> Is External DAC What I'm Craving? Perhaps. It depends what gets you going.
> Hello This is my first foray into the audiophile den. Go easy on me. You are considering adopting audiophile beliefs? > So I love the SB3. It's hooked up to a Rotel RA 05 + Quad 11L + a KEF sub. But I notice from > listening comparisons of CDs through a modest CD player that the SB3 has less range than the > CDs, particularly at the bass end of things, and to my ears sounds 'thinner' somehow. Why? A non-audiophile audio enthusiast/professional would expect an SB3 and a competent DVD/CD player playing the same source to sound the same in a properly conducted listening test subject to all the hardware functioning as intended. The weasel words give plenty of scope for things to sound different and so your observations are not being challenged. Audiophiles have a tendency to believe that pretty much everything sounds different although they have so far failed to demonstrate it to non-audiophile in listening tests conducted on non-audiophile terms. What/who to believe? > I've tweaked the bass with Inguz, but I can't help feeling that the purist/consumerist in me > is craving another solution. I do not understand the purist part. I can sympathise with the desire to spend money on shiny hardware but it does seem to work for some people. > I've heard the expression DAC around. I've read that you can get something for £150 or so. And for more and for less. > Is a DAC the addition to my system most likely to satisfy my immediate 'need'? Perhaps. It depends what gives your pleasure. > If so, is installation an easy - plug it in and off you go? Usually although you can sometimes get caught out by mixing consumer and pro hardware. > And finally, within the £100 - £150 price range, what have people found to be effective? I suspect that effective in my case might not map onto effective in your case since if I had a correctly functioning SB3 I would not spend £100-150 on a DAC to plug into it. -- honestguv ------------------------------------------------------------------------ honestguv's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13734 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=54783
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