Squeezebox Duet

[leo]

Hi Guys,

Anybody own the Squeezebox Duet? any opinions ? I was thinking of getting one to use with my external dacs

If I decide to get one I'll be modifying it myself but noticed a few people having issues with them especially the controller having various connection problems

Cheers,
Leo

[NRG]

Hi Leo, long time no speak! Not tried one myself but I'm interested in any feedback as well. Was thinking about getting one to update my system as I'm still using my highly modded SB mk1 (!)

[Audiocom AV]

Hi Guys,

Anybody own the Squeezebox Duet? any opinions ? I was thinking of getting one to use with my external dacs


Cheers,
Leo

Hello Leo

The Duet product is very good, the analogue stage is mediocre so you really need to output to an external DAC to hear it at its best.

When modified, the Duet can deliver sound quality very close to a good quality CD transport.

I also suggest a higher grade power supply, there are a few now appearing on the market.

Best Wishes
Mark Bartlett

[Tony Moore]

Hi Leo,

I have a Duet, the Squeezebox receiver is now built into my DAC case and uses I2S to the TDA1541A. (It's the correct format without any changes) I use an ALW super-reg to power it. (< 1 amp @ 9v as opposed to 1.5amps+ at 5v as the old SB3 was)

Sound is good. As Mark says, the internal DAC is not as good as the SB3 one (IMO) but it's lack of display and other ancillary bits and bobs makes it more suitable as a low(er) noise transport. Two onboard switchers but they seem very clean.

It starts up much faster than SB3. Power up and you're ready to play music within a couple of seconds. (assuming the server's up of course!)

We'll have to have another meetup one of these days.

Cheers,
Tony
ps. No controller problems with me. It works a treat. It set itself up without problems and has worked fine ever since. I am using wired connection for the SBR and SB3s though. I think most people seem to have problems with their wifi rather than the controller. I have binned the wifi card from the SBR, it just seems _wrong_ to put a radio transmitter in an audio product that you're trying to lower the noise in! The good thing is it _will_ unplug (with some brute force) and doesn't affect the operation.

[Tony Moore]

A photo!



Oh, I forgot to mention that it's also reclocked with the Tent XO3 and the I2S signals are reclocked synchronously by the board on the right. Super-reg can be seen at the back. Hawk buffer underneath to the left and Pedja Rogic DAC board hidden underneath the SBR.

I did experiment a little with tube output but for the moment I've decided that the Hawk buffer does an _excellent_ job, good image, punchy and dynamic and just more realistic.

Cheers,
Tony

[leo]

Thanks a lot guys its much appreciated
I think I'll give one a try then, my OS is Vista Home premium

Nice work Tony! pleased to see your still using Pedja's dac.
For the SBR I'll probbaly start with psu upgrades including improving the SPDIF out.
Because I also now have the Sabre dac as well as Pedja's AYA I'll be trying optional I2S output so it can be tried direct with either dac.
The AYA uses onboard reclocking


Tony and Neal, another meet up would be great sometime , its been a long time

[NRG]

Agreed Leo waaay overdue for another meet....

Tony, I recall you and Nick going through the I2S stuff at Owston meet before last, have you posted up the details of what you did....very interested in trying this, I have spare SB2 and 3 available and I'm starting to wonder how much better if at all they m ay be compared to my modded MK1....

[Tony Moore]

Hi Neal,

We've moved on a ways since that Owston! The "problem" with the SB3 (I don't know about SB2 but I think they're very similar) is that the I2S output is left-justified format and since the TDA1541A will only accept standard I2S then we had to adjust the timing relationship between the data and the word clock boundary. We did this using a Xilinx CPLD on the X-board development kit.



This was the previous incarnation of my DAC that I think you saw and heard at Richard's a while ago? Between AndrewL, NickG and myself (they did most of the programming work) we sorted the data streams.

The SqueezeBox receiver on the other hand uses standard I2S and so I could get rid of the X-board and go straight into the DAC (via my reclocker).

I still have the X-board all programmed up so if you wanted to experiment you could certainly borrow it to save you having to go about trying to get one. They are relatively cheap $40ish but the postage/customs swindle from the US doubles the cost.

Nick has used his to split the I2S into two differential streams to feed two TDA1541As which I'd also like to try at some point but at the moment I seem to have way too little time for experimenting.

Cheers,
Tony

[Labarum]

I have a Squeezebox Classic 3 whose sonic performance is supposed to be much the same as the Duet. I love it. The internal DAC is not good enough for me, but with a Beresford DAC the sound is excellent.

[Gazjam]

wot he says +1

I've an SB3 which I use through a seperate DAC and I've never played a CD since I got it.
Sound AA+ would be even better once modded I imagine? Closer to the SB+ or the Transporter.

Why a Duet though?
Is it just because of the controller?

You can use any Wifi device to control the SB3, particularly the Ipod touch.

The SB3 (with its display which doesn't affect the sound quality) used with an ipod touch is, to me, the best of both worlds.

See HERE:

http://penguinlovesmusic.de/?page_id=27



sorry to complicate it a bit