[jhm731]

tomjtx-

As I posted on the SD forum, another TP user heard the same modified TP you tried and was blown away by the improvement. He purchased the unit.

Was he using the rca or the balanced outs?

The modded TP  rca did sound better than the stock TP rca.

If I didn't have balanced outs I likely would have done the mod.

Did he listen blind?
If not, expectation bias could easily be the reason he was "blown away"

Very experiened listeners here could not identify a difference through the xlr outs.

They could identify a diff using the rca.

The modder is very reasonably priced and does quality work.
Double Ugly has a different mod on his and I am interested to hear that.

But on the modded TP I had , xlr out , there was no difference.



 

Balanced outs into Rowland amps.

Don't know what speakers were used or if blind testing was involved.

IMO, if you heard a difference with the RCA outs, you should have been able
to hear a difference on the balanced outs...same upgraded opamps.

If you couldn't hear any difference with the unit you tried, I doubt you'll
hear any difference with Double Ugly's unit. They both have the same opamps.

[Double Ugly]

If you couldn't hear any difference with the unit you tried, I doubt you'll
hear any difference with Double Ugly's unit. They both have the same opamps.

I think he probably will. 

Recently I had a second Transporter on extended audition with the same op amps but different caps (same as found in Tom's TP, but not the Black Gates used in mine).  The difference between the two was significant in my system, so much so that our listening dwindled to almost nothing toward the end of the audition.

I'm not technically adept enough to know or even postulate whether or not the differences will be as profound via balanced outs, but I have to believe he will hear some difference.

-Jim

[audioengr]

I have a SB3 now myself.

I had thought about modding the SB3 and the Transporter.  I will be modding a few SB3's for customers, but not the Transporter.  The only reason to buy a Transporter is to use it for the analog outs, and I dont care for the D/A chip used in there.

I have decided not to mod my SB3, except for a minor mod:  Adding a clock input so it can act as a slave device.  If I do this, then the power supply and even the jitter coming from the S/PDIF out is a dont-care. This is because I will be sending the S/PDIF signal to my Pace-Car reclocker.  The reclocker acts as a master clock for the SB3 and buffers the received data in a FIFO.  It also isolates the ground between the SB3 and the audio system.  There is really nothing from the SB3 that needs to be perfect, the power can be crappy, the S/PDIF signal can be jittery, the S/PDIF cable can be cheap, and even the ground can be noisy.  It will still have squeaky-clean, low jitter digital output from the Pace-Car, as perfect as it can be.  The Pace-Car output will be I2S because it just makes sense.  Converting it again to S/PDIF or AES will just add jitter back in.  I should have the Pace-Car ready for this application mid-summer.  The only downside is that it will only do 16/44.1.  I'm hoping for a SB4 that will do 24/96 like the Transporter.  This is the only thing (except for SRC upsampling) IMO that is keeping networked data streaming from being the best quality source possible.  I believe this combo will even beat the mighty Memory Player.

Steve N.

[tomjtx]

Actually we finally compared the rca to xlr in each TP

Stock TP xlr sounded better than stock TP rca

We got the same results for the modded TP.

This could simply mean my system sounds better balanced than with rca inputs, rather than meaning the TP itself is superior with xlr.

It would be interesting to see if anyone else has tried  xlr V rca.

With regards to the Cali. TP results, if the comparison was done without an spl meter to level match it is hard to draw a conclusion.
If one unit were even slightly louder that could account for the difference.

Anyway, I am not ruling out that a mod can improve the TP and  am looking forward to auditioning another version.

[jhm731]

  I believe this combo will even beat the mighty Memory Player.

Steve N.

Pretty bold statement based on all the positive press the MP has been getting.

Have you compared your Pace-Car to the MP in your system?

PS- I agree with you on the SB3. I use mine with an upgraded Digital Lens and feel
no need to modify it.

[audioengr]

  I believe this combo will even beat the mighty Memory Player.

Steve N.

Pretty bold statement based on all the positive press the MP has been getting.

Have you compared your Pace-Car to the MP in your system?

PS- I agree with you on the SB3. I use mine with an upgraded Digital Lens and feel
no need to modify it.

The press always focuses on something glitzy.  They actually dont have a clue as to what is really good sounding IMO.  Just look at what ends-up on the cover of the magazines.  I've seen and heard the MP, or I would not make such a statement.  Have not done any direct in-my-system MP comparisons.  Only heard it in other systems playing my tracks, but that was enough. I believe the performance can be matched or even beat using much less expensive components.

I suppose if set-up right it can sound really good, but the price is overboard IMO and the build quality which is nice, is also unnecessary.  It's not going into space afterall.  For the price, it should be turn-key, not requiring any technical or computer knowledge and no laptop required.  It should address that part of the market.

[robert1325]

So Does anyone know How all these new USB dacs compare to Bolder modded squeezeboxxes?

I'm thinking of selling my bolder modded squeezebox 2 and get a usb dac:

1. easier to control from my computer ( It's beside the stereo)
2. I could use it for my DVD player

Robert

[TomS]

Robert,

If you feel like doing a little simple DIY construction and/or running off the grid, Doede Douma's NOS DDDAC is a nice project using multiple 1543 NOS DACs.  It uses a simple USB-I2S converter instead of going USB-SPDIF, which, as Steve says, is often a step backwards.  You can even buy the boards preassembled from him and he's in your part of the world too.  I have the 60-DAC version (1x12 master DAC, 4x12 slave DAC boards) with USB-I2S, but you can start small and upgrade as you go.  It's probably not state of the art per SN's comments, but it is still very good for the low price of admission.  There is also plenty of support for capacitor, resistor, and other component tweaks as well.

http://www.dddac.de/

Tom

[robert1325]

Thanks for the suggestion,  I was actually eyeing the promitheus DAC ... 

Should be a real killer with it's transformer coupled output

http://www.promitheusaudio.com/dac.htm