[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: A photo of your Squeezebox setup (please)
A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and see the results, please visit http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=19817 Question: Should there be a new forum for photos? - yes - no - maybe Here is my transportable around the house setup. A modded battery powered RedWineAudio SB2 feeding a RaySamuelsAudio XP7 amplifier to AudioTechnica W1000 headphones. Music nirvana in every room of the house! (exterior of the rack still need a finishing layer!) +---+ |Filename: Squeezebox-Headphone-system2.jpg | |Download: http://forums.slimdevices.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1649| +---+ -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=19817 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: To DAC or not to DAC
bitmonkey, I was in the same "exact" (well almost) same boat as you 2 months ago. I had the Arcam CD23T which is almost the same as your CD23 and I wanted to get a Squeezebox but I was not willing to compromise sound quality at all. So I read stuff on multiple forums, people were all telling me no problem the SB will beat your CD23T hands down, no jitter, bit perfect and so on... Well I decided to jump in and got myself a modded RedWineAudio SB2. The SB2 is supposed to be a tiny bit better then SB3 for modding. I went with RWA because I liked the fact that it was battery powered so no more expensive power cable and power conditionning. There are a few who say the Bolder mods are a bit better then the RWA but that is once you add all sorts of features like again power cable, silver bybee and so on. Since I was not convinced at all a SB internal DAC could beat the famous RingDAC we have in our Arcam CDP, I also decided to buy an external DAC at the same time. After several weeks of a/b testing with various configurations of interconnect and digital cables, I sold my CDP. However, its not with the moded SB internal DAC that I was able beats my CDP, it's with the moded SB digital out feeding my external DAC with a good digital cable. So I can't talk about the Bolder mods, but if I was you, I would probably spend just on the digital mod and get the best DAC you can afford that meets your taste. Hope this helps a bit, don't hesitate if you have specific questions on my setup. -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=26548 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: redwine audio mods
I love mine but it is a RWA SB2 not SB3. I was tempted by the Bolder mod as well as the RedWine but bottom line from all the comments I've read there is not much difference between the two in terms of sound quality. However, RWA has one thing that was really big for me, it is battery powered. So this means I can carry it around the house as a headphone sound system. Also, it means I don't have to worry about expensive power cable or power filtering to make sure I get the best sound. You can see my little setup in the thread below. If you have questions don't hesitate, as you can see I'm a satisfied customer! http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=30221.0 -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=26337 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Transporter from a marketing perspective
You might under estimate the power of sound quality to ones ears! Look at how many have paid 2-3 times the original price of the SB2 or SB3 to have it modded by RedWineAudio or Bolder Cables in order to improve sound quality. The Transporter will probably provide even better sound quality then those modded SB2-3 so many will want to sell theirs and get the new and improved Transporter. There is definitely a market for high end quality sounding equipment. It may not generate as much volume but there sure is a market in my opinion. -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=25819 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: I need a DAC !
I have a Arcam FMJ-CD23T and I have always loved the sound of Arcam (I also have a Arcam amp and cinema processor). In case you don't know the CD23T, it was sold upwards of $2000 a few years ago and it has the famous DCS RingDAC inside. A few months ago I bought a MHDT Paradisea DAC. Those are made by a guy in Asia on his spare time and he sells them on ebay. A recent magazine review made me discover this little DAC: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0406/mhdt_laboratory_dac.htm I also bought a modded RedWineAudio SqueezeBox2. I've never heard the stock SB. Well the combination of the RWA SB2 feeding digital into my Paradisea DAC is for sure very nice. The sound signature is a bit different from my Arcam but not much. On some albums I still prefer my CDP by a tiny margin but on many I can't really say which one I prefer while on some I find the SB2/Paradisea combo nicer. Hope this helps. -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=25690 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: An audiophile forum without an Audiophile SB!!! Let's define our needs!
opaqueice Wrote: > Yeah, I agree. If I were SD, at this point I would concentrate on > software, interface and advertising rather than hardware. The hardware > is already good enough to get positive reviews from hard-core > audiophiles - so it's more than good enough for most people. On the > other hand the SS interface is pretty clunky, and set-up etc. are not > very streamlined. If they want to turn this into a mainstream consumer > product, that's what they need to improve. Hum, I don't agree either! haha On the contrary, SlimDevices currently has only one version of it's hardware platform. They already have two modding companies that I know of (BolderCables and RedWineAudio) making money by taking that hardware platform to another level and there are certainly plenty of buyers of the SB that would have paid more for a audiophile version but do not send the one they bought to the modders for various reasons. So, in my opinion, there is a market and in my opinion, it would not cost much for SlimDevices to offer an audiophile version and they could increase their profit margin significantly on that version versus the regural version. Hey, I might be wrong! -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=24732 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: An audiophile forum without an Audiophile SB!!! Let's define our needs!
By the way, I'm not trying to reach an agreement on what "we" want for a audiophile SB. I'm just trying to generate a number of ideas that SlimDevices management can use to better "position" a potential future product. Also trying to show SlimDevices that there is an interest for a "high end" Squeezebox! Anyway, sorry that it has been covered before but I guess the more we talk about it the more SlimDevices is going to realize there is a potential... Thanks for contributing. -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=24732 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] An audiophile forum without an Audiophile SB!!! Let's define our needs!
