Squeeze box vs. CD player

I added a Slim Device SB3 about 3 months ago, using it as a "transport" to a DAC & my heavily modded Rotel CDP (Audiocom II Clock, BG caps in the power supply rails & fast recovery diode upgrade) has been collecting dust since then.

I recently replaced the stock power supply which came with the SB3 with a Bolder made to order power supply (with Jensen caps) & after a period of breaking in, the SB3 sounds even more amazing.

I auditioned the Meridian G08 before I went for the music server route. IMO, the SB3, Bolder ps & my modded DPA DAC (BG caps) sounds at least as good vs the Meridian & all this for under US$1k.........

The answers are it depends. :)

1) Stock SB was reviewed in recent Stereophile newsletter I believe. Might take a look at that. My guess is it competes well with most stock $1000 one box units.

2) A modded SB (I have an RWA full mod with most recent approach), is quite good. Total cost is around $800 with battery option. It would be better than most $1000 onebox solutions IMO. Mine is still breaking in, but sounds quite good.

The $1000 price point is where your questions become hard to answer.

I am using a TRL modified Sony dvp ns900 (shown at CES).
The total cost is around $1100 (mod is $750 and player used was $350). Many feel this unit is comparable to anything out there. Reviewers hear it and buy it. It is great digital. I make no claims about where it falls in the overall pecking order and could care less, but it is extraordinary by any measure.

There are also Modwright units that can be found here on Agon used for $1500-$2000 that many feel are in that same elite category.

My point is you can great digital for $1000-$2000.

The RWA SB3 is very good and the streaming interent radio is
a lot of fun. Is it as good as the TRL Sony 900? No.

If you add a dedicated DAC to it, then it can improved so you have that flexibility. Music on the hard drive also has soem real advantages.

There are also many other PC Audio solutions that people like (Empirical Audio, etc) that take maybe a higher end approach to PC Audio.

So, the answer is it depends. :)

I am of the belief that great digital, whether PC Audio or onebox solutions do not have to cost a fortune.

Good luck. Try Audiocircle Redwine Audio circle, look at Empirical Audio website, and do searches on Audio Asylum and here on PC Audio.

From my experiences, the SB or any other digital music system does not sound as good as the original CD being played through a good quality cd player. Depending on the system and your own sensitivity, this difference could be a lot or a little. I currently own a Sonos digital music system and I rip to 256VBR using EAC. The quality is acceptable to me. I did not hear enough of an improvement going from VBR to lossless to justify the added storage required (I have over 40K songs). For really critical listening I keep a stash of cds around that I can play on my Cary 303/300 cdp. Using a digital music system as a transport is another story. I would think that using a great DAC could make a huge difference in sound quality over using the mediocre internal DAC of digital music systems.