mlsstl
01-13-2007, 07:42 PM
This is a review summarizing my perceptions of the Slim Devices Transporter after two days of use. A lot of casual listening and several hours of very critical listening have been spent with a very wide range of music (see list below.)
First the system. I've got a modest, but I believe very musical, system. The speakers are Spendor S5e and the power amp is a Bel Canto S300. Both are highly regarded by both users and reviewers (and me.) Next the caveats. While I appreciate that various electronics can and do sound different, I am not a hypercritical audiophile. I often find the differences between two pieces of equipment somewhat analogous to difference between two seats in differing parts of a concert hall. Sit here and you're a shade closer and the orchestra sounds one way. Sit further away and you still have a wonderful listening experience, but it is just a bit different. One other item is I'm not a big cable or tweak person. I think well designed and property setup equipment works fine for me with fairly ordinary wiring when the basics have been attended to.
What I do look for are what I consider artificial qualities in reproduced music. Harshness, edginess, tizzy sounds, fuzziness, blur, muddiness and so on are all things that I do not hear when I listen to unamplified live music. While much of today's music is amplified, processed or even all-electronic, it too can sound better or worse in the hands of good or poor equipment.
A quick summary for those who don't know about Slim Devices products. These are computer network receivers that allow you to send music over your home network to your stereo that has been stored on your computer's hard drive. You can "rip" your CDs to the computer. This allows you immediate access to your entire collection without having to put a CD in a player. You can therefore build eclectic playlists that will provide hours and hours of non-stop music in whatever order you wish. Many people, like me, store their music in a "lossless" format that means the copy on your hard drive is an exact data duplicate of the info on the original CD.
The basic model is a Squeezebox 3 (SB3). These retail for about $300 and I've had one for some time (as well as a predecessor model.) They are an outstanding buy. The sound quality is equal to many quality CD players - it was easily the equal of my Nad C542 player which has a good reputation for the money. However, there were very slight traces of harshness in the upper end and just not quite as much "space" as I've heard in better systems. Many people address this issue by upgrading the power supply that comes with the SB3 and/or using an external DAC. The power supply fix is less than $100 and the DAC can range from a couple hundred to thousands of dollars.
Slim Device's fix for this is their all-out, $2,000 "Transporter" model. You can look up their specs and marketing info at http://www.slimdevices.com, but the simple explanation is this is their no-holds barred effort to make the best digital player they can. I decided to order one under their 30 day trial program and it arrived Thursday (2 days ago.) It dropped right into the spot where my SB3 was, using the same cables.
Here's a list of the music I've lent a critical ear to:
Beethoven - Pathetique; Tea Time Ensemble - Pussta Marchen, Tango Argentino; Anonymous Four - music from Montpellier Codex; Joaquin Turina - Fandanguillo, Soleares; Andrea Bocelli - Nessum dorma (Puccini); Bach - Toccata & Fugue in D minor (orchestral), Concerto for Oboe & Violin, Oboe Concerto in F major; Mozart - Voi che sapete (La Nozze di Figaro); Pachebel - Canon & Gigue in D; Jean Rameau - Phillippe; Julianna Raye - Heaven Is In Your Eyes; Lucinda Williams - Metal Firecracker, 2 Kook 2 Be 4 Gotten, Lake Charles; Beth Nielsen Chapman - Adoramus Te, Will & Liz, Free, Touch My Heart; Waifs - London Still, Since I've Been Around, Flesh & Blood; Bel Airs - Poor Man Rich Man; Alison Krause - Doesn't Have To Be This Way; Big Time Sarah - Thrill Is Gone; Carl Wilson - Heaven; Diana Krall - Temptation; Cheryl Porter - Ain't I Good To You (Nagra digital master); Randall Chowning - Banjo Rag, Sunny Side of the Mountain (from master open reel); Blind Boys of AL - Jesus Gonna Be Here (incredible string bass); Carrie Newcomer - Gathering of Spirits, Hold On; Jennifer Warnes - True Emotion, Lights of Louisianne; Mark Knopfler - You Don't Know You're Born, Baloney Again; Sam Cooke - Little Red Rooster; Chris Rea - Just Wanna Be With You; Morells - Nadine; Thea Gilmore - Sittin' In Limbo, Josef's Train; Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong - Cheek to Cheek; Ella Fitzgerald - Reach for Tomorrow (voice/piano only); Jimmy Spheeris - All In The Game; Tish Hinojosa - Saying You Will.
