Logitech Duet vs. Dedicated Transport

Lush,

I run an SB3 to a Benchmark Dac1 with both optical and via silver IC's. I have slso used various transports, some cheap, so not so cheap, feeding the DAC1 and have to agree with all above, it's not worth using a transport and having to change CD's vice sitting and using a remote to cue up album after album.

I also, to my ears, am unable to hear a difference from SB3 to DAC1 on either IC's or optical feed. Someone else might hear it, but my wife and I don't/can't.

The ease and convenience of using a music server just gains you much more listening time, versus changing CD's. Of course I still mess with vinyl, so I get my share of time changing, cleaning, etc, etc.

I have the Squeezebox Duet and run a coaxial out into one digital input on my Cambridge 840C. Since the CD player is also the DAC, it's not surprising I don't notice a difference.

The server runs on an Ubuntu box in a quiet Antec case in my loft, which is also where the wireless router is, but the Logitech software will also run on a NAS.

I'm very impressed with what Logitech has done with this system, particularly the number of third-party plugins available. I use the Custom Browse and Custom Scan plugins to make it easy to browse my classical music files.

The downside is the time needed to rip CDs and retag files. I use abcde to rip CDs, and I wrote my own program to handle the custom tags for classical music.

It all comes down to the quality of the DAC after the duet. The Altmann DAC with the Duet beats any transport I have tried in my system including a Meridian transport, a modified Denon and a modified Oppo. Plus you can't beat the convenience of controlling your entire collection from the remote. Using a power supply like CIAudio instead of the wallwart that comes with the Duet with the Duet improves the sound.

Last follow up question;

Are you all running the Squeezebox via wireless or hard wired to your PC's?

I've done both. My experience is that as long as you have a good wireless connection there is no difference in sound quality between the two connection types.

Some people do have wireless difficulties due to competing networks or other interference issues. In that case a wired connection would be preferred.