$kkks
Funny! I like that...
Stock SB is a landmark audio product. It's success is born directly from its low price, that is its best feature. It was designed to the low price, meaning it was not designed as a high end audio device. There are inherent design compromises that disqualify it from being a hgh end source. The sound is very good for a mid fi player, which is why it has become a audiophile cult classic.
It's flaws are serious when considering it for a high end source. I don't believe these can be modded away because they are integral to the trendy "consumer appliance" design.
The flourescent display emits EMI that is audible in the analog output. Dimming the display helps, but it is still audible. Pictures of mods I've seen still run the coupling cap leads across the center of the device so EMI can still be picked up, but not amplified by the output gain stage. What do you guys find with the buzz on modded units? Theoretically it should still be there since low voltage signal from DAC is longer now. To hear it, set display on bright with large font, mute or pause, listen to right speaker - up close if you are lower sensitivity speakers, or from 10 feet away if higher sensitivity.
Digital VC adds noise with bit loss. Hash from using the digital volume control is audible, especially with high end DACs with powerful output stage like Altmann's 5Vpp. Much less audible (if at all) with stock analog outputs, but still there, of course.
My SB hissed full volume white noise at me when it was 3 months old, into a pair of directly connected Nuforce 9se.
I realized then that my unit is a toy and does not deserve upgrades. It has not misbehaved again since then, but I am still gun-shy. Other users have reported this behavior, and last I heard slim was not able to identify the cause. Maybe early batch, or maybe due to interaction with attached amps? Other less serious weird behavior happens from time to time, easily accepted as normal in a $300 device.
Disabling the output stage as is done in Bolder and RedWine mods reduces power output. This has implications that need to be addressed in a successful high end use of SB. I have a big room and occasionally play uncompressed classical music at full volume, straight into the amps and listen from 30 feet away (while I cook
). In normal listening I often set SB to 85 and sit 10 feet away. I listen to compressed music at ~65. My speakers are 95dB efficient. So with no output stage I would need active gain after SB to achieve the volume levels I get with stock output stage. An external preamp usually means another pot, more caps, tubes, cables and temporary cable connections to color the sound and affect dynamics, etc. With all these compromises involved in using external attenuation I can understand why direct connection is recommended to hear the benefit of the upgraded SB, but there is a cost to removing the output stage if you listen mostly to music that is not compressed to -8dB RMS as is most modern non-classical music. Burson buffer is being used in place of output stage by some people now, but there's another $kkk.
To be a truly high end product, the speed and ease of use of the GUI needs upgrading too. Foobar on a laptop or couch side display appeals to me, but has drawback of local PC noise. A NAS solves the noise problem, but it can't host slimserver effectively, too slow for navigating. I guess slim running on a PC with network control on a handheld would work fine, but there will be normal wifi/windowsCE issues. NAS also does not have enough processing power to run Inguz plugin, nor to decode flac on the server and NAS still requires an improved display over the SB GUI.
SB is oversampling DAC in a less than ideal implementation due to the packaging and cost limitations. After hearing the battery powered Altmann NOS DAC, I am compelled to follow that path. The stock SB doesn't even come close.
As a $300 consumer electronics product I suspect SB will break inside of 10 years, but that remains to be seen. Every product I've owned in that category starts failing in some way by that time.
I like what stock SB does. I'm in no rush to upgrade, but I will eventually. The SB concept is great, and with good ICs, good cheap linear or battery power supply, and external analog attenuation I think it is a true, low budget, high end source, meaning it can easily be 'enjoyed' in a high end system without irritating distraction. It's not the best sound in the world, of course, but it's good, and better than most anything else made for $600 which is what it costs with Grover ICs and a decent Power-One/Condor/Elpac linear power supply. Maybe NAD or Cambridge Audio or somebody makes a CDP that sounds as good at that price, but it wouldn't have network music features we all love!
Sorry for the length on this one.
Rich