I was using my DVD player to play CDs before. It's just a Toshiba SD-1800. But it's connected to my receiver by coaxial digital, so it's only acting as a transport.
I find both an SB2 and an SB3 over optical digital sound much better when listening to the same CDs ripped in FLAC using EAC. I mean the treble isn't as harsh and there's definitely more expansiveness using Dolby Pro-Logic IIx Music as a decoder. But how can this be? Bits are bits, right? I know EAC would have a slight advantage, but most of the tracks ripped with no errors. Could it be that: 1. The DVD player introduced more errors than just the minor ones EAC corrected? 2. The DVD player has a worse S/PDIF interface than the SB does? 3. The receiver's optical S/PDIF decoder is better than its coaxial one? 4. The SB's jitter is lower? This is almost surely true, but does jitter really make that much of a difference? When I hear arguments about more jitter/less jitter I always thought these were the golden ears who were debating the audio equivalent of how many angels they could fit on the head of a pin. ;-) 5. It's not a proper double-blind test, my mind is playing tricks with my ears. Or something else? BTW I don't buy the "optical cable is better than coaxial cable" argument or that "one digital cable sounds better than another", so please don't suggest those arguments or I'll have a hard time believing you. :-) In fact the coaxial cable retailed for 3X what the optical did (although I didn't pay retail for it), and the coaxial cable is a better name brand, so this can largely be discounted. At any rate, the SB2 and SB3 sound VERY good. -- Mark Lanctot ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mark Lanctot's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2071 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=19240 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
