Hi Erin
My answer would still be the same.
I have heard Squeezeboxes via SPDIF into a good DAC , and also a Marantz SA11 into the same DAC, and the Squeezebox is way behind in SQ, with a much poorer soundstage,especially regarding a 3D type presentation on good material.
I do realise however, that the Squeezeboxes are capable of marked improvement with appropiate modifications though.
Even then, the ones I have heard after modification still aren't as good.
It's rather like expecting a cheap DVD player using an SMPS to sound as good as a high quality CD/DVD player when used as a transport using SPDIF.
Of course many members here will insist that provided internal error correction is working properly, then they MUST sound the same !
Alex
Ah, yes Sandy, I was talking about it as a digital out box & restricting that further to I2S out rather than SPDIF (although SPDIF can be improved too). I have played around with the Duet & know the weak areas & I would have to disagree with you, Alex, once the weaknesses are addressed this platform is just as good if not a better base for quality digital out than the media boxes we are talking about here. Actually, I have also got very good audio from it's analogue out by using a transformer to negate the bias that rides on the output of the DAC - so no need for coupling caps. I also attended to the PS of this stage.
It's all got to do with the chipset being used - the media boxes have a focus on video processing & there is a lot of internal gates firing & creating PS issues internally on the chip as opposed to the chip used in the SB Duet which is simpler, etc. This is something that no amount of tweaking can surmount. In my opinion, one of the reasons the QA550 sounds good is because of the simplicity of the chip doing the processing. When all the surrounding PS & supporting chip weknesses are dealt with one is left with the central chip & it's capabilities & this need sto be given consideration if the very best audio is to be achievable (again, my opinion)
Unless a direct comparison has been done, its very hard to speculate that one source is outright better than the other. I was amazed when my WD mini sounded better than my PC. I have heard the QA-550 and think its a good source but not necessarily better than the WD mini when running i2s.
If I was to speculate, (not a good thing) I suspect that network streaming to a media player may be just as good as playing off a usb flash drive or SSD - although i have not tried it yet. Good for the same reason that flash drive sounds good - just data going into a port - no motors spinning. USB still has a protocol and so does networking, the data is sent as packets. Why not network streaming?
I agree, the real world may well trump theory & often times does. Jitter is just one aspect of the possible distortion mechanisms & what I was trying to say was that when the implementation has been optimised, you are left with the capabilities of the chip itself & what self-noise & distortion it introduces! But who of us have an optimised the implementation?
Yep, anything that causes perturbation in the PS either externally to or internally in the chips is to be avoided where possible. getting to that position is the hard part.
Having tried both a highly modded Squeezebox Duet and more recently a modded QA550 I'd be interested in trying and comparing one of these WD mini players. There seems to be quite a lot of other devices on ebay at the moment too for playing SD and HD's . Ideally I would really like something that could play and output hi-res files though
I found the stock Duet to perform poorly when used as a spdif source , it is capable of very good results after modifications , it takes a fair bit of work though, a linear external psu alone is not enough.
The QA550 performs quite well as stock, better than the stock Duet imo, once modded though both are very good.
The Duet is the most user friendly. I'm currently using an app on my Android phone which makes it a decent remote.
I found the stock Duet to perform poorly when used as a spdif source , it is capable of very good results after modifications , it takes a fair bit of work though, a linear external psu alone is not enough.
The QA550 performs quite well as stock, better than the stock Duet imo, once modded though both are very good.
The Duet is the most user friendly. I'm currently using an app on my Android phone which makes it a decent remote.
The Popcorn Hour C200 has the same DAC as the WD mini, so you can extract i2s from it. It also will play 24/192 over SPDIF, so I can only presume that it will output 24/192 to its DAC.
the eGreat M34a is also based on the same chipset as the PCH C200 so according to here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/145161-wdtv-wish-list-2.html
also do 24/192 and be able to extract the i2s.
the eGreat is cheaper than the PCH, and seems to effectivly be the same thing but in a different box - they even use the same firmware.
there is also some third party firmware which looks quite cool:
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=23653
I was thinking of getting the eGreat so I could try playing music over the network with an appropriate NAS box of some sort - on a dedicated network not used for the internet. (not sure if this would make a difference or not)
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Yes I use the WD TV mini.
But it is only good with i2s and only does 48khz maximum.
If I was to do it over again I would get the eGreat M34a.
there is not too much information on the O!Play so I dont know what DAC it uses and whether it will do philips format i2s....
that is why I did not mention that one.
I'm sure im not the foremost authority on the topic, but have done a bit of reasearch in regard to which source I will get (try) next time....
View Blog Post
It looks like its a cirrus logic DAC sitting up near the RCA jacks in this photo, but I cant quite make it out.
If you click on the picture in the link above you can zoom in but the clarity suffers.
It's cheap, has eSata connection & network connection also! Based on a Realteak chip, it may have a different presentation of audio? Just looking at the various options, really!
I would want Linux compatible, open standards at least bettering the squeeze boxSo I cant vote so I thought you should know.
If only we could modify the options after the initial post... Alas we can not.
But the poll is clearly showing that the days of CD are nearly over. People want convieneice and sound quality. I think with a little bit of time and effort and DIY, audiophile quality HDD playback is allready here, bettering and equaling many expensive CD Players. When the record companies finally pull their finger out, and start making their back catalog available in lossless download, more manufacturers will put some serious effort into making audiophile stand alone HDD players with a nice user interface.
A little off topic, but I am upset that the legal album downloads (lossy) seem to be just as expensive as buying the CD from a shop, considering there is no manufacturing cost and freight costs I think the price could be a little cheaper. I do realise that they have to pay for the internet connection and a server, but when the artist is only getting a dollar an album, the price seems steep to me.
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Even with the latest firmware, and using a good +12V Linear PSU, the WD TV Live is still far from perfect in what it does, despite being quite good.
I have found that mine sounds better if I connect to my Samsung LED TV via HDMI, then Toslink Out from the TV to my Silicon Chip DAC, than directly from Toslink Out from the WD TV Live to the same DAC on another Input.
(I can switch between them using a remote control) No, it's not the cables used , or the input used.
The price is determined pretty much by the record company's greed. Its a similar state of affairs with book publishers - sometimes the Kindle edition (and that has DRM) is more expensive than the physical book. I consider it my sworn duty for the good of humanity not to encourage greed, so I don't purchase these
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