Squeezebox sound quality vs CD, and Panny XR55 info

[curtis]

I think you should be careful when saying the Squeezebox will sound better than a CD player. More convenient? Definitely!

[shane55]

Ha!
Well Grayson, you've heard just about every possible 'solution':

Change your CD player
Change your receiver
Listen to different CD's
Go from your digital to analog connection
Just get used to the speakers
(And probably more... that I just don't remember this late at night...)

So whatchagonna do? Eh???

Notice: No one said "send back the speakers"?

Whatever. All of us, not being in your abode, playing with your various electronics and tweaking it ourselves can only guess. We are well-meaning, but it's all speculation until you isolate the true 'issue' and correct it. Even if that true issue is to get used to the neutrality of the speakers!

Any way you do it... welcome to the Ascend Community... and good luck!

cheers

shane

[Grayson73]

Thanks for all the responses. I'll wait a while to see if A) the speakers break in and B) my ears adjust.

I was playing with the SFC adjustments (i.e. Jazz, Pop/Rock, Party, Live) and certain ones seemed to sound better to me (I assume these are just preset EQ settings), but I'm going to try to stick to PLII and DTS:Neo6 since they should offer a flat response.

[Grayson73]

[QUOTE=2. CD playback through digital connection to xr55 --- I much prefer to use my Marantz CD player's DAC via an analog connection, can hear a definitely brighter "edge" when using the Panny's DAC[/QUOTE]


Are you talking about using the red/white audio cables from the DVD player to the receiver?

Semi-related question: I'm thinking about buying the Samsung DV-HD841 DVD player for SACD and DVD-Audio only (I already have a Sony DVP-NS75H for DVDs). With this, I would be hooking up 5 channel analog. What happens when I play a regular CD through this setup? Does it still go through the 5 channel analog or do I need to also connect the stereo red/white?

[Mag_Neato]

I believe the 5.1 outs will still pass a regular CD signal as well. You may have to refer to the player's manual/menu and see if there's a setting you need to make in order for that to work.

[shane55]

Are you talking about using the red/white audio cables from the DVD player to the receiver?

Semi-related question: I'm thinking about buying the Samsung DV-HD841 DVD player for SACD and DVD-Audio only (I already have a Sony DVP-NS75H for DVDs). With this, I would be hooking up 5 channel analog. What happens when I play a regular CD through this setup? Does it still go through the 5 channel analog or do I need to also connect the stereo red/white?

Grayson.
First... yes, the 'red & white' out from your CD player will throughput an analog signal to the same colored inputs on your receiver (probably labeled CD).

If you connect the 6 cables (5.1 is 6-ch audio) from your SACD / DVD-A player to your 6-ch inputs on your receiver you won't have to change anything to play CD's in stereo... most likely.

I have a question for you though... are you playing CD's in DTS Neo or D-PLII? My outrageously blunt opinion is... don't. Play your stereo CD's in stereo. I don't try to alter my sound in any way. This means that I don't use any of my receivers 'sound modes'. No Jazz, Rock, Concert hall settings. Nothing. I keep it pure and 'flat'. Most of those settings seem to destroy the fidelity and add effects that I can’t tolerate. I don’t know your receiver, so I can not say exactly what your settings do to the sound, but I can’t imagine that your PLII or Neo are any different than mine… so turn them off. They are not music’s friends.

As for your speakers ‘breaking-in’. Well… yes. They do, and they don’t. Check a thread from a while back on this subject. Some… with extremely acute hearing may be able to detect a difference (especially in subs), but most won’t. Speakers ‘break-in’ only in as much as the speakers’ suspension material actually softens slightly with use. Whether it truly effects the sound has been debated ad infinitum.

Your mind should get used to the sound of the Ascends because you'll realize that with a well-recorded / produced CD it will sound 'right'.

The point is this: If your CD player is correctly set up and connected *properly* to your receiver… if your receiver is *properly* set up (stereo – flat – only to start!) and all your speaker wire / connections are of *good quality* (let’s not start an AWG 12 Monster cable is better than AWG 14 Zip cord debate), you should be just fine.

Then… let the Ascends do what they are supposed to do.

Good luck

shane

[rajacat]

I think you should be careful when saying the Squeezebox will sound better than a CD player. More convenient? Definitely!

Curtis,

I did qualify my statement ("for the most part") . I have a stock Squeezebox and I have found that it far surpasses the SQ of my Panasonic DVD/CD player. Of course this is speculation but I would suspect that if you took a poll on this question, the vast majority of SB owners would agree with me. Also a modded SB is supposed to take it to a whole new level surpassing even dedicated high end CD players with exterior DACs.

The Squeezebox is not the only computer based music source that appeals to audiophiles and now there is the new Olive music player that is attracting interest and professional modders such as Red Wine Audio, http://www.redwineaudio.com/ are looking at this device to apply their skills.

Raja

[curtis]

Curtis,

I did qualify my statement ("for the most part") . I have a stock Squeezebox and I have found that it far surpasses the SQ of my Panasonic DVD/CD player. Of course this is speculation but I would suspect that if you took a poll on this question, the vast majority of SB owners would agree with me. Also a modded SB is supposed to take it to a whole new level surpassing even dedicated high end CD players with exterior DACs.

You need to qualify it even more....what kind of files?

My Squeezebox does not surpass the SQ of my Denon 2900.

[rajacat]

You need to qualify it even more....what kind of files?

My Squeezebox does not surpass the SQ of my Denon 2900.

Denon 2900 list price =$840. Squeezebox 3 list price = $300. Your opinion of the SB might change if you had it modded, either digital or analog or both. With the digital mod you might have to make an investment in an external DAC to fully realize its potential. The future is now and the dedicated CD player will go the way of 8 tracks and cassettes.

Files? I rip my CDs using EAC for lossless wav files which are converted to flac compressed files which the SB decompresses and converts to beautiful lossless music.

Raja

[curtis]

I got my refurbed 2900 for $500. The SB3 is now $249, in addition, the analog mod is $279, digital mod is $399. You may even need to add the cost of storage and networking.

Can you point me to a link where people are saying the Squeezebox + lossless files sound better than CD players?

The future is now and the dedicated CD player will go the way of 8 tracks and cassettes.

I think it will be a while before lossless files are readily distributed by the music companies.