The digital source journey has ended

Bingenito · « **on:** 19 Feb 2007, 05:13 pm »

My sincere thanks to everyone who posted useful information on this forum regarding the Boulder modified SB3.

If anyone is considering having their gear modified by Wayne I can highly recommend his service. Communication was outstanding and the build time was shorter then what was quoted… rare in this industry!

Prior to using the Boulder Modified SB3 (digital modification w/ Gold Bybee, Ultimate MKII p/s, Summit DC cable and Boulder SPDIF 1.5 meter with WBT NextGen) I used the following digital sources in my system. With each step there were incremental improvements.

1.   Esoteric DV50
2.   Sim Audio Eclipse limited edition
3.   April Music CDT200 (w/ April Music DA220 DAC)
4.   April Music CDT200 (w/ BC501 DAC)
5.   Stock SB3 (w/ BC501 DAC) * Close to #4 but not as refined in the midrange and treble and the bass was not as tight

I have heard plenty of other gear but in different systems and rooms so it is nearly impossible to do a fair comparison that is focused on a digital source.

The Boulder SB3 arrived 1 week ago and has been playing 24/7 since. Right out of the box it was a big improvement over the stock SB3. As with any component with a large power supply you can hear the sound change on a daily basis. I avoided any critical listening until last night.

Turned the lights off and got some good rotation on the volume. All I can say is wow. If it gets better than this I honestly don’t know what to say. The sound is so smooth that I was able to enhance speaker placement. Digital sources normally have a hint of harshness in the upper mid-lower treble. That is not the case here. The sound is smooth as silk and I found that I had to be careful with the gain because of lack of fatigue I had the volume cranked way past where I normally listen.

Bass much tighter than with any of my previous setups. Percussion can be startling at higher volumes. The slow or muddy bass with the stock SB3 is long gone. This is the most analog sounding digital source I have heard to date.

I will try to provide more detailed in a few weeks but just wanted to express my complete satisfaction with the product and service.

Associated Gear:
Blue Circle
* BC3000 GzPz Balanced Preamp
* BC204 Hybrid Power Amp
* BC501ob DAC
* BC606 PLC

Selah Audio RC5 speakers

Bryan

miklorsmith · « **Reply #1 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 05:16 pm »

Wow, what a fantastic looking setup. I look forward to the full enchilada.

Bingenito · « **Reply #2 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 05:20 pm »

Thank you! I need to do something with the lighting to take a full system photo that shows off the speakers finish. The room turned out very nice but the lighting sucks pretty bad. Can't have it all I suppose

jhm731 · « **Reply #3 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 05:23 pm »

Bingenito-

So what's your total investment in the SB3?

Did you ever consider investing the same amount or less to mod your other gear(Esoteric DV50, Sim Audio Eclipse limited edition,April Music CDT200 (w/ April Music DA220 DAC), April Music CDT200 w/ BC501 DAC)?

jrebman · « **Reply #4 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 05:28 pm »

Nice. I'm headed down the same path except on the analog side of the SB2 and just parted company with a high-end CDP, so it's great to hear yet more testimony from another satisfied customer.

-- Jim

Bingenito · « **Reply #5 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 05:37 pm »

Quote

So what's your total investment in the SB3?

Did you ever consider investing the same amount or less to mod your other gear(Esoteric DV50, Sim Audio Eclipse limited edition,April Music CDT200 (w/ April Music DA220 DAC), April Music CDT200 w/ BC501 DAC)?

Close to $2k including the SB3 itself.

The Esoteric was not something that should be modded according to a few experienced modders. The jitter was really high and could not be fixed.

Sim Eclipse- I did not want to void the warranty of an $8k CD player by getting a $400 mod. Besides a good Transport DAC combo was better than this player at ½ the price.

April Music CDT200- I am sure that this transport could come close or be equal to the modded SB3 but you loose the convenience of the SqueezeBox so if there is no sonic advantage and there is a real disadvantage from a usability perspective why mess with a CD player?

The SB3 not only offers unlimited music playback of your CD collection but you also get internet radio and the SB Network. I have music playing 24/7 on 3 systems all synchronized and will never go back to CDs.

The SqueezeBox is to audio what Tivo+Pay Per View are to TV. So if you can have that level of convenience along with the outstanding performance why not take full advantage of the technology?

mcgsxr · « **Reply #6 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 07:00 pm »

Congrats on the "full monty" Bolder purchase, sure looks cute piled up on all that other gear!

Reports like this make me want to sell my car, and upgrade to the PS!

mr_bill · « **Reply #7 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 07:12 pm »

Bingenito,

I'm not clear whther you are using an outboard Dac with your modded SB3?
Did you get digital mods to your SB3 with power supply or did you get full analog mods w/PS?

Thanks,
Bill

mcgsxr · « **Reply #8 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 07:29 pm »

Looks like the digital mods with PS - if you look at the pic of the rear of the unit, it appears to be a WBT RCA that the digital now has, and that is the only output being used. Looks like he also has the uber PS too.

And for the record, yes, my car is not worth much!

Bingenito · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 07:38 pm »

I have the Digital mods output to the BC501ob DAC.

Sell the car and walk, ride a bike or take the bus man!

Double Ugly · « **Reply #10 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 09:48 pm »

Congrats, Bryan! As I said before, you sure picked a grand way to enter the world of modified equipment.

