[lmmo]

Just received the Sennheiser HD650 headphones for Christmas and order a Russ Andrews HP-1 amp (modified Stello HP100). Now I'm thinking about the best away to source those pieces of niece equipment.

I find that using mp3 or flac files is much more confortable than using CDs so I'll my iPod or something similiar. Is the SqueezeBox (I was thinking about the Duet) makes a good source?

Thanks!

 

[WilCox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmmo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just received the Sennheiser HD650 headphones for Christmas and order a Russ Andrews HP-1 amp (modified Stello HP100). Now I'm thinking about the best away to source those pieces of niece equipment. I find that using mp3 or flac files is much more confortable than using CDs so I'll my iPod or something similiar. Is the SqueezeBox (I was thinking about the Duet) makes a good source? Thanks!

The SqueezeBox (or Duet or Transporter) makes an excellent source! I now have 5 SqueezeBoxes and seldom use my CD players any more. I can access our complete music library thoughout our home with ease.

Note the DAC within the SqueezeBox is pretty good, but it has a digital out which allows you to upgrade if need be.

Also, you will probably want to stick with lossless compression schemes to maintain CD quality.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[breakfastchef]

I completely agree with everything WilCox said in his post above. I love my Squeezebox. The internal DAC is very good, but the cound can definitely be improved with an external DAC when you are ready to make that move.

 

[jsaliga]

Here's a thread where I discuss my Squeezebox Duet in case you're interested:

Very Impressed with My New Squeezebox Duet - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

I have since added a KECES DA-131.1 DAC and I am very pleased with this setup. I have about 1,500 CDs ripped to a 1TB hard disk and I also subscribe to Rhapsody.

--Jerome

 

[Stevtt]

I agree. I really enjoy my duet. Haven't had any problems with it.

 

[MoodySteve]

Just got my Squeezebox working today and I'm happy with the sound quality.

I wish I didn't have to use a new player software, but surprisingly nobody's written a foobar2000 plugin that outputs to the Squeezebox.

And digital outs are always a good thing.

 

[Carmantom]

I really enjoy my Squeezbox Duet. It is a very nice music server. It runs my entire flac library. The dac is ok, but the SQ is improved greatly with external Dac. When I was using mine, I was using a Lavry Dac. It was quite a nice combo with Senn 600s.

As always I keep selling to try new audio adventures. Still have the Duet and serve music to the native dac.

 

[JohnnyLightOn]

I have a Squeezebox 3 with an upgraded linear power supply but that is otherwise stock. I can tell you that there's no way I can listen to the analog outputs of this SB3 with my Denon D5000 headphones through a Musical Fidelity X-Can V8 amp. The SB3 sounds decent through my relatively revealing speaker system, but with the D5000s it has unbearable harshness in the highs. Note that my D5000s had 40 hours on them at the time of this listening. The X-Can V8 and D5000 combo sounds great with FLAC files from my Sansa Fuze portable player, so I know it's not the amp-cans match that's the problem.

On my speaker system I still choose to use an external DAC, because, as others have mentioned, it can greatly improve the sound.

 

[BigTony]

The SB3 is an excellent piece of kit, makes living with a large CD library fun! And with the digital output, your free to feed yout upgrade side with DACs!
I'm 6 days with my new audio-gd DAC-3SE and each CD is an adventure in sound.
BTW if you use windows, get the Moose software, much better (faster) than the SlimCenter software, and a great cover view option.

 

[Jerrycan]

I agree with Wicox, it makes an excellent source. I'm building a new powersupply right now, to replace the small stock psu. I think the Squeezebox deserves a better one.

 

[lmmo]

my wallet cries...

 

[crimsonVoid]

Some of my friends reported that the squeezebox deserves a better power supply. Never heard it by my own ears though.

Another happy owner here!

 

[kaushama]

I use it with my Stello DA100. And it is very good!

 

[Wotan1]

I'm a happy owner of SB classic. Supposedly it has a better internal DAC compared to the Duet. I use it with the Opus 21 CD player DAC. It has a Last FM plug-in and it's amazing how 128 kbs sound sounds. Recommended!!

 

[jefemeister]

squeezebox has changed my life. It makes access to my entire library so effortless that I can't even be bothered to dig out a CD anymore. Plus internet radio, pandora, etc... it's awesome. In fact, it is the device that allowed me to stop stressing out about audio and to just enjoy it. That said, it can also obviously be done on an audiophile level if you still have the bug.

Concerning the SB specifically, and I'm still back on SB2 so my advice might be outdated, it might make more sense to go with a solution which supports video. All media is moving to the Internet. Death to discs!