (fixed point 16.16 multiplier). We did not change the 24 bit output resolution. With the new higher resolution control, we're able to make the volume control logarithmic where 1% steps down are -0.5dB. This means that there's a difference between the old mapping and new one and it's generally at a lower volume than before. Sean also recently added a preamp output level setting which sets the maximum analog output level, so when we're at 100% the voltage level can be adjusted lower in the case that your analog input to your amplifier/preamp needs a lower maximum value. That setting is also in dB. On Oct 1, 2005, at 1:46 AM, seanadams wrote: I'll double check this - I think this is just a misunderstanding of that post. if 100% volume is not -0d then it's broken, but I don't think that's the case. -- seanadams ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Looking for advice on sound quality
Honestly, how much can you really dress that up? Well, the 16bit part is the only real limiting factor (unless you are a bat ;) ) and since surprisingly few systems actually to manage the full 16 bits in actual reality, you may be surprised! Andy. -- Andrew L. Weekes ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Amp? solution for my squeezebox2
x94blair3 Wrote: Anyone use the same electronics and bundle it in a $100-200 range? If not, perhaps that pre-modded option is worth considering. That's what Vinnie does, here: http://www.redwineaudio.com/ -- Yannzola ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Amp? solution for my squeezebox2
On Fri, 2005-09-30 at 11:00 -0700, x94blair3 wrote: Thanks for the links. I can't imagine modding one of these myself, but then again I can't imagine paying $265 for what was once a $30 piece of electronics. Not that it wouldn't be better, it obviously would. Hey, this is an audiophiles list. Most audiophiles love spending insane amounts of money to get tiny improvements. I've seen the T-AMP selling for $19,99. For that price, you can just buy it and see if you like it. But no one can expect audiophile quality for twenty bucks. Its not clear to me why you'd want an amp and speaker setup. Why not get some good powered speakers? Your local Guitar Center will have at least a half dozen you can compare. I think the Mackie 824 monitors sound very good. They are designed for studios, and so are not very beautiful to look at, but they sound good. Not at all warm, so it depends on what you want. -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] What should I fix?
Hi all - I've been looking to improve the sound on my SB2 system a bit, so I'm trying to figure out what I should do to get the best bang for the buck. My current setup is: - SB2 wired - Grado SR80s on SB2 headphone output The obvious thing is to get a proper headphone amp; from what I've seen on Headwize, the Apheared 47 design is ideal for Grados (it's a bit higher-end than the standard CMOY, but nothing too fancy). But here on the SB2 list, the most popular upgrade seems to be an improved power supply. Would a simple AC wall-wart - rectifier - 7805 - bunch-o'-caps be a worthwhile improvement over the stock supply? Or should I focus on the amplifier first? Are my Grados even good enough to not be the weakest link themselves? Any suggestions appreciated :) - Jacob ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] What should I fix?
On Sat, 2005-10-01 at 21:44 -0400, Jacob Potter wrote: The obvious thing is to get a proper headphone amp; from what I've seen on Headwize, the Apheared 47 design is ideal for Grados (it's a bit higher-end than the standard CMOY, but nothing too fancy). But here on the SB2 list, the most popular upgrade seems to be an improved power supply. I would recommend you be careful making judgements based on how popular mods are. First, upgrading the power supply is easy and fairly cheap, so even if it doesn't do much for most listeners. Second, I think most of the folks on this list have mid-level or higher speakers, so they are not likely to think of headphone amps. I know I haven't used headphones for serious listening in at least thirty years. Would a simple AC wall-wart - rectifier - 7805 - bunch-o'-caps be a worthwhile improvement over the stock supply? I am not a circuit designer, but I have a hard time imagining that this would do anything good. The best you can say is that it would be cheap. The reason everything uses cheap switching power supplies is that they deliver a lot of bang for the buck. By setting the switching circuit frequency over 20kHz, you don't have to worry about noise in the circuit, your approach is sure to have some 60hz noise flowing thru. Clearly you could use lots-o-bunches-o caps but that is not elegant and stops improving pretty quickly. Why not just stick a bunch-o-caps on the current power supply? I think that if I was living on headphones only, I'd look for some electrostatic headphones first, and then look for a really good tube headphone amp. But what you really need are some Quads :-) -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
