On Sat, 2005-08-27 at 11:38 -0700, jazzfan wrote: > Wow - heavy duty replies... I just wanted to open a little discussion > and see what others thought about a nicer looking, somewhat improved, > SB2.
I am sure that Sean and company will invent a SB3 that is way cooler. They have before, the SB2 is their fourth product. > This said I would pay more for a nicer SB2 The discussion has dealt with two areas. One is replacing the cheap plastic case with something machined and massive to look right with, say, a Classe Amp. The second is to address sonic issues such as better power supplies, better connectors, etc. For me, the first is not important. My SqueezeBox is not visible. It is inside a stereo cabinet with a dark glass. I can read the display fine, but the case disapears into the black background. I can't see my Benchmark DAC-1 either, I know it is sitting next to the SB, and can see the LED, but it is equally invisible. I like to think of it as non-intrusive. The second set of sonic issues could be important, but I think that is much too much of a niche issue for a mass product vendor (Which I assume SlimDevices wants to grow up to become). There are easy solutions, today, to making it sounds better. See the prior threads about linear power supplies, or using external DACs. Probably not cheap relative to the $200 price of a SB2, but there are solutions available for just a few hundred dollars. Lets be specific, I would be willing to take a SB2 and a Benchmark DAC-1, put them in an impressive case, if I could get $2000 each for them. It would clearly be "audiophile" quality to many. Would it be worth it to several hundred folks? Is that better than putting a SB2 and DAC-1 on a dark shelf and use $800 for CDs or taking the wife out to dinner several times? > I will indeed replace it when, (I don't belive this > is an IF), the competition comes out with something nicer, and "IF" Slim > Devices sits back and only relies on open source to improve their > product. I've seen zero evidence that SD "only relies" on open source. They make a cool product. It can be audiophile, as audiophile as you want. They have made improvements that are nicer and cooler. The question of an "audiophile edition" is really whether there are enough audiophiles willing to pay enough money to make it a smart business decision by SD to have two radically different products. I don't see a consensus on what "audiophiles" want, let alone in sufficient volumes (hundreds of units) to justify it as a business. But I'm not Sean, so it is not me that has to be convinced. -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
