All, For the past one week I had been listening critically to two different modifications of Squeezebox: Bolder's modded SB2 and Redwine Audio modded 's SB3, I also compared them to 3 very highly regarded CD player, this thread summarizes my impression. I cannot stress enough that my conclusion are based on my "subjective" listening, I have no measurement to prove anything. Difference people will certainly prefers different sounds and may end up with difference conclusion. I prefers transparent and neutral sounding. Generall I find tube sound a little too "blurry" for me. So I hope you won't be surprise with my finding after knowing my preference.
My list of equipments: speakers: Salk HT3 Amplifier: Bryston 4B-SST Preamp/DAC: Tact 2.0S with Aberdeen PS and DAC The two squeezebox I am comparing are: - Bolder Modded SB2 with full mod, with Silver Slipstream Bybee Purifiers added to digital AND analog outs. Sonicap Gen 2 and Platinum bypass caps added to analog outs - RWA fully mod SB3 (as described on RWA most current website) Bolder's company also sent in two power supplies: - The Ultimate PS Bolder Power Supply, built in Silver Par-Metal case with Jensen capacitors and new transformer and voltage regulator circuit with Silver internal wiring and 4) Bybee Purifiers - Bolder Modded Elpac PS Friends of mine also brought 3 CD players: - Ayre CX-7 - Cary 303/300 - Rega Jupiter And I am comparing the following setup: #1 Bolder's Ultimate PS + Bolder modded SB2 analog out into Bryston 4B-SST into HT3 #2 Bolder's Ultimate PS + Bolder modded SB2 digital out into Tact 2.0S into Bryston 4B-SST into HT3 #3 Bolder's Elpac PS + Bolder modded SB2 analog out into Bryston 4B-SST into HT3 #4 Bolder's Elpac PS + Bolder modded SB2 digital out into Tact 2.0S into Bryston 4B-SST into HT3 #5 RWA modded SB3 analog out into Bryston 4B-SST into HT3 #6 RWA modded SB3 digital out into Tact 2.0S into Bryston 4B-SST into HT3 #7 Ayre CX-7 analog out (Single Ended) into Bryston 4B-SST into HT3 #8 Ayre CX-7 digital out (AES/EBU) into Tact 2.0S into Bryston 4B-SST into HT3 #9 Cary 303/300 analog out (Single Ended) into Bryston 4B-SST into HT3 #10 Cary 303/300 digital out (AES/EBU) into Tact 2.0S into Bryston 4B-SST into HT3 #11 Rega Jupiter analog out (Single Ended) into Bryston 4B-SST into HT3 #12 Rega Jupiter digital out (S/PDIF) into Tact 2.0S into Bryston 4B-SST into HT3 Whenever Tact 2.0S was used, I set it to "bypass" mode. The analog interconnect used in all setups was Bolder's custom-designed IC made from single crystal, solid core, cryo-treated, Silver wire. It has a Silver shield, terminated with Gold Bullet Plugs. The digital IC between Bolder's SB2/Rega Jupiter and Tact is Bolder designed digital cable with WBT NextGen connectors (RCA to RCA). The digital IC between RWA modded SB3 and Tact is the same digital cable designed by Bolder but with BNC to RCA termination. Nordost VALHALLA AES/EBU digital IC were used between Ayre/Cary and Tact 2.0S. The power cords for the Ultimate PS and for the Bolder's SB2 are all provided by Waynes. The power cord for the Bryston 4B-SST is Bolder designed with built in Bybee. The power cord for Tact 2.0S are Bolder's Nitro. Bolder sent me too many cables and I might be confused with exactly what they're made of, but at least I tried my best to use the same cables for all setups. In general I find that difference in sound caused by cable are much more subtle than that caused by speakers, CDP, preamp and amp. My reference cuts are: - Eva Cassidy's "Fields of Gold" from the album "Live at Blues Alley" - Arild Andersen's "Lines" from the album "The Triangle" - Eric clapton's "Hey Hey" from the album "Unplugged" - Johnny Hartman's "My one and only love" from the album "John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman" - Donnell Jones's "Shorty (Got her eyes on me)" from the album "Where I wanna be" - Toni Braxton's "Let it flow" from the album "Ultimate Toni Braxton" - Rebecca Pidgeon's "Spanish Harlem" from the album "The Raven" I do not have a "golden ear", the difference between each setup was quite subtle, I really had to listen to each for quite some time and switch between each of them using the same song over and over again. To my humble ears, here's the ranking (starting from the best): 1st place: Setup #1 Bolder SB2 with Ultimate PS analog out 2nd place: Setup #2 Bolder SB2 with Ultimate PS digital out 3rd place: Setup #4 Bolder SB2 with Elpac PS digital out 4th place: Setup #6 RWA SB3 digital out 5th place: Setup #4 Bolder SB2 with Elpac PS analog out Joined 6th place: Setup #8 Ayre analog out, #10 Cary analog out 7th place: Cary 303/300 digital out 8th place: Ayre digital out 9th place: Setup #5 RWA SB3 analog out 10th place: Rega Jupiter digital out 11th place: Rega Juipter analog out Because there're so much to write, but so little time to write it, I'm afraid I have to be brief. Basically, the difference between 1st place and 2nd place is pretty "noticeable". Setup#1 sounded so fluid and smooth, the midrange is fuller (abeit slightly forward), bass is dynamic, instruments hang in the air a little longer. Setup#2 is slightly more transparent, but leaner sound. Setup#3 is actually pretty close to #2, maybe it's because they're using the same DAC in the Tact 2.0S. The difference is Setup#3 has slightly less air than Setup #2. The 4th place is even closer to 3rd place, in many of the songs, I can hardly hear the difference, luckily with Toni Braxton's "Let it flow", I managed to notice that with Bolder's Elpac and SB2, the intruments and vocal seemed to blend better together, the mid/low was a little recessed when using RWA SB3. Without the Ultimate PS, setup#5 (5th place) loses quite a bit of the magic of setup#1, it sound slightly analytical, less air, slightly recessed mid range compare to 4th place. The difference between Cary analog out and Ayre analog out was very noticable, however, each has its own strengthes and weaknesses, Cary reaches down lower, has richer midrange, Ayre has more refine high. Certain songs sounded better with Cary, other sounded better with Ayre. Each has it's own signature (color) sound, the 5 setups that ranked above these two are more neutral sounding (which is my preference). The difference between 7th place (Cary digital out) and 8th place (Ayre digital out) was less noticeable, I prefers Cary because it sounds smoother than Ayre. The 9th place RWA SB3 analog out was very ok from mid to high although the high can be slightly edgy, the bass was slightly on the loose side compared to the 8 setups ranked above it. Finally, regarding setup#11 and #12: Rega Jupiter had ok bass extension, lots of details but not so outstanding soundstaging, high frequency was a little etched and jagged To tell you the truth, I could have lived with any of these 12 setups, because I'm talking about very subtle differences and it took me quite a while to train my ear to notice the differences, and the differences are song-dependent. Over the past week, I have had 7 people coming in to listen to my setup, and they were all surprised by the sound from the squeezebox because in their mind, the squeezebox is a cheapo $300 gadget meant for general public. I had to explain to them that it takes some serious modification to bring the squeezebox up to the level of some of the best CD player/transport. This is getting too long... I am not a professional reviewer so you have to forgive my bad grammar and dull writing. Nevertheless, I hope this reviews gives people some interest in testing out the potential of squeezebox, especially those that're modified by Bolders and RWA. After listening to their mods, I simply cannot see myself spending $3000 for a CDP. Regards Barry Houston, TX -- 95bcwh ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 95bcwh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4358 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=25988 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
