sleepysurf
Well-known member
For those of you using a Squeezebox 2 or 3 with digital coax (S/PDIF) out to an outboard DAC (or receiver), somebody has just discovered a "tweak" whereby MUTING the analog output (by setting the Slimserver Pre Amp Volume Control to 63), SIGNIFICANTLY improves the digital output.
Having banged my head (ears?) against the wall recently trying to eliminate the "digital glare" in my system, and having been on the verge today of buying a Modwright SWL 9.0 Tube Pre, I was fortunate to stumble upon this "fix" and am totally amazed at the improvement, with OBJECTIVE proof as outlined below!
I have a wireless doorbell repeater in my house (Heath XL-6166-RX-A), and I've noticed that, when streaming certain music (for example- In Trutina by Hayley Westenra), the doorbell always rings when she hits two specific high notes, and the entire track sounds pretty horrible in my system, even through my Benchmark DAC-1. I assumed it was a flaw in *MY* system... so much so, that, as posted elsewhere in this forum, I have been auditioning Tube Pre-Amps trying to rectify it. When auditioning Craig's Art Audio VPS DM Pre, I noted that it totally eliminated that "digital glare" and did NOT trigger the doorbell. I concluded that a Tube Pre was what my sytem was lacking, and was actually about to pull the trigger and buy a Modwright SWL 9.0 today!
Fortunately, I just read about this Analog Mute trick last night, and lo and behold... NO MORE "digititis" whatsoever, and no more triggering of my wireless doorbell. I have left everything else untouched (no change in volume/gain) and switched back and forth a few times with the mute invoked, and the effect is 100% reproducible. This has taken my system to the next level, and just saved me ~$2000!
Unfortunately, for those using the native Squeezebox DAC, with analog out, I don't know if there are further improvements possible with that signal path. No doubt Sean Adams and the rest of the Slimdevices folks will be looking into this, and hopefully coming up with an explanation (? software fix).
Having banged my head (ears?) against the wall recently trying to eliminate the "digital glare" in my system, and having been on the verge today of buying a Modwright SWL 9.0 Tube Pre, I was fortunate to stumble upon this "fix" and am totally amazed at the improvement, with OBJECTIVE proof as outlined below!
I have a wireless doorbell repeater in my house (Heath XL-6166-RX-A), and I've noticed that, when streaming certain music (for example- In Trutina by Hayley Westenra), the doorbell always rings when she hits two specific high notes, and the entire track sounds pretty horrible in my system, even through my Benchmark DAC-1. I assumed it was a flaw in *MY* system... so much so, that, as posted elsewhere in this forum, I have been auditioning Tube Pre-Amps trying to rectify it. When auditioning Craig's Art Audio VPS DM Pre, I noted that it totally eliminated that "digital glare" and did NOT trigger the doorbell. I concluded that a Tube Pre was what my sytem was lacking, and was actually about to pull the trigger and buy a Modwright SWL 9.0 today!
Fortunately, I just read about this Analog Mute trick last night, and lo and behold... NO MORE "digititis" whatsoever, and no more triggering of my wireless doorbell. I have left everything else untouched (no change in volume/gain) and switched back and forth a few times with the mute invoked, and the effect is 100% reproducible. This has taken my system to the next level, and just saved me ~$2000!
Unfortunately, for those using the native Squeezebox DAC, with analog out, I don't know if there are further improvements possible with that signal path. No doubt Sean Adams and the rest of the Slimdevices folks will be looking into this, and hopefully coming up with an explanation (? software fix).
