SB2 "audiophile edition"

[jazzfan]

Now don't get me wrong. I am very happy with my SB2. I would tell others to buy one. This posting is really for the principals of Slim Design.

I wish you would bring out an "audiophile edition" SB2. The sound of the SB2 is good. I expect as upgrades move along it will only get better.

I wanted to drop you a link to another player. http://www.olive.us/p_bin/?cid=01_01_symphony
It doesn't do streaming radio and squeezenetwork. Both I really enjoy. But it does look good. As time moves on, and the sound quality of your product improves, put it in a case with some class. Seems to me a case is a simple OEM arrange with a different price point on the end product. I would pay more for it if it was the same animal, but nicer to look at. I feel the SB2 is a good value, but it received some really low WAF since it looks like a toy.

Any other SB2 owners feel this way?

Thanks for listening

[blah509]

I agree (looks wise) but, ummmm, $900

nope

g

[MrC]

I'm not sure I get the connection between a smarter looking case and "audiophile". Is this like a prettier girlfriend makes a better lover?

Methinks you want a Designer Series! :-)

[Dave D]

Is this like a prettier girlfriend makes a better lover?

I can't wait to see where this leads...

[jazzfan]

I'm not sure I get the connection between a smarter looking case and "audiophile". Is this like a prettier girlfriend makes a better lover?

Methinks you want a Designer Series! :-)

Look at most "audiophile gear". I would have to believe the cool thick face plates that I love so much add an additional 100.00 to the build cost, (yes - and does nothing for the sound).

I suppose that would fall into a designer series product type, but since I'm dreaming here let's complete my "audiophile edition SB2" and add a tube output stage.

SqueezeNetwork running through some tubes before landing in the sand that drives my Maggies. Now that would be something!

(Oh, but on the real side of life I was unable to go for a second unit for the upstairs system due to the low WAF)

[dean]

On Aug 24, 2005, at 7:44 PM, jazzfan wrote:
> (Oh, but on the real side of life I was unable to go for a second unit
> for the upstairs system due to the low WAF)

Why was that?

[jazzfan]

On Aug 24, 2005, at 7:44 PM, jazzfan wrote:
> (Oh, but on the real side of life I was unable to go for a second unit
> for the upstairs system due to the low WAF)

Why was that?

We have an understanding. The dedicated audio / video room downstairs is "Dad's room". The upstairs living room is "Mom's room".

She's picky. We hung a plasma on the wall because a she did not like how a normal TV fit in the room. I bought her the audio components of her choice, (yes she selected the shinny receiver without really listening because it also had a pretty dial).

That's ok, it's her room, I have mine. Mine requires tubes, planer speakers, reference series, etc, her's demands pretty. She simply said the SB2 had too much "toy" in it's overall look and turned it down. In her words: "it looks like a cheap clock radio, and costs $250.00!". I'm not agreeing with her, it's just her opinion...

[Fabrice Rossi]

jazzfan a écrit :
> That's ok, it's her room, I have mine. Mine requires tubes, planer
> speakers, reference series, etc, her's demands pretty. She simply
> said the SB2 had too much "toy" in it's overall look and turned it
> down. In her words: "it looks like a cheap clock radio, and costs
> $250.00!". I'm not agreeing with her, it's just her opinion...

Well, my wife said exactly the same thing (cheap radio clock look) and
she wanted me to buy a soundbridge from roku. But I'm managed to
convince her that the SB2 must be sounding better according to reviews
and slimdevices folk were much more open, that they supported linux and
provided an open source server, bla, bla, bla.

I can be really boring, so she gave up. And then we received the SB2 and
she said: "what a cheap radio clock". I was pissed off but I installed
the box anyway and we started listening to it. And she was the first to
say the sound was much better than with our old CD player. And she
started to play with the remote. The browsing interface is so close to
the one she uses on her ipod (yeah, of course, she has an ipod...) that
she started to really like the SB2. And now, she uses it everyday and
she has stop ranting about its radio clock look.

Fabrice

[Jetlag]

This actually might be an interesting idea. Since there already exist a number of places that do SB2 mods, perhaps SlimDevices could produce or license someone to build SB2s into a more appealing chassis.

For example, a 1U rack size with either a black anodized or brushed aluminum face plate would be quite nice. I have to admit that although I really love my SB2, it definitely does not fit in with the rest of my gear. The display is excellent, but the enclosure I don't get to excited about. I already have plans to build my own enclosure once Fall sets in and my schedule lightens up a bit.

Maybe this doesn't have to be taken to the extreme of using a tube output stage, but perhaps tweak the parts that can be more easily improved (better power supply, sturdier jacks, etc) since you now have much more room inside the (new) case to work with. Maybe even put a headphone jack on the front of the unit.(?)

I read a couple of the DIY case mod threads and I have to say that the results generally were far easier on the eyes than my black rubber box.

Oh, speaking of "easy on the eyes",

Is this like a prettier girlfriend makes a better lover?

I have eyes for a reason. Having no choice but to keep them tightly closed while boinking my girlfriend is most definitley NOT the reason.

[fuzzyT]

jazzfan wrote:

> Any other SB2 owners feel this way?

I think there are some that do. I know that my preference would be to
have a choice between an up spec'd SB in a component case and the
current SB2 package. I'd want to own one of the up spec'd units for my
hifi, standard units as needed for around the house.

What does "up spec'd" mean? In short, any hardware changes that might
make the SB better at the following: sounding great, connecting to hifi
equipment, looking good/fitting well in a hifi equipment stack.

This has come up a few times in the past. I think the group went so far
as to suggest and react to various individual upgrages. It seems the
hardware hackers are on the job, and various tweaks are being tried and
tested. Once the tweaks that actually perform are identified, I'm
hopeing that at least some of them would end up in a future SD product.

At the present, my up-spec list might look something like this. Subject
to change as more is learned.

Black anodized case
Wired only networking option available
Built-in regulated linear PS feeding critical points
Direct from DAC output (no op-amp to analog outs)
BNC digital output
Quality IEC AC line in
Full size headphone jack
High quality analog out jacks

--rt