Given the quality of the Bolder SB3 and Ultimate PS, I'm sure it'll be quite some time before you feel the need to change your digital set-up.

sonofcolin · « **Reply #11 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 11:44 pm »

Bryan,

I also have the Bolder digi mods (gold bybee) with Bolder mod Elpac PS (the big one). I noted your comment on how smooth the SB3 sounds. All I can say is 'ditto'. Very easy to listen to, but at the same time not dull or slow in any way. Very easy on the ear and lots and lots of the stuff called music.

I'm using my SB3 with a Bel Canto e.one dac3 and this combo is excellent. I also have a powerbook connected to the DAC3 via USB using itunes. I'm really surprised at how good this is. The modded SB3 sounds a bit warmer via SPDIF and with a bit more weight to the sound (just a small difference). The USB/itunes combo sounds a little more natural and maybe with a touch more detail, but this is very hard to discriminate unless you play the same music at the same time and quickly flick between the sources. Anyway, I now have 2 excellent digital sources. Expensive CD players will not be considered again.

Happy listening

zybar · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 11:57 pm »

Congrats Bryan!

I am very glad that things worked out and that you don't have to hunt me down for giving you bad advice.

Now if I can just convince you to try a Bolder analog mods SB2/3 directly into your BC amp... aa

George

Bingenito · « **Reply #13 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 12:07 am »

Quote

Congrats Bryan!

I am very glad that things worked out and that you don't have to hunt me down for giving you bad advice.

Now if I can just convince you to try a Bolder analog mods SB2/3 directly into your BC amp...

Thanks George!

The only hunting here is for music from now on. The music format makes far more difference on the modded SB3. On the stock version FLAC and WMA sounded as good as wav. I can now hear a difference when the Slim Server format is setup to use the built in software for wav. Phil suggested this, I tried it and really like it.

The analog mods would take much more convincing because of my balanced setup. Anyone who has ever truly achieved all of their objectives in an audio system can appreciate the fact that I do not want to even try anything else for fear of screwing something up. That is how good the system sounds.

Bryan

Daygloworange · « **Reply #14 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 12:21 am »

Congrats on the system Bingenito.

I'm working my way up to the full mod package that Wayne has conceived of for the SB. So far, I'm stoked with what I've got, looking forward to the hearing what the future mods will do.

Cheers

ted_b · « **Reply #15 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 12:31 am »

Quote from: Bingenito on 20 Feb 2007, 12:07 am

Thanks George!

The only hunting here is for music from now on. The music format makes far more difference on the modded SB3. On the stock version FLAC and WMA sounded as good as wav. I can now hear a difference when the Slim Server format is setup to use the built in software for wav. Phil suggested this, I tried it and really like it.

Bryan

Bryan,
What is it about FLAC that you find sonically worse than wav? They are lossless, so I would have guessed it to be equivalent. Are you saying Flac-> wav sounds better than Flac->Flac? Or are you saying you decompress to wav even before Slimserver (huge files)?

zybar · « **Reply #16 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 12:41 am »

Quote from: Bingenito on 20 Feb 2007, 12:07 am

The analog mods would take much more convincing because of my balanced setup. Anyone who has ever truly achieved all of their objectives in an audio system can appreciate the fact that I do not want to even try anything else for fear of screwing something up. That is how good the system sounds.

Bryan

I forgot about your balanced setup...

I hear you about screwing up a good sounding system...however, it can work when done correctly. I just came back from a four hour listening session at my friend's house and his "new" system was not only better than his excellent last one, it was one of the best systems I have ever had the privilage of hearing!!

I'll stop there so I don't hijack this thread.

George

JoshK · « **Reply #17 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 12:57 am »

I bet if you made a pair of cables with tribute phase splitters in them, RCA > Tribute > balanced, you could do away with the rest.

jhm731 · « **Reply #18 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 01:39 am »

Quote from: Bingenito on 19 Feb 2007, 05:37 pm

Quote
So what's your total investment in the SB3?

Did you ever consider investing the same amount or less to mod your other gear(Esoteric DV50, Sim Audio Eclipse limited edition,April Music CDT200 (w/ April Music DA220 DAC), April Music CDT200 w/ BC501 DAC)?

Close to $2k including the SB3 itself.

The Esoteric was not something that should be modded according to a few experienced modders. The jitter was really high and could not be fixed.

Sim Eclipse- I did not want to void the warranty of an $8k CD player by getting a $400 mod. Besides a good Transport DAC combo was better than this player at ½ the price.

April Music CDT200- I am sure that this transport could come close or be equal to the modded SB3 but you loose the convenience of the SqueezeBox so if there is no sonic advantage and there is a real disadvantage from a usability perspective why mess with a CD player?

The SB3 not only offers unlimited music playback of your CD collection but you also get internet radio and the SB Network. I have music playing 24/7 on 3 systems all synchronized and will never go back to CDs.

The SqueezeBox is to audio what Tivo+Pay Per View are to TV. So if you can have that level of convenience along with the outstanding performance why not take full advantage of the technology?

Who told you the DV50's jitter problem couldn't be corrected?

Haven't heard the Sim Eclipse and didn't know it cost $8K.

The April Music CDT200 can be upgraded to outperform a modified SB.

If I was looking for convenience & sound quality, I would have gone the extra expensive for a modified Transporter
rather put $2300. into a SB3.

Bingenito · « **Reply #19 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 01:45 am »

Quote

What is it about FLAC that you find sonically worse than wav? They are lossless, so I would have guessed it to be equivalent. Are you saying Flac-> wav sounds better than Flac->Flac? Or are you saying you decompress to wav even before Slimserver (huge files)?

I go .wav to .wav so there is no conversion. The files are huge but I have the drive space and network performance so it works! I find that .wav sounds a little more refined and open. Probably more to do with the lack of coversion then the format itself.