squeezebox or pc and why ?

[guy76]

hi im new here its my first post .nice to meet you all.
im leave in israel my system is : leben cs600 amp , speakers devore nines ,my source was cd player cary cdp1 but i sold it.
now i was use rdac dac and pc fujitsu q1500 iion pc .
my dac is in fixing and my pc i like to use it for media center only for xbmc.
i like to know few things :
what is better source with dac that i will buy now i dont know what is better bcz all the dacs that i test in my house more and less not have different in the sound quality , i test dacs from 400$ -1500$ and nothing happen lol (rdac canbridge azur 640,teddy dac , orb jade 2(was terrible dac) ).
if i use :
1. pc-->digital-->dac
2. pc-->usb spdif convert-->dac
3. squeezebox-->digital-->dac
what will be more quality and musically from this 3 options and why ?
and another thing is there is areally good dac in budget of 500$-1000$ (i get recommention to metrum octave mini nos dac is it really worth it ?)

[Benedetto]

Hello Guy
at first
do you know ASIO4ALL - Universal ASIO Driver ?

Sadly Squezzebox is obsolete
means
out of production.

[qusp]

you might get more answers in the (more appropriate) digital source sub-forum

[gk7]

The rdac already has an asynchronous USB input (good for low jitter). I would use pc -> usb -> rdac.

[kevinahcc20]

Originally Posted by Benedetto

Hello Guy
at first
do you know ASIO4ALL - Universal ASIO Driver ?

Sadly Squezzebox is obsolete
means
out of production.

Hardly...Squeezebox Touch is widely available, reasonable (<$300 online) and sounds great!

[Holger Barske]

Yes. But obsolete anyway. Logitech has put down the whole line despite that stupid kitchen radio. And there won't be any serious development on the Squeezebox server software, which will sooner or later become a problem.

[TNT]

Originally Posted by gk7

The rdac already has an asynchronous USB input (good for low jitter). I would use pc -> usb -> rdac.

We are just moving the point where there is a need for a good clock... remember that. Asynchronous USB isn't the cure for jitter. Sorry to break that for You.

[Pano]

I can and do use both methods, USB to SPDIF or Squeezebox digital out. Can't hear a difference.

I bough the Squeezebox touch because I thought it would work as a stand-alone player. It does not, at least not if you have a large number of files. The internal server can't handle a large number of files on the local USB. When it works, it's fine, but it crashes easily. So you need a file server running somewhere for it to draw from.

If you plan to have a file server always running then Squeezebox is great. But at that point there are other ways to do the same thing, E.G. USB to SPDIF, digital out of a soundcard, or Ethernet connected renderer.

[guy76]

thanks alot for the responses .
i still not understand what will be more quality from the 3 methods that i was mention above ?
i m was use pc -->usb-->dac (rdac) . work with foobar asio 4 all and kernal streaming and the sound was good i used pc ion media center small (fujitsu Q1500) silent and use core 2 dou ,the sound card that build in the pc was only toslink and it was without coaxial out i think bcz the pc so small and connector that build in can only use toslink out from the cord.
so i use only usb .

i still not understand what will be more good if i connected squeezebox classy coax digital out to the rdac or use pc usb asy dac ?
another thing maybe i will buy better dac that dont have usb in and only coaxial and toslink maybe (metrum octave mini nos dac ) what u think of that dac is it will be really imporve the sound in my system then my rdac ?

[gk7]

Originally Posted by TNT

We are just moving the point where there is a need for a good clock... remember that. Asynchronous USB isn't the cure for jitter. Sorry to break that for You.

The rDac hopefully has one (at least a better one than the PC).