Having just made an attempt at comparing the Duet Receiver (SBR) and the
Touch (SBT) with and without external DACs (Theta DS3Pro, Audiolab MDAC
with and without EDO), with matched volume levels, here are my
observations:
- The SBR analog outs are not as good as the SBT's. The difference is
not night and days but can be reliably detected in blind testing ("lack
of air, less musical, reduced soundstage")
- With some 88.2/24 bit tracks (or with some higher sample rates), the
downconversion performed for the SBR can result in some hiss (This is
repeatable, but doesn't happen with all such tracks)
- The analog outs of the SBT are actually very good and very close to
what the MDAC on Toslink can deliver. There is a difference on some
tracks, but in my limited testing, it's not that easy to say which is
which, and which is better.
- In terms of digital outs, there is little difference between the SBR
and SBT on Toslink (and presumably Coax, although I didn't test this)
- I think (More investigation is needed) that the SBT with async USB
connection (Using Triode's EDO without TT mods and the MDAC) improves on
Toslink. I need to find a way to test this more reliably with will
likely require longer listening and some assistant to remove any bias
The SBT has some other merits which make it the logical choice for
people who buy into the SB system. In my view it is one of the great
audio bargains of the moment... but one has a good external DAC and a
Duet, it may only bring marginal improvement
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