Logitech Sqeezebox Duet

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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited October 2009
    I had popping with a digtal coax cable, since then I've gone to optical and have no more issues.
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    edited October 2009
    SCompRacer wrote: »
    There is absolutely nothing lacking in Brock's and his brother Blakes PC based digital.

    Brock, think back to '08. I had a Bolder Statement SB3 that I inherited from Norm's estate. I swung it in before you and Doug left and played a few CD's ripped to FLAC on my 'putie. The Statement mod removed all the OEM analog stage, reduced the output to 1.1 v and IIRC reversed phase after an early firmware update. My speaker cables were already reversed from having a single ended pre so I was good to go.

    As good as the Statement mod was, it didn't best my current source. The Statement mod and available power supplies are very pricey, so an outboard DAC could be a better solution for some folks. Norm had a CI Audio power supply for the SB3.

    Thanks for the kind words Rich. I never had a multi thousand dollar transport so the SQb sounds great to me. I use an outboard dac and I stream wireless from a computer in another room. The only issue I have is the lag time to spin up the sleeping external HD on the server upon power on. I don;t have the SQb hard wired to a computer and I don;t use the internal dac in SQb.

    Like Rich said the Boulder mod is for the analog section and power supply. I have never heard a difference (playing FLAC) between the SQb hooked up to my external dac vs. a transport hooked up the my external dac.

    Personally, I think the internal dac leaves a lot to be desired and I'd only recommend the SQb for true hi-fi applications when used with and external dac.

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited October 2009
    I haven't done any critical listening, but comparing the actual disk vs. SB via optical input, the difference is minimal, if none at all in my Marantz SA-15S2.
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • reeltrouble1
    reeltrouble1 Posts: 9,312
    edited October 2009
    I have decided I am not doing this and that you are all a bunch of bitfull geeks.........brock we are taking a walk down to the river in SC.....Mike, I can only assume you are possesed and will send the local Padre to begin the exorcism, if you dont make it back to the living, I am taking your audio gear.

    RT1
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  • coolsax
    coolsax Posts: 1,824
    edited November 2009
    so now I'm looking at this and considering a squeezebox now. (wife will kill me)

    our only PC in the house is laptop that we use heavily for Internet and I use for gaming. even when i'm using the home theater room, so I'm thinking of getting a netbook that I will have hooked up to an external HDD that I already have and rerip all my CDs to FLAC.. that way I can still play my digital music over the system and use my laptop to game. I think this way as well if the wife is upstairs with me she can surf the net using or play poker on the netbook while I play games and we watch movies or football on the system. Then when I get our bedroom system set up, get another receiver for there and can listen all over the house from the tiny net book upstairs :) This would also endup cheaper i think in the long run than one of those Olive music servers..

    gotta love Wifi
    Main 2ch -
    BlueSound Node->Ethereal optical cable->Peachtree Audio Nova 150->GoldenEar Triton 2+
    TT - Pro-ject Classic SB with Sumiko Bluepoint.

    TV 3.1 system -
    Denon 3500 -> Dynaudio Excite 32/22
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  • halo
    halo Posts: 5,616
    edited November 2009
    SCompRacer wrote: »
    There is absolutely nothing lacking in Brock's and his brother Blakes PC based digital.

    Brock, think back to '08. I had a Bolder Statement SB3 that I inherited from Norm's estate. I swung it in before you and Doug left and played a few CD's ripped to FLAC on my 'putie. The Statement mod removed all the OEM analog stage, reduced the output to 1.1 v and IIRC reversed phase after an early firmware update. My speaker cables were already reversed from having a single ended pre so I was good to go.

    As good as the Statement mod was, it didn't best my current source. The Statement mod and available power supplies are very pricey, so an outboard DAC could be a better solution for some folks. Norm had a CI Audio power supply for the SB3.
    I was fortunate enough to be allowed the use of Norm's gear after unfortunate events forced the dis-assembly of my big rig which utilized a ModWright modded Sony 9100ES w/ Tube Rectified PS. I can say that the ModWright blew away the Bolder modded SB3 but that is what I heard. The convenience of the SB3 is off the charts. I am happy with it but there is definitely a difference.
    Audio: Polk S15 * Polk S35 * Polk S10 * SVS SB-1000 Pro
    HT: Samsung QN90B * Marantz NR1510 * Panasonic DMP-BDT220 * Roku Ultra LT * APC H10
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  • mmadden28
    mmadden28 Posts: 4,283
    edited November 2009
    mmadden28 wrote: »
    ...
    I think I actually have an issue with my Duet though, it seems to screech or something randomly, but only when playing FLAC--reg MP3s are fine. At first I thought that maybe the WiFi can't handle the throughput, so I changed it to hardwire Cat6--Nope still an issue. I'm still looking into the cause-I haven't exhausted all my troubleshooting options yet including a possible external DAC issue.
    ....


    Update: I fixed the streaming FLAC to the Squeezebox issue I was having. Turns out it was related to the Network card driver in my PC. I updated to the latest driver version and all my screeches, pops, and other such scary sounds have all gone away. FINALLY I can listen to my PC based music collection the way it SHOULD be.
    I've been on a rampage the past week + ripping all my CDs to FLAC, I think I'm up to 150+ CDs at this point. Again I can't believe how many CDs I actually have.


    By the way, PC based streaming won't completely replace the need for a CDP. You'll still need some kind of player for SACD since they can't be ripped to PC. Not sure about DVD-A since you can rip DVD - I haven't tried to stream any of that yet, although I would imagine I would need to first transcode it on the PC before sending it on - which may not work with the SB. Anyway, the only other way to get the HiRez music would be to download it from the source in HiRes (like HDTracks, etc).
    I'm ripping all my Hybrid SACDs (Redbook layer) anyway, but will throw the SACD in when I want to get the most out of the title I'm listening to.

    Oh and sorry, but I'm not ripping Fisher Price - Little People Songs for the Road into FLAC - MP3 will be just fine for them. ;)
    ____________________
    This post is a natural product. The slight variations in spelling and grammar enhance its individual character and beauty and in no way are to be considered flaws or defects.

    HT:Onkyo 805, Emotiva XPA-5, Mitsu 52" 1080p DLP / polkaudio RTi12, CSIa6, FXi3, uPro4K
    2-chnl : Pio DV-46AV (SACD), Dodd ELP, Emotiva XPA-1s, XPA-2, Odyssey Khartago, LSi9, SDA-SRS 2 :cool:, SB Duet, MSB & Monarchy DACs, Yamaha PX3 TT, SAE Tuner...
    Pool: Atrium 60's/45's
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  • LuSh
    LuSh Posts: 887
    edited November 2009
    I've done more research and now I've concluded that I will likely move to a Mac Mini and use an iTouch to control the entire server interface while ripping all music in WAV and using an outboard DAC (Benchmark or Museatex) via Toslink. I will post updates when I begin to piece together the server.
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited November 2009
    I'll likely be picking up the SQbTouch and stream on my wireless network to my Benchmark DAC/PRE. Started ripping my CD's this weekend to flac, using EAC. I got through the A's and B's, this evening the C's. It's a long, long process. I can't believe I had 46 CD's just in the A-B zone. FWIW, the Beatles remasters ripped just fine.

    My CD transport will remain until such a time that I'm confident the Squeezebox can do the job as well.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited November 2009
    It wont be long before high-end streaming devices will be as readily available as CDP's. This is the way technology is moving.

    Linn is already moving out on the trend: http://www.stereophile.com/news/linn_abandons_cd_players/
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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