While Vinnie (RWA) and Wayne (Bolder) make strong claims that the modified SB3's analog output sounds better than many expensive DAC's and transports, I think it is not fair to make this comparison. A separate high end DAC should sound significantly better than a modded SB3's analog out.
I wouldn't mind hearing a modified SB3's analog outs, but chose to skip this because a) I already have a nice expensive DAC, and b) even including the mods, I would not seriously expect that the SB3 would have an adequately designed analog output stage, with proper isolation, power supplies, etc. Only if you removed the guts of the SB3 from the case, put it inside a better case with proper grounding, power supplies, and room for output caps, and perhaps had the option of a good tube output stage, would the comparison be realistic. But hey, if someone wants to bring their fully modded SB3 to my Seattle area house to A/B. I will listen. Instead, I'll be comparing the digital output of a modded SB3 to the digital output of an unmodded SB3, both sending S/PDIF to my musical fidelity DAC. For fun, I will do an A/B against my Pioneer Elite PD-S95 cd transport to see how well the $250 SB3 stacks up against the $3k Pioneer. Of course, if I added the cost of the computer (MAC Mini) and periperals, it would probably cost the same. -- davehg ------------------------------------------------------------------------ davehg's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2269 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=17948 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
