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I think you can also get the Onix SP3 integrated, Stratus Mini's on a special deal (<$2k?)
Gary, the SB does more than play internet audio. They will play the CD's you burn to your hard drive. PC's as transports are better (sounding) in theory than optical based systems. They are also more convienent. You might want to do a bit more research on PC based systems like the Squeezebox, and the modifiactions done to them by Bolder and Red Wine as well as products from Empirical Audio.
...For $300, I don't know that you can find a USB DAC that is better than the SB's DAC. The SB frees you from sitting in front of the PC, as it is controlable by remote, with a display on the front of the unit. And perhaps most importantly, the SB has a track record for being readily modifiable. Certainly, all sorts of soundcards and USB DACs are modifiable. But for top of the line mods, these seem to get expensive. I think the biggest reason the SB has developed such a huge following around here is that people have found modified SBs to offer the best digital sound they've heard for an outlay in the $1500 range. I don't know if anything else looks that attractive. Maybe the Altman Attraction DAC? But going the SB route gives you the option of upgrading slowly, and this might be particularly valuable while you're on a budget.....
Quote from: chadh on 6 Jan 2007, 12:17 am...For $300, I don't know that you can find a USB DAC that is better than the SB's DAC. The SB frees you from sitting in front of the PC, as it is controlable by remote, with a display on the front of the unit. And perhaps most importantly, the SB has a track record for being readily modifiable. Certainly, all sorts of soundcards and USB DACs are modifiable. But for top of the line mods, these seem to get expensive. I think the biggest reason the SB has developed such a huge following around here is that people have found modified SBs to offer the best digital sound they've heard for an outlay in the $1500 range. I don't know if anything else looks that attractive. Maybe the Altman Attraction DAC? But going the SB route gives you the option of upgrading slowly, and this might be particularly valuable while you're on a budget.....Musicland MD-10 with* USB, Toslink, BNC and Coaxial input* Independent linear output volume and headphone output volume controlno remote control, but it will STOMP a stock SB3
Totoro,My comment on the Musiland -http://ifiaudio.com/md10.htmlwas based solely on the comments over on headfi by a specific poster, Sean H -http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2520300&highlight=musiland+zhaolu#post2520300http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2505536&highlight=musiland+zhaolu#post2505536I rarely take anyone's (especially real Reviewers) evaluations of any component on face value. The exception is when I've been able to callibrate their opinions against my own. I've followed Sean's posts on his mods to the Zhaolu DAC. These have roughly paralleled the same mods I've done on my own Zhaolu. When I've posted over on headfi about Zhaolu I've tried to not be specific about what I believe the mods will accomplish, and have generally described them as 'mo betta'. Sean's comments on exactly what the OPA2107 and the LM4562 do, have consistently been in agreement with my own observations, so his comments about the Musiland's are, to my subjective sensibilities, reasonable.Beyond that, from my perspective, the stock SB is a rather pedestrian dac, even with an upgraded ps, although in that same configuration, it is a very, very good transport. So when someone opines that you can't get a better usb dac for $300, I thought of the Musiland MD-10 which supports RCA and BNC coax, toslink, as well as usb.
