Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Finally installed my Squeezebox 3

Ok so I have it working! Converted a few of my CD's to lossless FLAC and although it sounds OK its not as good as my 598...or my Pioneer 51fd Bluray player playing back CD's. So far I sense a tad less dynamics and slightly smaller sound stage.

So my question is what should I be using for bit rate in my FLAC settings? Currently set to 768kbit! I am using EAC right now. I still think it is pretty cool and the sound is still very smooth its just lacking that little bit of WOW to it. You know what I mean?

May be I should try WAV and see if i can hear a difference.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Ron

WAV and FLAC should sound the same.

dBpoweramp is 10x easier than EAC to use and just as good. It also has better tagging (reference version).

Most FLAC encoders have a scale of 1 to 10 and I think the default is 7 or 8. Setting higher just puts more work on the encoder and decoder and takes longer and gets diminishing returns for the amount of work. I just leave it at the default of 7 or 8.

Try testing by ripping a DTS track and play it to verify you have everything setup correctly.

Hi George,

I retract my statement! It sounds great. Just when I started listening to it for the first time my fire alarm went off in my house. My wife was broiling something and it set off the alarms. I had to hush the alarms and my ears were next to the loud alarm. It clearly compromised my hearing for a few. After dinner I listened to Kenny Neil again and it sounded wonderful! I am happy! My Squeezebox 3 is connected to a 518 and then my 568.2. Sweet! So much for alarms going off in my ears! Doh!

Ron

Still always worth a DTS sound check. It's easy.

Why the DTS track? You mean DTS from CD and to what? FLAC?

Yes DTS CD.

Yes test your exact "CD Work flow" treat it like it was a new CD and how you would handle a CD.

If you use FLAC for CD use FLAC for the test.

Now I just need to find a DTS CD. I only have a couple.

Hi George,

DTS works perfectly! I forgot how good these can sound. Diana Krall! Nice!

Now I just need to keep converting CD's until I am finished. This is going to take a while.


Ron

FYI, some people are saying the latest beta release of SqueezeCenter (configured correctly) will provide improved sound. This is reported here: http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=64267.0

Personally, I have not been able to tell a difference. It may be snakeoil, but at least it's FREE snakeoil.

People have been saying this version sounds better than that for years but most will agree it's more in peoples heads.

Hey George,

7.4 does sound better decoding to PCM in the PC. I never tried this with 7.3 though. It sounds a little more crisp like maybe better highs. 7.4 doesn't seem as sluggish as 7.3 while navigating. Who knows maybe it's my imagination. It is getting late.

Edit: No I am sure of it...decoding FLAC to PCM in the PC does sound better! More air up top and I swear tighter bass. Over all more crisp sounding. Like I said I never tried this with 7.3 so decoding in the PC may have always been the better setup.

Ron

Hi Ron

Glad you are enjoying your SB3. If you haven't already got one, I would strongly recommend you get a Controller unit. Navigation is 10x faster than with the standard SB remote and the user interface is much more slicker with album art etc.

Cliff