[Super-Gonzo]

With the recent building of a PPA, my desk is really more of a soldering station at this point

 

[faustus]

Quote:

Originally posted by Super-Gonzo I found an interesting white paper from an EE's website. They cover his thoughts on optical vs. coax digital connections... Perhaps all the $$$ hi-fi companies are trying to convince us of the reverse because there is no money in an optical solution...

Nice article. You mean the cable companies would try to feed us an inferior solution under the guise of higher quality just so they can continue to make 10,000% profit margins? Inconceivable! Of course, they'd still have the analog cable market, which should be enough to keep them fat and happy...

 

[Wodgy]

When I bought a DAC evaluation board from Analog Devices, they supplied measurements of the board with fairly sophisticated and properly calibrated equipment, for both optical and coax connections. The optical connection's measurements were in general slightly better (though we're talking extremely small differences -- like -112dB THD for optical versus -110dB coax).

 

[Music Fanatic]

I have (and use) an Audiotron, a Slimp3, and a Squeezebox.

The Squeezebox will do everything a Roku will do, except the software is actually supported by Slim Devices.

Three new Audiotron unit (tentatively called the Mediatron line) is expected very soon.

 

[Cacophony]

Caveat: I haven't tried a lot of high-end transports. The last transport in my system was my old Sony D555 (yes, I bought it new back in the day).

I do have a pretty nice DAC: the Musical Fidelity A324.

Got the squeezebox yesterday, finally got it to work with FLAC today (not a pleasant experience, please be aware that for all the hype we're on the bleeding edge here). Tonight I discovered what people had been talking about when they say "soundstage" and "imaging". Even though the A324 is supposed to have pretty impressive anti-jitter circutry, reclock the signal, yada, yada, the difference is astonishing.

The convenience factor alone -- on my bed, using my web browser to play the best sounding digitial I've heard -- from a computer several rooms away over the wireless network -- and having access to what will soon be the entirety of my collection -- no swapping discs.

Well, these are first impressions, I should have the chance to A/B with a midrange conventional redbook transport sometime soon -- but I would strongly recommend experimenting with one of these if you're of the computer persuasion.

BTW, I'm using FLAC over my 802.11b network with no buffer-low issues at all. It's definitely not compressing to MP3, I've A/B'd that way and the FLACs are the real deal.


The system:

Old P3-500 fileserver w/300GB total disk
Netgear 802.11g wireless router

SlimDevices Squeezebox
--(cheapo monster cable optical cable)
Musical Fidelity A324 DAC
--(signalcable ICs with eichmann plugs)
NORH SE18 Integrated amp, stock EH tubes
--(signalcable shotgun bi-wire cables)
--(signalcable power cord)
Soliloquy 5.3s

PS Audio P300 w/MWII set on "Tube"



I'll try and update with more thoughts if I can get my hands on a different transport. My 2centimos on the looks discussion: I like the squeezebox fine, it has a rubbery black finish to it that's nice to the touch, and the green flourescent display is VERY clear and visible from accross the room. It looks great.

-Cac

 

[Super-Gonzo]

Cool! I'm itching to get this setup going. I pre-ordered the smaller roku labs soundbridge, good price, but the wait is killing me.

I'm slowly ripping all my discs to flac, but its taking awhile. At 5-6 discs a night, it will take at least a couple months to finish (and my collection is rather small compared to some on this forum!)

 

[Edwood]

Check this badboy out:

http://www.hushtechnologies.com/

Pretty sweet, they make a wireless PDA controlled system.

-Ed

 

[Super-Gonzo]

VERY pretty. (costly as well, @ 1750 euros) Perhaps a good solution for people who haven't already invested in a good deal of hard drives and server equipment.

I've been considering picking up a cheap wifi pda, (maybe the dell x3) to control my setup once I've got it working. The slimserver software is open source, it shouldn't be too hard to write a pda application to talk to it over wi-fi, or maybe build a web interface more compatible w/ smaller screen browsing. Heck, there's probably someone who's already done that very thing.

 

[Cacophony]

1750 euros is the price without the handheld, or wireless router? That's like US$2200, right?

