Tír Na HiFi

Progress Report.

You will recall that I wrote that a pillow of Bubblewrap placed underneath the Squeezebox slightly improved the sound. This is what I used.



Inspired by a shock mount microphone holder [it used rubber 'O' rings to isolate the microphone from the stand], and aware that the Bubblewrap pillow looked a bit rough and ready, I made up a RockerShockMount from a scrap of wood, the rubber bands are standard No 34 size, rubber band anchors are ordinary wood screws, two of the feet are the pointy ends of golf tees and the third 'foot' is a home made spike . I applied some beeswax to the wood which helps the stand look a bit better [??]:



You will note that the remaining parts of the golf tees were pointed with a pencil parer and can be used for their original purpose. Waste not want not!



and this is how it looks in place:



Thinking about this made me realise that the Internet Router is now part of the audio replay chain and it too might be better if it was shock mounted. About ten minutes work produced this much simpler RockerShockMount:



Similar rubber bands and feet as first example, I used tacks to anchor the rubber bands, you can just about see the golf tees used as feet from this angle. As on the first RockerShockMount, the woodscrew spike makes up the triangle support:



And in position:



The results exceed all my expectations. The overall sound improved ever so slightly when the router was supported. To be honest I am not talking night and day or Guinness -v- Budweiser differences, rather a smoothing of the sound. Once this smoothing is experienced there is no going back. As you can see my woodwork skills are pretty basic [laughable] but it is possible to achieve sonic improvements without spending a lot of money.

Not everything benefits from isolation it seems. I made up a heavier version and put it under the power distribution block and surprisingly the sound got worse.

The Bubblewrap pillow is now used to support my WD USB external hard drive which is used to backup the music files.

Well I have to say I enjoyed reading that. Now you've you've gone and given me ideas Tom! Only an hour ago I promised myself that I would stay away from attempted tweaks on the 'ol system for the foreseeable future as I've been driving myself barmy these past few weeks - you don't want to know, believe me! In fact, I was going to change my moniker to keep me on the straight and narrow: "Leave well enough alone!"

That's gas Tom, fair play! I'm a big believer in isolation. It often avoids unnecessary upgrades!

Excellent work Tom....Fran will be proud of you!!

Yeah, nice one!

Anything for free is good!

Fran..

Last week a very good friend called to hear the Squeezebox in action. And he brought four digital cables to try out.

1. Eichmann Express 75 ohm digital cable
2. Nordost Silver Screen 75 ohm video cable
3. Stereovox XV2 75 ohm digital cable
4. Nordost Valhalla 75 ohm digital cable (latest version fitted with WBT nextgen RCA connectors)

So without further ado, we played some music firstly using my own digital cable (unknown origin) and each of my friends cables in turn.

The Eichmann Express and Nordost Silver Screen did not improve the sound, in some ways they seemed to make it worse! My friend thought that "both were slow and muddled and the music didn't flow very well" which just about sums up their 'sound'.

The Stereovox cable was a revelation though. Suddenly the music sprung into life. My friend described it as "The Stereovox XV2 had greater clarity and it allowed the music to flow but it was a bit lighter in balance. One could live with it". This was a sound that I could happily live with.

The Nordost Valhalla was in a different league and bettered the Stereovox in almost every area. My friends words best describe the sound "The Nordost Valhalla digital cable had the clarity of the Stereovox XV2 but with greater weight and dynamics. The music flowed well. Bass was significantly deeper and more detailed." It was the bass that I first noticed, playing Enter Sandman by Metallica, the bass had a depth and authority that was missing before.

In summary, the Valhalla was the best cable but as it costs so much, the use of a Valhalla digital cable with a Squeezebox is only for those who have one to spare [!!] or, even more unlikely, one bought cheaply from eBay. The combination of the Squeezebox and the Stereovox cable really sings, at a more real world affordable price. Assuming you have the hardware, a DAC, CD player with digital input or amplifier with digital input and a computer to store the music files, this combination shows how good sounding hard disk music storage can be.

Interestingly all through the evening my friend held on to his preference for the sound of the CD spinner over the hard disk file even when the Valhalla cable was in use. I agree he has a point sonically but the Squeezebox has a few aces up its sleeve too. I am impressed with the Squeezebox Playlist function where one can build a compilation from the database. And especially useful is the Random function whereby the machine chooses the songs to play. iPod users have this feature for years but it is good to find it on a mainstream hi-fi product.

Tom

Really interested in your journey with the squeezebox.

I'm a big fan and have a few about the house. I also have 4x virtual squeezeboxes in a PC with an m-audio delta 410 soundcard. This drives 4x 'zones' around the house. It's a simple, cheap system and benefits from the management interface provided by the server and a unified control system as well as zone/device synching. A poor-mans Sonos if you like.

It's a HUGE pity that Logitech have effectively killed the squeezebox line and introduced the restricted UE series. I'm on the lookout for ebay bargain squeezeboxen to last me a few years.

By the way, are you the same Rocker from the old Cloney forums? We met 8 or 9 years ago to hand over a pair of PMC floorstanders we were auditioning?

meep wrote:Tom

Really interested in your journey with the squeezebox.

I'm a big fan and have a few about the house. I also have 4x virtual squeezeboxes in a PC with an m-audio delta 410 soundcard. This drives 4x 'zones' around the house. It's a simple, cheap system and benefits from the management interface provided by the server and a unified control system as well as zone/device synching. A poor-mans Sonos if you like.

It's a HUGE pity that Logitech have effectively killed the squeezebox line and introduced the restricted UE series. I'm on the lookout for ebay bargain squeezeboxen to last me a few years.

By the way, are you the same Rocker from the old Cloney forums? We met 8 or 9 years ago to hand over a pair of PMC floorstanders we were auditioning?

Hello Peter and welcome (back) to the Forum.

meep wrote:By the way, are you the same Rocker from the old Cloney forums? We met 8 or 9 years ago to hand over a pair of PMC floorstanders we were auditioning?

Yes Peter, the one and the same.

meep wrote: Really interested in your journey with the squeezebox. I also have 4x virtual squeezeboxes in a PC with an m-audio delta 410 soundcard. This drives 4x 'zones' around the house.

Peter,

Could you please enlighten me on what this means. A web link might suffice...

Thanks.