Enjoy the Music: Second Review of Modified SB3
Another great review of the SB3, this time comparing the stock version to the Bolder mods. The best part of this article is the explanation and measurements of the stock power supply and the upgraded Bolder power supply, and why power supplies make an impact on sound.
posted by Dave Green at 10:23 PM
8 Comments:
Thanks for taking the time to blog this. Damn interesting and a great primer.
Your long account of creating a computer-based music system has stimulated my thinking. For those outside the geek/tweak mode, is it worth considering more commercial packaged versions that bundle some of this technology? How about mating the Olive Symphony or Musica with the wireless (moded?)Slim Squeezebox. The Olive provides in one box wireless router, CD player/ripper, hard drive, file control, line level input (for, e.g., phono preamp) and other functions. Its also cheap at ~$1000. The forthcoming Opus from Olive has audiophile aspirations, but costs three times as much. Its most touted virtues, in the form of superior DAC, is wasted if that is done downstream in the Squeezebox, for example.
Bottomline question: Is the Olive a OK way to buy reasonable functionality and convenience. It obviously gives up a lot in the way of potential upgrades and flexible response to changes of technology, but at the price can be considered a disposable transitional device. And who knows, Olive may even provide some way to keep things modular and current through upgrades, add-ons and firmware revisions.
I thought about the benefits of the Olive. Ultimately, a person who chooses the Olive gives up flexibility and sound quality for a single box solution.
Using the Olive merely as a music server defeats the point. There are cheaper solutions that are sonically better and offer more flexibiliy. Take storage space for example: you are limited with an Olive, but not with a Mac Mini.
I hope the SB3 kicks a bit of audiophile butt and forces the big guys to rethink music servers.
The Bolder Cable Company offers a number of modifications to the Squeezebox Duet and a very nice upgraded power supply that makes the stock PSU look like a toy. Along with a stock SB Duet Bolder sent me for comparison I received a unit with both the digital and analog modifications and the upgrded linear power supply. Customers can chose either one of the options or they can just get it all done by going with the Duet Full Mod. The Full Mod includes the following overhaul.
Current satisfied Duet owners will likely increase their satisfaction of the unit through a Bolder Cable modifcation. If you're not a big Squeezebox fan the modification certainly is not going to make you love the product or do wonders for your system. The stock Duet is a convient niche product with decent mid-fi sound. The Bolder Cable modifications take that sound up a notch or two by squeezing every ounce of performance possible from the device. Simply put, if you like the Duet now you'll like it even more with the Bolder mods. Infact the Duet with Bolder Cable Company modifications may rival the more expensive Logitech Transporter.
For a few years now, we've all been complaining about MP3's and digital compression schemes in general. I've had a nice hand in bashing them myself. I can't resist a good poke at lossy codecs. For the past couple of years I've been listening to streaming audio on my computers at home and at work.
Having finally been convinced by the Attunes SB+ that PC-based audio can actually sound very good, I purchased a Slim Devices SB3, modified the digital output section and have been happily using it with an external DAC for some time.
The Squeezebox got me interested in using a computer as a source, so for that I'm grateful. The sound is very good for what it costs. However, I have a large number of various artist box sets that simply made the database impossible to use.
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