[calbear81]

  So i have my Squeezebox setup done and I'm looking to find out how you guys think I should proceed with my next set of upgrades.

So currently, my setup is:

Squeezebox 3 (stock)
Primare I21 Integrated Amplifier
Focal Chorus 807V Speakers

I'm trying to figure out which one of these will best improve the sound quality?

1)  Upgraded Power Supply for SB3
2)  External DAC (CI Audio maybe?  It seems the higher end stuff with jitter reduction is pointless for SB3 since that's not really an issue, right?)
3)  Power Amp (The Primare can run in pre-amp mode) - I'm a bit more perplexed on this one since I'm not quite sure how to evaluate what amps are better than the built in amplification on the $1500 Primare.  Would a set of monoblocks in the $1K range be *that* much better?

Looking for your advice on which ones to tackle first and what is really most bang for your buck.  Also, I'm an audiophile but my ears aren't necessarily golden so if it's going to make a very subtle difference, I probably couldn't tell anyways.

As a bonus question:  The Focals tend to have bright high frequencies and I was wondering if adding a tube buffer in between the SB3 and Amp or a Tube Power Amp would help with that?

As you can see, I'm seriously a beginner. 

[Wayne1]

Hello calbear81,

Welcome to AudioCircle.

I suggest that you first deal with your room and acoustic issues before you go changing gear around.

Take a look in the Acoustic Circle for ideas about room treatment.

Treating your room will give you the more bang for the buck than almost any component change.

The proper room treatment and speaker placement should tame the brightness of your speakers.

Once you have your listening room set-up, then you can move to fine tuning the AC power line.

After THAT, I would suggest you think about changing the power supply to the SqueezeBox.

[calbear81]

Hey there Wayne,

Thanks for the advice.  I would consider room treatment once I move into my own place but I'm renting right now and the space is just not layed out really well and we have too much stuff to be able to move furniture around easily.

However, regarding the AC line filtering, I am using an APC home theater power conditioner which I hope is helping.

[woodsyi]

Hey Cal alum,

Welcome to AC and Wayne is right about the order of importance.  The power conditioner helps but the stock SMPS on your SB is putting out some nasties after your power conditioner.  I would at least get a linear PS like Elpac to improve the sound.  Then you can decide how much of an upgrade you want for the money it will take to improve from there on.  It looks like Wayne has got some cool ideas to improve the internal DC currents going into different parts.  There are many different ways to go from where you are but I would recommend a linear PS to start for sure.