My observations on comparing the Transporter and SB3. For the longest time I was interested in a quality computer-based music server, but I successfully dithered (joke) long enough for Slim Devices to provide a solution in the form of the SqueezeBox 3.
I subscribe to Stereophile, so I was very interested in the Transporter review - but while the prospect of better sound was attractive, I wasn't sure I really needed another piece of expensive audio gear. Last month Slim had its open house; I visited and came home with the Transporter (special price of $1500 for the open house). Today, I returned it. Here's the reasoning for my decision: 1. For my system (Transporter or SB3 into Krell KAV-300i into Thiel 2.3 via Synergistic interconnects and speaker cable) in my home with my music, the Transporter was subtly better sounding (less congestion, richer upper-bass, darker background, and greater dynamics) than the SB3 - but you know what? The SB3, wall-wart and all, sounds pretty dang good! I didn't use the balanced outputs and I used the provided power cable for the Transporter, so that may be a consideration. 2. The Transporter was *much* flakier than the SB3: random pausing, one or two random reboots, hanging on too many inputs too quickly (annoying when adjusting the volume), display getting bright for no reason, etc. It doesn't seem like a finished product. While I believe it will get better (I develop software, so I understand), I expect better for the price point. 3. I find the SB3 more attractive than the Transporter. The SB3 looks like a real designer designed it (even if it has an overt Apple flavoring). The Transporter has a 1980's "Hi-Fi" look to it - the undifferentiated row of buttons, and faux rack mount handles. But then again, rarely do I find audio equipment beautiful. The front panel controls were useful to synchronize the Transporter with the SB3 for my A/B comparison, but ordinarily I would expect to exclusively use the nicer-than-my-cheesy-SB3-but-still-plasticky remote. I find the haptic feedback to be unconvincing in this application. Why pay for silly buttons and knobs that go unused? I described these impressions to the Slim staff at the open house - little did I know that my dream configuration was about to be announced (the Duet - although I would like a higher-end option). My last observation was about some troubling distortion shared by both the Transporter and SB3. While comparing the two, I listened to Stereophile's Test Disc 3. On a flac encoding of track 3 (Empire Brass Quintet - Sibley Sanctus Lyndian), I heard pronounced distortion from the right channel. I didn't hear this from the CD or my computer (Headroom Total Bithead + AKG 701). I thought the issue might be due to the spatial encoding for this track, but I also heard problems in track 5 (Sara K - History Repeats Itself). The encoding log file reports no errors - when I get a chance, I'll try ripping the tracks to wav format to compare. I will also say the 30-day return policy is great. There's no way to really evaluated a piece of audio equipment unless you have at home in your system. I'm still a Slim Devices customer and I eagerly await their future offerings. -- mcb ------------------------------------------------------------------------ mcb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=14755 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=41910 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
