Is the DAC in the Squeeze the same as S3?

[iPhone]

This thread is over 3 years old!
Silly me, I should have looked at the date before posting...

Edit: at least I wasn't the one who revived it...

-s.

Heh


........

But from reading it, looks like good answers. And hasn't technology changed in three years. Doesn't the tread need updated for that reason alone (since it has been brought back to life)? BTW, how long do threads stay open? Do they have a born on date and a stale date? I am new to the forum so I am semi-serious.

[slimpy]

And hasn't technology changed in three years. Doesn't the tread need updated for that reason alone (since it has been brought back to life)?

Nope, a slimp3 is still a slimp3 and a sb3 is still an sb3. And cheapo home theatre systems still don't have a direct analog pass-through.

BTW, how long do threads stay open? Do they have a born on date and a stale date? I am new to the forum so I am semi-serious.

Each post has a date, thus the date of the first post of a thread is its born on date. I have no idea how long threads stay open, but it happens from time to time that very old threads are revived by someone just by accident.
BTW, 74 posts is not exactly new ;-)

-s.

[jimi00]

I'll revive this thread once again beacause I have had the occasion to compare the analog output of my good old Slimp3 with a brand new SB3. Even if the parts and numbers should give a clear advantage to the newer model, all I can say is the Slimp3 wins hands down. The sound stage is more open and instruments sound like they are supposed to. Worse even, on lossless files, the Slimserver feeds transcoded mp3 to the Slimp3 which still sounds better than the SB3 natively playing lossless.
When I come to think about it, why should a Crystal DAC Chip be any worse than the cheapo Burr Brown DAC on the SB3?
In a nutshell, does technology have ears?

[Phil Leigh]

I'll revive this thread once again beacause I have had the occasion to compare the analog output of my good old Slimp3 with a brand new SB3. Even if the parts and numbers should give a clear advantage to the newer model, all I can say is the Slimp3 wins hands down. The sound stage is more open and instruments sound like they are supposed to. Worse even, on lossless files, the Slimserver feeds transcoded mp3 to the Slimp3 which still sounds better than the SB3 natively playing lossless.
When I come to think about it, why should a Crystal DAC Chip be any worse than the cheapo Burr Brown DAC on the SB3?
In a nutshell, does technology have ears?

Welcome to dreamland )

The SB2 or 3 beats the SB1 for sound quality.

How do you know that the instruments sound like they are supposed to? were you there when the recording was made?

Yes the BB chip outperforms the Crystal chip.

Oh and MP3 is better than lossless...we've been there - recently. I respectfully suggest you look at the rest of your gear. Then do some SERIOUS double-blind tests and report back.

Sorry if this sounds like a rant (it isn't meant to be). Your opinion is perfectly valid - I'm just responsing with mine, is all.

[jimi00]

Welcome to dreamland )

The SB2 or 3 beats the SB1 for sound quality.

That's NOT what I said. I was comparing a SB3 with a SLIMP3, not a SB1 (which, by the way, does not carry a Crystal DAC chipset).
I truthfully dare anyone who still has a Slimp3 unit to compare its analog output to the analog output of their SB3. I am very serious about this... or maybe, I'll just have to admit I got a lemon, and get my brand new SB3 fixed.

As for why I should know what an instrument sounds like is because I play music, I therefore can easily pick out the sound of a plucked guitar string or a crash cymbal in a recording.
"Welcome to dreamland" is not proper syllogism either.

[Themis]

I don't think that the Crystal is better (or worse) than the BB. It's simply a matter of overall implementation.
I'm not amazed that SB3 might sound worse than Slimp3, after all SBR sounds a bit under SB3 too. It IS intriguing, though, that the SliMP3 sounds better than the SB3 fed with lossless.
That's very strange, indeed. How would this be possible ?

(but I wouldn't dare to ask whether you are really sure)

[jimi00]

I dont have any audiophiles around me, but I recently had a friend over who wanted to show me his new power amp. So we played a bit with the sources to see what would give the best results and the SB3 got the worse rating between an iPod Classic, a Slimp3, a Denon DVD-1920 and the stereo dac of a Rotel RSP-1066 Receiver. The best sources were the Slimp3 and the 1066's DAC, we couldnt really pick out a winner. Here is the rest of my system: Trends Audio TA 10.1 (x2) bi-amplifying a pair of Elac BS243.

I don't think that the Crystal is better (or worse) than the BB. It's simply a matter of overall implementation.
I'm not amazed that SB3 might sound worse than Slimp3, after all SBR sounds a bit under SB3 too. It IS intriguing, though, that the SliMP3 sounds better than the SB3 fed with lossless.
That's very strange, indeed. How would this be possible ?

(but I wouldn't dare to ask whether you are really sure)

[seanadams]

Slimp3 has a very primitive DAC circuit, terribly noisy power rails in comparison to SB3, and is simply inferior by any metric. I'm not saying it sucked for its time, but we've come a long way since 2001. And it doesn't even support FLAC/AIFF, so everything is being converted to MP3. The sound you prefer is technically worse in every imaginable way. Maybe you just like the sound of mp3?

[Phil Leigh]

Are you sure that your audio/file settings for the SB3 are correct?

That would explain it.

Another less likely explanation could be the way the rips are done - if there is an issue here it could be masked by the mp3 transcode.

Or the SB3 could be faulty.

You need to see if your experience is repeatable with anothr SB3. Several people here have Slimps... (I don't, hence my comment on the SB1 which I do have) However you are also implying that you would prefer the Slimp3 sound to that of an SB1. Have you done that comparison?

[jimi00]

Are you sure that your audio/file settings for the SB3 are correct?

That would explain it.

Another less likely explanation could be the way the rips are done - if there is an issue here it could be masked by the mp3 transcode.

Or the SB3 could be faulty.

You need to see if your experience is repeatable with anothr SB3. Several people here have Slimps... (I don't, hence my comment on the SB1 which I do have) However you are also implying that you would prefer the Slimp3 sound to that of an SB1. Have you done that comparison?

Yes, I did check that the server does not transcode files for the SB3. Come to think of it, I'm sorry but these asumptions would not make sense anyways. If any of the above were the case, on what grounds could it explain that my Slimp3 sound better than my SB3 (appart from the fact that my unit could be faulty)?
I know this is the audiophile forum but couldnt we be a bit more logical? Why doesnt anyone else just listen to the two and give us his opinion?
(BTW I dont have an SB1, therefore I will not comment on it)