Hands on: Sounds better

Neither are the traces from the buffer output to the connector. In most cases the receiving connector is not 75ohm and the cable length is such that multiple reflections of the original signal can be present and cause jitter."

“The mods performed by my company address the very poor power distribution to the relevant chips and ensure the output impedance and connector is correct for digital audio.

"We also address the use of switching power supplies. These add a great deal of noise to both the DC and AC line raising the noise floor and obscuring subtle details.”

Wayne continued: “The Squeezebox is a very well-designed product for the money. But we use higher-quality parts and a better signal and power layout to achieve a greater degree of fidelity than is possible for the price point it was designed for.”

When it comes to hi-fi, you have to listen to the results to see if they’re preferable. As discussed in previous columns, I’ve found my modified Squeezebox used in conjunction with a superior power supply from Channel Islands Audio sounds better than an unmodified version.

Audiophile experiences
David Boocock is another Squeezebox fan, but wondered why I hadn’t mentioned the Transporter in my most recent column.

The Transporter is a high-end audio streamer from Slim Devices/Logitech that has certainly received favourable reports, but much of its budget is devoted to the analogue output which was redundant in my own system.

While the digital output is improved over the standard Squeezebox, I believe the carefully targeted modifications to the digital components performed by Bolder Cable on the Squeezebox delivered a superior result for my digital-only requirements.

Another reader, Mike Barnes, approved of my use of Exact Audio Copy to extract data from CDs with the minimum of errors, although he opted to encode them using WMA Lossless rather than my choice of FLAC.

However, Mike said: “My thinking and yours part company in the area of getting the sound to the audio equipment. I opted for a good-quality soundcard in the PC and a good old-fashioned analogue circuit to the amplifier, and I’ve never regretted that choice for a moment.