bigsur78 wrote: > > I figure I have a few options, and am wondering what would give me the > biggest boost in sound (on the living room system) > 1. I could upgrade to a Squeezebox Touch. > 2. I could keep the SB3 and add a cheap DAC, perhaps a used Cambridge > Audio DAC magic > 3. I could upgrade my amp (something used in the sub-500 range... not > sure what I'd be looking for.) > I am not throwing parties so don't need things to go too loud... really > I'm looking for optimum detail/soundstage/etc. > Any ideas on where to go next? > As the other says, if you don't have a backup of your music library, something that handles that should be your number one priority. All hard disks fail, it's just a matter of time, so unless you feel like re-ripping all music from CD a backup solution is worth a lot more than a bit improvement in sound quality.
Regarding your other options, the question I would ask myself first is if it would be useful to have audio in another room ? If this would be of interest I would go for the Touch option and get a couple of active speakers for the SB3 and put it in another room. This will both give you better sound quality in the living room and audio in another room of your home. Maybe you should try to talk to your audio dealer and ask if you can borrow a Touch or DAC to try it at home and see if you hear a difference ? Sometimes it can be possible to hear a difference when you do careful listening in a prepared listening room at the audio dealer but it's not something you hear when setting up the equipment in your own home, so trying it in a real environment is important IMHO. As a side note, the Touch in my living room and the Radio in the bedroom is the best upgrades I've personally made. I had a SB3 in the living room before and for me it's actually the color screen that makes the biggest difference, so it's not just about audio quality. In the bedroom I had a Boom previously but due to its size I couldn't place it so I could see the screen without glasses, so having a Radio beside the bed is so much better even if the sound quality on the Boom of course is better. Another big enhancement to my audio system was an iPad, using the iPad for browsing the library with iPeng or SqueezePad really makes a big difference if you like to browse around in your library to try to find something interesting to listen to. I still use an IR remote for simple tasks but nothing beats the iPad when I like to browse around in my library to find something interesting when I'm not sure exactly what I like to listen to. The biggest improvements to my own system from an audiophile perspective has always been when I've changed speakers. I think audiophiles generally recommend to focus on the source (Squeezebox/CD-player) first but my experience is still that when you system is below a certain level the speakers are critical to be able to hear differences. I can't say if it's the case in your system as I don't have personal experience of any of the components you currently have. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ erland's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3124 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=95024 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
