Thank's for the Big Ben tip - but now I've already bought or ordered most components for the media server so I'm sort of stuck with that. And then of course I'll get a convenient way of watching those .avi files that are such a nightmare to re-code for burning DVD's.
Anyway the dCS gear; I got in at a good price for the Delius + Purcell. Second hand purchase, ok that was a lot of money but still much below half the new price. My previous equipment was all Linn (Karik + Numerik etc). I got the Delius first. When I switched in that - it was as if a new window into my CD's had opened. I expected a small-ish improvement, but it wasn't. I heard a lot of things I had never heard before, more bass, better imaging. Also a very annoying "drift" - like when you hear a very distinct instrument, say the triangle - playing and slightly moving from left to right. We know darn well that the guy isn't moving. That all disappeared with the dCS. Then I switched in the Purcell - that was a smaller improvement (when using CD's) but more with SB3 as source (probably because it re-clocks the signal very accurately, nearly as good as a central clock). The CD is clocked from the DAC so that's probably why that sounds a little bit better. I did some switch in / switch out tests with the Purcell and there was a difference, big enough so I wouldn't be without it now. The music "widened" with the Purcell. Example: Listening to three male voices singing, standing close together on the scene - with the Purcell I could clearly locate each individual. Without, they were all in the same spot, making it more difficult to follow the plot. There were more differences, more subtle "better sound" The dCS setup improves HUGHELY on CD's - and it works well for SACD's too. But the fact is that a good CD recording sounds almost as good as a SACD. I now hear much more difference between good and bad CD's than I ever did before. OK, that's it - and this is why I'm chasing the last bits with the SB3. If I get it spot on, I don't even need to keep my CD's. In fact, I'm so sure it will work, I'm already planning a sale over Ebay (and yes - of course I will destroy the backup copies 24 hours after the CD is sold....). -- CarlOtto ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CarlOtto's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3581 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
