Michael, You are absolutely right about SNR decreasing. The only thing I would add is that this factor is the only thing to worry about. Bits don't come into it. The reason is that by the time any bits are lost they are lost at the small end, and that is buried deep in the noise floor. There is no way to tell whether the bit was 1 or 0 just before it is lost, so you don't notice losing it. So lost bits are never the issue with an SB3 or TP. However, your point about SNR is the issue.
A TP can play a decent range of volumes without the SNR dipping below 96db (the SNR of 16 bits). You don't need any more SNR than that to play red book in all its glory. IMO for red book on a TP a preamp will result in more distortion overall and at best divert funds from valuable areas to an unnecessary (in SQ terms) piece of equipment. So, you are completely right to wait on buying the pre until you have other sources that make it necessary...the only point I would make is that multiple sources is the _only_ reason you would invest in a pre playing red book on a TP. Darren -- darrenyeats SB3 / Inguz -> Krell KAV-300i (pre bypass) -> PMC AB-1 Dell laptop -> JVC UX-C30 mini system ------------------------------------------------------------------------ darrenyeats's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10799 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=43269 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