As you can see, a very eclectic list. Some are wonderful recordings, others rather ordinary. But only a small percentage of the recordings I love have top-of-the-line quality. The system has to work with the regular stuff, too.
The listening impressions give a firm nod to the Transporter. It is superior in every category. The decay at the end of songs and during soft passages, which is indicative of low level resolution, is simply outstanding. Silent passages are dead quiet. Overall, there is not as much temptation to turn up the volume, which is also indicative of the Transporter's ability to handle dynamic range without the analog electronics compressing things. The TP is no brighter sounding than the SB3, but there is a sense of air in the highs that the SB3 cannot match. Background vocals and minor instruments are clearly present in a way the SB3 cannot match. There were some unexpected surprises - it is just a real joy when you hear something you've never noticed before in a recording. I don't listen to a lot of large scale classical but this was definitely the best rendering of Bach's Toccata and Fugue that I've heard. As the orchestral swelled, there was simply no blurring or massing of the instruments.
These differences are most meaningful on music with significant acoustic component that have been naturally recorded with minimal processing. My personal opinion is that this extra clarity would be wasted for me if I primarily listened to heavier rock and roll.
However, this is an expensive unit. I am sorely tempted by the SB3 with an external DAC. However, I am not a super big Benchmark fan (a slight edge for my tastes) but there are many alternatives in the $500 to $1,000 range, both new and used. However, I do like the multiple and switchable inputs of the Transporter along with the remote volume control. The total package the Transporter offers does make it an enticing alternative.
I'm slightly frustrated as none of our local audio stores (St. Louis) sell an external DAC that I can audition. Any alternative companion for the SB3 is going to have to be bought on faith. The units that I sonically lean toward from past exposure (Bel Canto DAC2, Channel Island) also have no volume control and the inputs/controls and design aren't as convenient. Those can be addressed by extra components, but that's at odds with my simplification effort.
That's the status as of this point. I'm giving myself another week or so for further evaluation and to simply let the options and budget issues settle in my head. I'll keep you posted.
First the system. I've got a modest, but I believe very musical, system. The speakers are Spendor S5e and the power amp is a Bel Canto S300. Both are highly regarded by both users and reviewers (and me.) Next the caveats. While I appreciate that various electronics can and do sound different, I am not a hypercritical audiophile. I often find the differences between two pieces of equipment somewhat analogous to difference between two seats in differing parts of a concert hall. Sit here and you're a shade closer and the orchestra sounds one way. Sit further away and you still have a wonderful listening experience, but it is just a bit different. One other item is I'm not a big cable or tweak person. I think well designed and property setup equipment works fine for me with fairly ordinary wiring when the basics have been attended to.
What I do look for are what I consider artificial qualities in reproduced music. Harshness, edginess, tizzy sounds, fuzziness, blur, muddiness and so on are all things that I do not hear when I listen to unamplified live music. While much of today's music is amplified, processed or even all-electronic, it too can sound better or worse in the hands of good or poor equipment.
A quick summary for those who don't know about Slim Devices products. These are computer network receivers that allow you to send music over your home network to your stereo that has been stored on your computer's hard drive. You can "rip" your CDs to the computer. This allows you immediate access to your entire collection without having to put a CD in a player. You can therefore build eclectic playlists that will provide hours and hours of non-stop music in whatever order you wish. Many people, like me, store their music in a "lossless" format that means the copy on your hard drive is an exact data duplicate of the info on the original CD.
The basic model is a Squeezebox 3 (SB3). These retail for about $300 and I've had one for some time (as well as a predecessor model.) They are an outstanding buy. The sound quality is equal to many quality CD players - it was easily the equal of my Nad C542 player which has a good reputation for the money. However, there were very slight traces of harshness in the upper end and just not quite as much "space" as I've heard in better systems. Many people address this issue by upgrading the power supply that comes with the SB3 and/or using an external DAC. The power supply fix is less than $100 and the DAC can range from a couple hundred to thousands of dollars.