Hey, an audiophile Squeezebox forum without and audiophile version of the SB, what's this! Let's tell SlimDevices what we would like and how much we'd be willing to pay for it. I would be willing to pay $100 to $200 more then the current price for an audiophile version of the SB if the digital path would be improved as much as this money allows. The analog section could stay the same since as a "would be audiophile", I would connect the SB to an external DAC. Also the headphone out could be eliminated since an audiophile will have his own headphone amp anyway. So what are your wishes and how much are you willing to spend on it. Hopefully this thread will encourage SlimDevices management to consider making a audiophile version of the SB... -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=24732 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Nice review of the SB3 in UHF magazine
krzys Wrote: > In short (my English is average). They say what we already know: from > audiophile point of view, the SB is on par to the mid and upper mid > class players (let say up to 2k$ ) but not as good as the best ones > (what else can they say?). > They give some credit for the audiophile in and outs, the sound, the > internal Dac and rave about the user friendliness of the SB. > Read their conclusions on page 48. > chris Yes, your summary is about what I concluded also. It's too bad Slim doesn't make a "high end" SB for a hundred or two more, let's say upgrading everything in the digital path of the SB to top parts or even a fully digital SB with no analog so that the SB would become THE digital transport on the market, no CDP transport being able to best it. This way audiophile could still buy a high end $$$ CDP if they wanted but they would have also the option of buying a DAC they want and benefit from computer audio knowing their DAC is fed by the best digital transport there is on the marker, and all that at a very affordable price! haha I'm talking for myself now! -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=24416 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: SB3 + high end DAC versus high end CD Player?
I've been reading this thread with great interest because I don't own a SB yet but I'm very interested by it. Anyway, in my opinion, I think the most relevant piece of information here is what Philodox posted. He has a real life experience where his Eastsound CDP used as a transport into a DAC actually sounds better than his SB3 into the same DAC. Did he do a blind test, I don't know, but I guess we can trust that he did a "relatively objective" test since he owns both piece of equipment. To me, it would be really interesting if more people would post the real tests they did to verify is the SB3 digital out produces or not equal, higher or lower sound quality then high end CDP used as transports. The original poster was asking about a SB3 into a high end DAC versus a high end CDP, that would be not an objective test because the DAC in the CDP can be of lower or higher quality then the DAC used with the SB. However a high end CDP as transport into the same DAC used with the SB3 digital out produces a real "objective" test, like what Philodox did. Up to now, most of the "relatively objective" tests (magazine articles and forum threads) that I've read were pointing to the same conclusion as what Philodox said. Using a high end CDP as transport into a high end DAC and high end downstream system produces a "slightly" better sound quality then using the SB3 as transport. Is the SB3 an incredible bargain transport, sure. Is the SB3 an incredible high end transport, not quite it seems. -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=24670 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: SB mod on not mod, what to expect vs CD player?
Well I think I'm getting closer to the SB now. Thanks for your input guys. I just bought myself an external DAC (an MHDT Paradisea) and I've done some testing against my CPD (an Arcam CD23T). Using the Arcam as a full unit transport/DAC it is significantly better then using my Paradisea fed by an optical out of my Audigy soundcard. However, when I use the Arcam as transport, then the Paradisea DAC is different but as nice if not nicer then the Arcam's internal DAC. This demonstrate that using my portable PC with Audigy soundcard as a transport is no good against a reputable CDP transport. So I have to get a new transport that will be at least equivalent to my CDP and hopefully the SB3 will do the job! -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=23948 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: SB mod on not mod, what to expect vs CD player?
Phil Leigh Wrote: > On the contrary, I feel that the SB can exceed the capabilities of many > exalted CDP's - or at least their transports. There are numerous good > engineering reasons why this might theoretically be the case, but at > the end of the day your ears (brain) have to decide. > I know many will scoff at the SB beats Naim/dCS/Esoteric/(insert your > fave transport here) hypothesis, but I've owned and been lucky enough > to borrow many of the "top drawer" transports and I'm personally never > going back... > Well when I'm talking about comparing the SB to CDP it's not as a transport only. I mean more like a stock of fully analog modified SB versus a CDP (transport/DAC). Like you I'm quite convinced that the SB as a transport with or without mods is probably a great tool that can match a lot of CDP as "transport" only if you have an external DAC. It's when you use the SB as a whole that I'm not sure it can compete with good CDP. -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=23948 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] SB mod on not mod, what to expect vs CD player?
First off, I want to mention that I don't have a SB...yet! However, I've reading a lot about it, specially on audiocircle. Browsing quickly through the audiophiles section here, I'm a bit surprised to see that there doesn't seem to be a lot of you guys that had your SB modded by the likes of RedWineAudio, BolderCable or others (or I did not browse long enough!). A lot of you seem to upgrade the power supply but there seems to be plenty of stock units as well. I've also seen in the picture thread that many of you have good audio setup. So I'm wondering if some of you could share feedback on how you "use" your SB? If you already have a good CDP, did you think about having you SB professionnaly modified in order to get "possibly" get as good or better sound from the SB? Or you just don't believe the SB can achieve the sound quality of your CDP. Anyway, any comments on your experience with the SB sound quality will be appreciated. Thanks. -- Loftprojection Loftprojection's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5525 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=23948 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
