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How would you improve the sound of Squeezebox?

I just set up a NAS music server with Squeezebox Duet. The convenience of accessing all my music collection is really a great thing. Now the question is, how would you improve the sound of the Squeezebox digital output? I heard people say that SB's outputs digital signals with much jitter, so what DAC's(~$1000) would you use to reduce the jitter? i.e. what DAC's has the better ability to handle jitter? Any other ways that you can improve the SB's SQ?
amaggie05
cruz123
586 posts
 
The Pace-Car is certainly interesting, but seems like it could be overkill given the price point. You may want to try a Monarchy DIP 48/96 upsampler as a lower cost alternative. See http://www.monarchyaudio.com/. Your post reminded me that I have one of these in storage. I'll pull it out and see if I can notice any improvement.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Amaggie05 wrote:
"How about Bolder Cable's Digital Mod + E.A. Pace-Car?"

Modding the SB3 would be a waste of good money if it's feeding a Pace-Car. The jitter coming into the Pace-Car is not really important. The clock is replaced with a local free-running clock inside the Pace-Car. If the Pace-Car is fed with SB3, Apple TV, AirPort Express or Sonos, they all sound identical, modded or unmodded.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
cerrot's avatar
cerrot
1,700 posts
 
I have a Monarchy upsampler on my PC Rig (going into a Musical Fidelity XDAC V3 (w/XPSU V3 power supply); I tried the Monarchy on the Squeezebox and no improvement-infact, I think it narrowed my soundstage just a tad but could be just perception (add a cable, etc). SB goes into a benchmark DAC1 and I have read that the Benchmark's technology omits need of an upsampler. I should go back and try it with a better digital cable, power cord but I'm maxed out of cables right now (I used a signal power cable and a monster 75ohm digital cable).
amaggie05 OP
7 posts
 
Cerrot,

How does the SB sound with its digital output feeding into the benchmark? how does it compare with using the RCA outputs from its own DAC?
2chnlben
595 posts
 
I compared the Transporter with a stock PS Audio DL3 using stored files (PC) - the DL3 was run through the digital out on the Transporter. This was at the dealer on a system unfamiliar to me, but it was very clear that on every recording the DL3 outperformed the Transporter - the DL3 sounded more open and clearer throughout the frequency range. The Transporter retails for $2,000 the DL3 at $1,000. If you can wait, PS Audio is in the process of developing a new “Ultra” DAC, which will be considerably more expensive (probably due this fall). Personally, I chose not to wait, so I’m buying a Cullen-modded DL3.
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