TomDac Wrote: > I connected my SB3 to my Denon AVR4800 receiver using the supplied RCA > cables. It's plugged into the MD (mini disk) input of the receiver > which is driving a pair of Martin Logan reQuests via an outboard > amplifier (Carver TFM-35X). > > Any ideas why I'm not hearing difference between FLAC and VBR MP3?
Hey Tom, nice to see you venturing out on the Slim Forum! With ML's resolution, you should definitely appreciate the difference (on most recordings). When I first got my SB, I likewise fed it into a Yamaha receiver, with the Pre-out to my Sunfire amp. It sounded good, but not as good as a CD player. After experimenting, I found tremendous improvement from feeding the SB analog out *DIRECTLY* to my Sunfire amp (using the Slimserver "Pre Amp Volume Control" to adjust the analog output level). Ideally, you want your typical SB volume setting to stay in the 36-40 range, to minimize loss of bits. I subsequently bought a Benchmark DAC-1 (interspersed between the SB and Sunfire) and that improved things another 10% over the stock SB DAC. Many folks have also swapped out the stock switching PSU for a linear PSU (either off-the-shelf Elpac models, unfortunately hard to find now, or a customized linear PSU from various modders). The biggest bang for your buck at this point, I think, would be to first BYPASS your Denon altogether. One word of caution though, (from Sean Adams) that the SB is NOT a pre-amp, and a (few) folks have reported somehow inadvertently generating some very loud white noise, which could potentially have blown their speakers. Since you are depending on SOFTWARE volume control, caution is advised. That is one reason I eventually got the Benchmark. Once you hear the improvement, you might decide to permanently bypass the Denon, and then consider other options (outboard DAC, passive mechanical attenuators, etc.) P.S. You can also use a passive rotary switch (like the Niles AXP-1) to easily switch between the Squeezebox, or Denon, feeding your Carver amp. However, that introduces yet more components and cables into the audio chain. -- sleepysurf squeezebox2 (with elpac linear psu) to benchmark dac1, direct to sunfire cinema grand 200 ~five (vertically bi-amped) driving ml aerius i's, blue jeans cables. 'click to see my system' (http://www.martinloganowners.com/~tdacquis/forum/showthread.php?t=732) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ sleepysurf's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=14 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=26089 _______________________________________________ ripping mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/ripping
