New DAC sorts out SB3

[Simon]

I just finished my Audionote 2.1 Level B signature DAC kit. I know these take a hundred or so hours to settle down, but the sonics I have heard so far are really something special. The standard unit in the SB3 is a limited beast, competent, but nothing to get too excited about, at least in my system and was totally blown away by my Naim CD5. The AN unit is releasing each track afresh, and has got my foot tapping again and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Excellent, and recommended.

[topa]

Simon,
which DAC chip is in there? Pictures on the homepage are to small for recognition...

Have fun listening,
Tobi.

PS: Happy with my ShekDac

[Simon]

It's an AD1865, though the digital board comes complete.

Simon

[Skunk]

That's a nice looking kit. Kudos for putting it all together rather than grabbing something off-the-shelf.

I wouldn't have been able to resist cutting a big hole in the front of it, about the size of the Sb display :-)

Then you could hack into the I2S (the 'new' Swenson Mod?), and eliminate S/PDIF- DAC permitting.

[adamslim]

I just finished my Audionote 2.1 Level B signature DAC kit. I know these take a hundred or so hours to settle down, but the sonics I have heard so far are really something special. The standard unit in the SB3 is a limited beast, competent, but nothing to get too excited about, at least in my system and was totally blown away by my Naim CD5. The AN unit is releasing each track afresh, and has got my foot tapping again and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Excellent, and recommended.

Yeah AN are one of my favourite manufacturers, but the wife would give me grief if I spent that much on hifi rather than nursery furniture!

I had similar sonic results with my Shek NOS DAC (similar in philosophy to yours, if a bit scaled down in practice...). It transformed the SB3, and now I listen to it much more than I do my CD player - the sound is merely different to my CD player, not just worse, and I do prefer the 'browse experience' of the SB3 over hard-copy CDs! You don't need to spend as much as a TP on a DAC for a good improvement on the SB3, although I imagine it helps!!

Keep us posted as things progress. What's the rest of the system?

Adam

[Simon]

A bit of a mixed bag, World Audio Designs KEL84, Kef Q55s, Naim DC1, home made interconnects (silver/teflon/Eichmann SB), Cat6/AN silver bullets, SB3 with HB5-3/OVP-A linear PSU, Naim CD5 & Flatcap2. Though my main system consists of an SB3, World Audio Designs 300B monoblocks, Pre-II, PSU-II, Phono-II, Pro-Ject RM-4 TT, IPL Acoustics S5TLs.

[KeithL]

Shek d1

I have a sb3 going into Naim 202/250.2 combo into B&W805s. I find it too laid back with soundstage shrunken, a soft treble and a muddled bass. This is compared to my usual source of Naim cdx2/xps2. I bought a Shek d1 about a fortnight ago and initially I thought the sound had tightened up a little. Two weeks later, I don't believe the Shek d1 is much better than SB3's own dac. Or am I hearing the limitations of Slim Devices streaming? I also tried a Transporter and wasn't over impressed. Am I expecting too much from streaming in trying to find a match to my cd front end?
Keith

[Simon]

I'm not sure a £100 dac is ever going to compare with a Naim CDX2/XPS.

[P Floding]

I have a sb3 going into Naim 202/250.2 combo into B&W805s. I find it too laid back with soundstage shrunken, a soft treble and a muddled bass. This is compared to my usual source of Naim cdx2/xps2. I bought a Shek d1 about a fortnight ago and initially I thought the sound had tightened up a little. Two weeks later, I don't believe the Shek d1 is much better than SB3's own dac. Or am I hearing the limitations of Slim Devices streaming? I also tried a Transporter and wasn't over impressed. Am I expecting too much from streaming in trying to find a match to my cd front end?
Keith

Streaming as such is not part of any problem. On the contrary, it solves problems. SPDIF is severely flawed, in contrast. Please note that the wall wart supplied with the SB3 seems to pollute many hifi systems with HF noise.

[KeithL]

I'm not sure a £100 dac is ever going to compare with a Naim CDX2/XPS.

What about my experience with the £1300 Transporter?
Keith

[KeithL]

Streaming as such is not part of any problem. On the contrary, it solves problems. SPDIF is severely flawed, in contrast. Please note that the wall wart supplied with the SB3 seems to pollute many hifi systems with HF noise.

I'm using a regulated linear power supply.

Keith

[KeithL]

Am I using the best quality rips? I use Itunes to rip uncompressed aiff with error correction tuned on. It amazes me that an average album takes about 2 minutes to rip. Can my resulting rip be of the highest quality when at times during the rip the data is being read at more than 30 times real time? The internal drive is a Pioneer DVD writer. Is there better software available for Apple Macs?
Keith

[jeffmeh]

Am I using the best quality rips? I use Itunes to rip uncompressed aiff with error correction tuned on. It amazes me that an average album takes about 2 minutes to rip. Can my resulting rip be of the highest quality when at times during the rip the data is being read at more than 30 times real time? The internal drive is a Pioneer DVD writer. Is there better software available for Apple Macs?
Keith

I am not an Itunes user, but does "error correction" mean that it will do some type of interpolation/extrapolation when it finds an error? Conversely, EAC will slow down and reread many times until it either gets a good read or gives up. In the latter case, it tells you that it encountered errors.

[P Floding]

Am I using the best quality rips? I use Itunes to rip uncompressed aiff with error correction tuned on. It amazes me that an average album takes about 2 minutes to rip. Can my resulting rip be of the highest quality when at times during the rip the data is being read at more than 30 times real time? The internal drive is a Pioneer DVD writer. Is there better software available for Apple Macs?
Keith

I guess you might simply be used to superior systems. I don't know much about Naim, but aren't the ones you use pretty expensive?

And, BTW, what type of interconnect does the Naim setup use? Same question for SB3/Transporter.

[anicca]

Am I using the best quality rips? I use Itunes to rip uncompressed aiff with error correction tuned on. It amazes me that an average album takes about 2 minutes to rip. Can my resulting rip be of the highest quality when at times during the rip the data is being read at more than 30 times real time? The internal drive is a Pioneer DVD writer. Is there better software available for Apple Macs?
Keith

Keith,
For the Mac, check out Max. Very very nice. Free open source encoder. http://sbooth.org/Max/. For me, a godsend for us Mac users.