EQ (Inguz), client/server optimization, in search of decent fidelity

[rawsted]

[I hope this is the right sub-forum; if a mod reckons it's better suited someplace else, feel free to move it!]

Hello,

I just recently purchased an SB Touch and my setup is as follows:

Squeezebox Server 7.5.4 - r32171 // FreeBSD 9 running on an HP Microserver N40L
Squeezebox Touch Firmware 7.5.4-r9408

The Touch is configured for wifi on my 54g network, and it's hooked to an analog stereo (Harmon Kardon HK3390) which is driving a pair of Polk Audio TSi200s

Fairly shortly after getting everything set up, I did a comparison between music played from the SB Touch and audio fed from my desktop machine directly to the stereo (I have a ghastly RCA cable snaking across my living room to one of the inputs) using foobar2000 and my sound card's digital EQ presets; I fancied the sound of the latter.

I figured it was just the EQ and set about installing/configuring Inguz DSP. I've got it to a point now where everything *seems* to be functional (that is, no errors are being generated either in the InguzDSP log file or the Squeezebox Server logs), but I hear no appreciable difference whilst playing around with the settings. One thing that does seem odd is, in the 'File Types' configuration page, only 'Native' is selectable for the MP3 container format and codec, while InguzDSP/* appears in other areas. To rule this out, I tried playing some FLAC files (one of the file types for which InguzDSO/* appears) while messing around with the EQ and, again, I couldn't discern a difference.

My general query at this point is...what are my options? Is InguzDSP broken for my device/versions? I read of another plugin, BrutefirDRC, but it doesn't seem to work with the SB Touch unless one is dealing with FLAC-only (I don't know that this is true, I read it on another forum while searching around). Are there any other plugins which do EQ? Would I be better off with a hardware solution?

And, it's sort of unrelated, but if there are any other plugins which can increase sound fidelity, I'd like to try those as well. I stumbled across SB Touch Toolbox - does anyone have an opinion of it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated...I'm not an audiophile per se, but I do want to get the most out of my setup, and I feel like I'm not at the moment. Also be gentle with concepts/terminology, my understanding of the fundamentals is tenuous at best, though I'm here to learn.

Thanks,
rawsted

[Munroe]

I would be interested in this as well. Ideally an Audyssey-like plugin would be great to balance the brightness/dullness (peaks/valleys) in some rooms if acoustical treatments are not an option...

[garym]

rather than mess with all this and TT3.0 (search the forum, there are a few long threads on this, filled with mostly useless bickering), I'd instead invest in a good quality DAC between the TOUCH and the stereo. And when you are comparing the TOUCH to foobar2000 (which I use as well), make sure you are comparing apples to apples, mostly that your replaygain settings in the two are equal (or off for comparison purposes). It is well established that even a very subtle difference in volume can make the slightly louder source sound "better" to the listener in a double-blind test.

[I hope this is the right sub-forum; if a mod reckons it's better suited someplace else, feel free to move it!]

Hello,

I just recently purchased an SB Touch and my setup is as follows:

Squeezebox Server 7.5.4 - r32171 // FreeBSD 9 running on an HP Microserver N40L
Squeezebox Touch Firmware 7.5.4-r9408

The Touch is configured for wifi on my 54g network, and it's hooked to an analog stereo (Harmon Kardon HK3390) which is driving a pair of Polk Audio TSi200s

[content deleted]

Any help would be greatly appreciated...I'm not an audiophile per se, but I do want to get the most out of my setup, and I feel like I'm not at the moment. Also be gentle with concepts/terminology, my understanding of the fundamentals is tenuous at best, though I'm here to learn.

Thanks,
rawsted

[garym]

I would be interested in this as well. Ideally an Audyssey-like plugin would be great to balance the brightness/dullness (peaks/valleys) in some rooms if acoustical treatments are not an option...

I agree this would be nice. But the OP's issue is the difference between the two sources within the same room, same speakers, same stereo.