You could have:

$ 300 squeezebox/roku
$ 300 used P3 PC
$ 200 big HD (at least 160GB)
$1300 new laptop w/wireless
$ 100 wireless router

plus you'd, you know, have a wireless laptop

It really doesn't take much of a machine to manage as a music server. My ancient P3-500 does just fine, and I paid 200 bucks for it.

 

[Music Fanatic]

Quote:

Originally posted by Cacophony I do have a pretty nice DAC: the Musical Fidelity A324. Got the squeezebox yesterday, finally got it to work with FLAC today (not a pleasant experience, please be aware that for all the hype we're on the bleeding edge here). Tonight I discovered what people had been talking about when they say "soundstage" and "imaging". Even though the A324 is supposed to have pretty impressive anti-jitter circutry, reclock the signal, yada, yada, the difference is astonishing.

So are you running the Squeezebox through the DAC or are you using the built-in DAC in the Squeezebox?

 

[Cacophony]

I'm currently running the squeezebox through the DAC via the squeezebox's optical out. The improvement that I'm describing is over my prior transport, which was also connected to the DAC via optical. There's a coax out on the squeezebox that I'll experiment with soon as well.


I'll also try comparing the internal DAC with the A324, but I've found in the past that the A324 has slightly higher output gain that makes such direct comparisons difficult to make.


Quote:

Originally posted by Music Fanatic So are you running the Squeezebox through the DAC or are you using the built-in DAC in the Squeezebox?

 

[Music Fanatic]

Quote:

Originally posted by Cacophony I'm currently running the squeezebox through the DAC via the squeezebox's optical out. The improvement that I'm describing is over my prior transport, which was also connected to the DAC via optical. There's a coax out on the squeezebox that I'll experiment with soon as well. I'll also try comparing the internal DAC with the A324, but I've found in the past that the A324 has slightly higher output gain that makes such direct comparisons difficult to make.

That's great. May I ask, what was your former transport? I think the Squeezebox has fine components inside, but I'm impressed to hear that you noticed such a large difference.

 

[Cacophony]

Former transport was a Sony D-555 PCDP, which is highly regarded as a portable, but pretty old and probably not up to contemporary transport standards. My system is definitely a work in progress...I decided early that I'd focus on the DAC and let the transport slide. I was very happy with this combo before finding the squeezebox, I felt it bested other systems I had heard with Jolida and Music Hall transports + ART D/IO modded dacs, belcanto dac1s.

This had lead me to a "transport doesn't much matter if you have a good DAC" philosophy. I still feel this way, with the caveat that I think a digital buffer on a squeezebox type device from EAC ripped FLAC source sounds better than mechanical transports. But I've got a lot of tests to go!

It should be noted that a D-555 is pretty much the same price as a squeezebox these days...all these folks spending $200+ on vintage D-25s and such. Madness.


Quote:

Originally posted by Music Fanatic That's great. May I ask, what was your former transport? I think the Squeezebox has fine components inside, but I'm impressed to hear that you noticed such a large difference.

 

[Super-Gonzo]

I've pre-ordered a RokuLabs SoundBridge M1000, (the smaller model.) It should be here by the end of the month. Are there enough interested head-fier's out there to justify a review of the unit once it gets here?

 

[iamdone]

Quote:

Originally posted by Super-Gonzo I've pre-ordered a RokuLabs SoundBridge M1000, (the smaller model.) It should be here by the end of the month. Are there enough interested head-fier's out there to justify a review of the unit once it gets here?

I am getting the smaller one too and would like see other users opinions.

I am going to use it with a wirless network and WAV files using iTunes as the database it will pull from. I will then hook it up to my PPA amp and hd650/zu headphones. The specs looked good enough that I don't think I need a separate DAC. If I get the urge to upgrade, I'll probably get a Benchmark DAC1.

I am currently in the process of upgrading my Headsave PPA by putting a Larocca Audio Discrete Buffer in and upgrading my Elpac wall wart with a STEPS Power Supply from http://audio.campcreations.com/index...rl=psSTEPS.htm