Slim Device's fix for this is their all-out, $2,000 "Transporter" model. You can look up their specs and marketing info at http://www.slimdevices.com, but the simple explanation is this is their no-holds barred effort to make the best digital player they can. I decided to order one under their 30 day trial program and it arrived Thursday (2 days ago.) It dropped right into the spot where my SB3 was, using the same cables.
Here's a list of the music I've lent a critical ear to:
Beethoven - Pathetique; Tea Time Ensemble - Pussta Marchen, Tango Argentino; Anonymous Four - music from Montpellier Codex; Joaquin Turina - Fandanguillo, Soleares; Andrea Bocelli - Nessum dorma (Puccini); Bach - Toccata & Fugue in D minor (orchestral), Concerto for Oboe & Violin, Oboe Concerto in F major; Mozart - Voi che sapete (La Nozze di Figaro); Pachebel - Canon & Gigue in D; Jean Rameau - Phillippe; Julianna Raye - Heaven Is In Your Eyes; Lucinda Williams - Metal Firecracker, 2 Kook 2 Be 4 Gotten, Lake Charles; Beth Nielsen Chapman - Adoramus Te, Will & Liz, Free, Touch My Heart; Waifs - London Still, Since I've Been Around, Flesh & Blood; Bel Airs - Poor Man Rich Man; Alison Krause - Doesn't Have To Be This Way; Big Time Sarah - Thrill Is Gone; Carl Wilson - Heaven; Diana Krall - Temptation; Cheryl Porter - Ain't I Good To You (Nagra digital master); Randall Chowning - Banjo Rag, Sunny Side of the Mountain (from master open reel); Blind Boys of AL - Jesus Gonna Be Here (incredible string bass); Carrie Newcomer - Gathering of Spirits, Hold On; Jennifer Warnes - True Emotion, Lights of Louisianne; Mark Knopfler - You Don't Know You're Born, Baloney Again; Sam Cooke - Little Red Rooster; Chris Rea - Just Wanna Be With You; Morells - Nadine; Thea Gilmore - Sittin' In Limbo, Josef's Train; Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong - Cheek to Cheek; Ella Fitzgerald - Reach for Tomorrow (voice/piano only); Jimmy Spheeris - All In The Game; Tish Hinojosa - Saying You Will.
As you can see, a very eclectic list. Some are wonderful recordings, others rather ordinary. But only a small percentage of the recordings I love have top-of-the-line quality. The system has to work with the regular stuff, too.
The listening impressions give a firm nod to the Transporter. It is superior in every category. The decay at the end of songs and during soft passages, which is indicative of low level resolution, is simply outstanding. Silent passages are dead quiet. Overall, there is not as much temptation to turn up the volume, which is also indicative of the Transporter's ability to handle dynamic range without the analog electronics compressing things. The TP is no brighter sounding than the SB3, but there is a sense of air in the highs that the SB3 cannot match. Background vocals and minor instruments are clearly present in a way the SB3 cannot match. There were some unexpected surprises - it is just a real joy when you hear something you've never noticed before in a recording. I don't listen to a lot of large scale classical but this was definitely the best rendering of Bach's Toccata and Fugue that I've heard. As the orchestral swelled, there was simply no blurring or massing of the instruments.
These differences are most meaningful on music with significant acoustic component that have been naturally recorded with minimal processing. My personal opinion is that this extra clarity would be wasted for me if I primarily listened to heavier rock and roll.
However, this is an expensive unit. I am sorely tempted by the SB3 with an external DAC. However, I am not a super big Benchmark fan (a slight edge for my tastes) but there are many alternatives in the $500 to $1,000 range, both new and used. However, I do like the multiple and switchable inputs of the Transporter along with the remote volume control. The total package the Transporter offers does make it an enticing alternative.
I'm slightly frustrated as none of our local audio stores (St. Louis) sell an external DAC that I can audition. Any alternative companion for the SB3 is going to have to be bought on faith. The units that I sonically lean toward from past exposure (Bel Canto DAC2, Channel Island) also have no volume control and the inputs/controls and design aren't as convenient. Those can be addressed by extra components, but that's at odds with my simplification effort.
That's the status as of this point. I'm giving myself another week or so for further evaluation and to simply let the options and budget issues settle in my head. I'll keep you posted.