Bringing my stereo into the 21st century

Mr_Sukebe

Mr_Sukebe

Mr_Sukebe

Man of Honour
Man of Honour
Joined
23 Dec 2002
Posts
10,424
Location
London
In the spirit of taking advantage of new technology, I've just ordered one of these:

SB2+A-small.jpg


In short, it's a re-boxed Squeezebox 3, with the internal analogue circuits removed, better digital clocks and an improved PSU in a seperate box.
As a unit, it will work in conjunction with a laptop/external hard drive, that will contain all of my CDs ripped using EAC (exact audio copy) in FLAC format. It can be used over RF, but I plan to connect it up using ethernet to prevent an RF dropouts.

As a unit, I know a chap who has one, and rates it as being at least as good as a mid-range Naim CD player. For myself, I'll be taking a digital output into my external DAC.
So in short, I'm hoping that it'll have similar sound quality to my existing CD transport, but with the functionality of being able to access every track I own on CD via a remote (talk about a lazy git).

If it doesn't work out, well the unit comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. On talking to the manufacturer, they claim to have never received a returned unit, so clearly they've very confident.

Will hopefully arrive mid-Feb. Can't wait.
 
Looks good, I have a Squeezebox V3. What components from the digital output have been improved? Do you have a SB V3 to compare it with?
 
It's called an SB+ and is produced by a group called @Tunes.
They're a small company specialising in mods, resulting in a 3 week lead time for build and delivery.

I haven't completed a comparison as that's far from easy to do. Having said that, I've read very strong recommendations about how much better it is than a standard SB3 from people who I think know what they're talking about.
 
I'm also a lazy git and would be quite interested in one of these. How much is it costing you? I've always liked the look of the squeezeboxes and have often thought about running one into a DAC. This uprated one really looks the business!
 
tom_nieto said:
I'm also a lazy git and would be quite interested in one of these. How much is it costing you? I've always liked the look of the squeezeboxes and have often thought about running one into a DAC. This uprated one really looks the business!
Click to expand...

A standard SB3 cost under £200. The SB+ comes in two versions. The digital only version is the one I've ordered (I have an external DAC and intend to use it), and costs £800. The full SB+ includes a high quality DAC and analogue output stage and costs £1000.
As already mentioned, I know a chap with one, who rates it as being easily able to compete with a mid range Naim CDP.
 
Ok let me ask some dumb question, if your using it with an existing external DAC, what does it do that a PC fed into the same DAC won't ?

If it's also only a Hard drive interface, Ie not using a SB DAC, why does it need an external (improved) power supply, to just move digital data from a drive down a SPDIF, where the external DAC will do all the work... re-clocking and analogue conversion etc......
Oh ...and yes it does look cool :)
 
Am I right in thinking this is an audio (and much more expensive) version of pixelmagic (which include 24-bit/192KHz audio DAC from Analog Devices Inc & low noise Op Amps from Burr-Brown® on the audio side)?
 
9designs2 said:
Ok let me ask some dumb question, if your using it with an existing external DAC, what does it do that a PC fed into the same DAC won't ?

If it's also only a Hard drive interface, Ie not using a SB DAC, why does it need an external (improved) power supply, to just move digital data from a drive down a SPDIF, where the external DAC will do all the work... re-clocking and analogue conversion etc......
Oh ...and yes it does look cool :)
Click to expand...

From a functionality point of view, allows the siting of a PC in a different room (good for noise purposes) and has a very easy user interface for browing.

As for the real justification for it over a digital output from a PC, or a normal SB, well apparently it sounds a lot better. Just as I don't truly understand why a clock mod to my CD transport made a difference, can't say I really understand why an improved power supply and clock will improve the digital output on the SB+.
Still, whilst I understand boolean logic, I don't really understand the low level workings of Windows vista, but I'll probably end up using that too at some point.
 
If you could give us a review when you get it that would be ace. This really does look the business. Combined with a good NAS it would provide an excellent audio setup.
 
i have the squeezebox v3 had it about a year now, amazing machine, only down side is I wish the screen had been longer. For my unit is placed quite a distance away from me and even the biggest SIZE is hard to read.

That new one looks nice, didnt know they were doing that one.

Have you seen there "transporter" looks nice but about £1300

Your SB+ is nice, but for that amount of money. You really going to nocice the difference ? I have my Squeezebox fed into a AV Amp via Optical cable then into 2 Large Floor standing Monitor Audio Speakers. Sounds amazing, Very crisp. Couldnt be happier.

I use CdEX to rip all my CD's (some 300) onto a 250GB HD.

Just bear in mind to make a BACK up of your music HD in case the worst happens. As it takes some time ripping those cd's to HD.

Oh and the Internet Radio / Podcasts are brilliant as well. Spend hours listening to all the 1000000's of stations out there in the big wide world.
 
Last edited:
The SB+ is a modified SB3 with some major surgery. It's not from Slimdevices directly and is basically a competitor to the Transporter.

My 320GB external drive arrives next week and I'll have a full copy of the external drive on another drive inside my PC. All of my CDs will be burnt using EAC.
 
Guess what, the SB+ arrived today and is presently sat on my desk next to me.
Since the last update I've finished ripping all of my CDs to FLAC format on an internal HD within my PC. The whole lot has then been copied to an external drive which will be used in conjunction with a spare laptop (thus keeping noise down) close to my stereo.

I'll keep you posted on progress. Hopefully it'll be able to compete with my dedicated CD transport, meaning that I get to recover 75% of the cost of the SB+.
 
Oh right, as when i ripped all my cd collection to Hard Drive (as I also have a Squeeze box 3) I used CDex and whatever settings were standard at the time.

Would I notices a difference then. If I did Flac, mind you I presume it would have a lot to do with my audio system anyhow. Dont fancy ripping 300 CD's again though. That did take some time.
 
Magic_x_uk said:
Oh right, as when i ripped all my cd collection to Hard Drive (as I also have a Squeeze box 3) I used CDex and whatever settings were standard at the time.

Would I notices a difference then. If I did Flac, mind you I presume it would have a lot to do with my audio system anyhow. Dont fancy ripping 300 CD's again though. That did take some time.
Click to expand...

It ripped then to MP3, which is quite a poor sounding lossy codec, OGG is generally better.

If your audio system is anything half decent use FLAC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom