[Rocket]

Hi Guys,

I'm seriously looking at purchasing a squeeze box 3 and having it modified by Wayne over at Bolder Cable.  I currently use a highly modified pioneer pds 507 (g&d clock and g&d digital output board) which serves as my transport.  I also have a pair of perpetual technologies p3a (modwright level 2) and p1a combination.  The sound from my system is fantastic.

From a convenience point of view i would like to use an SB3 as i think it would be excellent to have my entire music library a click away from hearing it.

Finances are tight and i would probably just go with the digital modification and use the p3a dac.  The million dollar question is will it sound any good and be competitive with the current setup i have. 

Thanks for your help.

Regards

Rod

[zybar]

Rod,

What power supply would you be using?

Unfortunately, that is what makes the difference.

How about you spring for this one:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=30157.0

George

[Den]

Hey Rod!

I'll wager that the SB as a transport is easily competitive with your CD rig. . .

You might want to think about springing for the analog mods too.  It's possible that you could ditch your DAC and run SB only, or not, what with all the fancy features of the p1a like digital room correction. . .wait, looky here.  Some clever lad has written a DRC plugin for the SB, and it's FREE.  Give him a beverage of his choice, and put it on my tab.   

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=30097.0
http://inguzaudio.com/RoomCorrection/

I haven't heard the p1a-p3a.  A modified SB may not surpass this DAC, but it does sound very good with an upgraded PS, as George mentioned.  If you are seriously in love with the p1a-p3a, you might do better with other PC transport options that use I2S.  I believe Woodsyi is investigating the I2S option with a Northstar DAC and will be comparing it to his SB at some point.

http://www.empiricalaudio.com/frComputer_Audio.html

[Charles Calkins]

I have an SB3 with digital mods by Wayne. It's hooked uo to a GR Research DAC-60 with sonic craft mods and upgraded Amperex tubes.
 For the price this combo is one of the very best playback systems I've owned.


                                      Cheers
                                      Charlie

[mcgsxr]

I have a fully modded Bolder SB3, and use Bolder's Rev1 with Jensen caps power supply - it is the best front end I have owned.  Period.

I use it via the analog outputs, as my source and pre, but have also experimented with the digital output, to a Panny receiver.

My wife likes the Panny receiver in the family room on the main floor, so I am happy to let her keep it!

I find the SB3 a great unit, even if you just use it digital modded, with a modded Elpac PS... that would be affordable, you could likely raise that $$ by selling off your current gear - I sold off my Monarchy SuperDip, my Mensa DIO DAC, Hagerman Clarinet tubed Preamp, and assorted cables, after discovering the modded SB3... it is great stuff, on a realistic budget.

[ipy]

Like others, I too have a SB3 with Wayne's digital mods plus his upgraded Basic Rev.1 Power Supply w/ Jensen Caps & the combination simply sounds amazing.
The SB3 replaces my heavily modified Rotel 1070 CDP/Transport (Audiocom Superclock II, Black Gate caps in the power supply rails, fast recovery diode & damping of the chasis) which I thought sounded pretty good.  I using a DPA DAC (modified with BG caps as well).  Be forewarned though that you will be spending more time listening to your muisc with this SB3 combination........

[Wind Chaser]

Hey Rod!

I'll wager that the SB as a transport is easily competitive with your CD rig. . .

I'm kind of ignorant about the whole Squeeze Box thing, but I saw one last week for the first time and even in it's stock form it didn't sound too bad streaming music wireless from a computer to a Charlize and some Merlin TSM's.

It was explained to me that the SB doesn't have an HD, but rather serves as a DAC.  How then can it be used as a transport?

Also, what are the differences between Vinnie's Red Wine mods and Wayne's at Bolder?

John.

[mcgsxr]

Right, the word transport is likely not the most accurate, since the computer HD actually stores and serves the music, the SB3 acts as a receiver, preamp, DAC.

Music is ripped to a hard drive on a PC.  The Slimserver s/w, installed on the PC, is used to replay the music.  The computer serves the music, either via ethernet cable, or wirelessly.  The SB3 acts to receive that broadcast, and then either via digital, or analog, acts as a preamp.

I am ultimately not sure what all the differences between Vinnie and Wayne's work are, but there are folks around who have owned both, or compared both etc.

I doubt you would go wrong with either, but if you research the goals of each modder, you may find that one suits your direction more than the other.

[95bcwh]

Also, what are the differences between Vinnie's Red Wine mods and Wayne's at Bolder?

John.

Read this:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=29520.20

While there's no doubt in my mind (and many other who'd compared both) that Wayne's mod sounds better (especially the Ultimate PS), we do have to bear in mind that it also costs more. So which one to choose depending on your price/value perception.

And I currently owns RWA modded SB3, so people can't accuse me of being biased 

[lonewolfny42]

Keep in mind that Rod/Rocket lives in Perth, Western Australia....different voltage than here....would that matter about the power source mod's ???
Rod....George will be at todays NY Audio Rave meeting - with his SB....we'll compare a few things....watch for meeting comments by Sunday (after the Rave).
      Chris

[Rocket]

Hi Guys,

Just bought a 250 gig hard driver for my computer in anticipation of a possible new purchase of the sb3.  I don't really want to spend too much on the sb3 and would just go for the digital output and use my pt p3a dac.  The p3a's aren't well known in australia and i won't get much for it on the second hand market.

Thanks for your help.

Regards

Rod