First of, I do not consider myself an audiofile and my requirements are pretty modest. I am using NAD C541 player and NAD C370 integrated amp with Vienna Acoustics Bach speakers wired by a Kimber Kable 8VS and interconnects that are marginally better than consumer cables in Best Buy. My listening room is pretty much untreated, however, I spent a lot of time placing the speakers to achieve best soundstage and tonal balance. I do not have external DAC and never needed it.
I bought SB mostly because I read on this forum that its audio quality matches quality of consumer CD players. So I happily unpacked my Squeezebox and connected it to the amp via analog output. The first thing that bothered me immediately is that even at 100% volume SB analog output is still significantly weaker than one of NAD 541. I still listen a lot of CDs, and I had to adjust volume every time switching between the CD player and SqueezeBox. I could tolerate that, but unfortunately, sound quality does differ, too. I've ripped several CDs using EAC and played the CD via NAD C541 and WAV through SqueezeBox in parallel to hear the difference. NAD C541 offers more air in recordings, localization is so much better, and bass is more defined. The sound of SqueezeBox, in comparison, is rather harsh and sometimes it slightly resembles FM radio. I've tried encoding to FLAC instead of using WAV but it didn't make any difference I could hear. I also checked for obvious stuff - upgraded server software, switched interconnects, made sure SB is not connected to PHONO, to no avail. NAD 541, priced around $500 IIRC, still wins hands down in my system. I don't think my SB is defective, as it works flawlessly, and there is no distortion or noise of any kind. I must admit SB is an exceptional piece of engineering and I would like to keep it. But I would like to fix the audio quality problem if at all possible. My next step is to try the liner power supply and see if it helps. I'd appreciate any other advises on where to look for solution. Also, if anyone used SqueezeBox with NAD amplifier, please share your experience. -- andrei_c ------------------------------------------------------------------------ andrei_c's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4639 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=22273 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
