Squeezbox Touch vs CD player with dac
- Thread starter kristoffer
- Start date
onlyconnect
pfm Member
I agree with this- the Spotify account is supposed to be 320K files. If that's really the case I would expect them to sound pretty good. I suspect many are lower rez, but I can't figure out how to see the file type of any song as its streaming so I can't really be sure. They sure sound like 64 k files much of the time. Really unpleasant when you actually turn it up and listen.
Teddy Ray
pfm Member
the vast majority, id say damn near all people cant pick out 320 from FLAC. but yes, right nothing to do with SBT.
Teddy Ray
pfm Member
go to the settings and alter the streaming rate for "hq"
Teddy Ray
pfm Member
see post 38
if more people did this then these "CDP is superior" would dissapear forever
So the settings in my Spotify account as shown on the SBT are set to 320 (160 is the other option, hq not to be seen). No rate options at all in the Squeezebox app. So the question is how much of the content our of Spotify is actually 320, or does this setting just allow 320 when it is available? If a lot of content is actually more compressed, that could be an explanation. If it's all actually 320, then I stand by my assertion that it's fine, but compromised.
I've just run out of interest and energy since the SB1 to try and get it any better. OTOH I have a nice drawer full of linear power supplies, DACS, and cables to show for it.
bencat
Amplifier Destroyer par excellence
I have an SBT and it is fairly new to me probably around three months. I use it only as a streamer from the Digital out in to a Perpetual Technology P-1A up sampler and Modwright II Perpetual Technology Dac. I have a Theta Basic II CD transport . I also use the Triode Digital Output Enhancment app on the SBT . Volume is fixed at full .
I was going to use the SBT for some back ground listening probably as a radio player. However I ripped a few CD,s to Flac files and was very surprised that they were not just good but the best digital sound I had heard to date. I then set about the really long and boring task of ripping all of my CD,s to Flac loaded on to a 1TB usb Portable HD and was able to clear over 1000+ cd,s out of the music room and in to storage. The quality of the play back is really excellent with better imaging , more intergrated bass and just sounds more natural . I still have over 300 + CD,s in the room and do take one out and put it in the Theta this still sounds good but the SBT just sounds better.
I was going to use the SBT for some back ground listening probably as a radio player. However I ripped a few CD,s to Flac files and was very surprised that they were not just good but the best digital sound I had heard to date. I then set about the really long and boring task of ripping all of my CD,s to Flac loaded on to a 1TB usb Portable HD and was able to clear over 1000+ cd,s out of the music room and in to storage. The quality of the play back is really excellent with better imaging , more intergrated bass and just sounds more natural . I still have over 300 + CD,s in the room and do take one out and put it in the Theta this still sounds good but the SBT just sounds better.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
I agree with bencat. I don't understand why some feel it's only good for background music. Set up well with a good quality dac it is very listenable, the equal of many high quality cd players.Spotify tracks are variable but I think this more to do with the quality of recording.
I use a SBT in my kitchen system alongside a Quad 66 CD player. The SBT sounds startlinglingly better than the Quad in all respects and is of course a lot more convenient. No external DAC.
In my office I use a SB+ into a Leak Stereo 20 which sounds a bit better than the SBT.
No squeezebox in my main system, but it's just a matter of time, and of getting the house wi-fi to stretch that far.
Not going to sell my CDs - don't need the space or the money.
In my office I use a SB+ into a Leak Stereo 20 which sounds a bit better than the SBT.
No squeezebox in my main system, but it's just a matter of time, and of getting the house wi-fi to stretch that far.
Not going to sell my CDs - don't need the space or the money.
The new iPad Spotify app is very nice, and not the same as the iPhone app. With the camera connection kit into the iPad so digital output into my CDQ, the iPad does a fine job - on a par with the SBT in fact and WAY WAY better than my crappy Macbook Pro can manage over USB (or optical).
adamdea
You are not a sound quality evaluation device
Hmm an interesting puzzle. If you have tried a variety of competently designed dacs and still think that the digital out of the sbt sounds distinctly worse playing FLACs than a cd transport output to the same dac playing the same cd ripped to flac...then the only plausible explanation is witchcraft.
Lots of things, now proven by science were once considered witchcraft. You make a very good point.
I wasn't talking about lossless files, just Spotify, and how much of their content is actually 320.
adamdea
You are not a sound quality evaluation device
Sorry if I misunderstood you - I got that at the beginning but it seemed as though you were saying that a cd player sounds better than a sbt full stop. As a matter of interest do you use your sbt for playing lossless files? If so how do you feel it compared with the cd transport?
adamdea
You are not a sound quality evaluation device
Groan
I have noticed that people who believe in witchcraft frequently believe that science supports their claims.
graham-r
pfm Member
After having owned an SBT for the last 2 years or so I am finally in a position to do some A/B testing against my now very old Philips CD850/Trichord Clock3.
OK, so this is entirely subjective but according to my ears it goes like this. They sound quite different to each other and both sound very good - I am not going to say that one is better than the other - they are just different, of course the SBT gets my vote for ease of use (funny we used to say this about cd....) and its facilities.
The SBT has a leaner (clearer?) sound - that is the soundstage is less full, not separation just less 'stuff' around each instrument/vocal. Conversely the 850 sounds richer and requires a little more concentration to listen to.
Thats it, no more subjective stuff, they are both very good, perhaps a better CDP may make the difference but I really doubt it. I can still remember the look of pain on the face of the owner of a west country hifi shop when I said I wanted a new CDP, I told him it was a CD850 and his answer was that perhaps the very top Rega might be better. I was amused by this admission, so I suppose this makes the SBT (into an external DAC ?) very good indeed.
OK, so this is entirely subjective but according to my ears it goes like this. They sound quite different to each other and both sound very good - I am not going to say that one is better than the other - they are just different, of course the SBT gets my vote for ease of use (funny we used to say this about cd....) and its facilities.
The SBT has a leaner (clearer?) sound - that is the soundstage is less full, not separation just less 'stuff' around each instrument/vocal. Conversely the 850 sounds richer and requires a little more concentration to listen to.
Thats it, no more subjective stuff, they are both very good, perhaps a better CDP may make the difference but I really doubt it. I can still remember the look of pain on the face of the owner of a west country hifi shop when I said I wanted a new CDP, I told him it was a CD850 and his answer was that perhaps the very top Rega might be better. I was amused by this admission, so I suppose this makes the SBT (into an external DAC ?) very good indeed.
No problem. In general I use macbook to DAC to system for lossless rips, which I think sounds marginally better than macbook-wirelss-SBT-DAC. Main system has V-DAC., kitchen Valabs Nos DAC, otherwise the same. Both SBTs with linear power supplies. IIn general I think that DACs and power supplies have less impact on SBT then on the earlier SBs.
Either way, it sounds different than my CDP, and it;s pretty easy to tell which is which. I am willing to accept that the CDP may be more artifactual than the computer setups, but I probably prefer it. Which I use really depends simply on convenience.
The Spotify is a different beast altogether- enjoyable in the kitchen but barely tolerable on main system. It's sibilant, shrill, and anemic, particularly at higher SPUs. It sounds very much like compression to me, which is why I question how much of the Spotify premium feed is really 320.
through the squeezebox and into my dac, spotify actually sounds better than losslessly ripped files.
On the other hand, I betcha it sounds a whole lot better than any $300 cd player used as a transport.
A lot of this sbt vs. cdp debate arises from comparing a $300 device with $1000 and up cd players.
On the other hand, I betcha it sounds a whole lot better than any $300 cd player used as a transport.
A lot of this sbt vs. cdp debate arises from comparing a $300 device with $1000 and up cd players.