Just bought a squeezebox3 - a couple of q's

[SteveAS]

Hi,

I just bought myself a squeezebox3. Initially was going down the cd transport & DAC route, but felt it just as good (for my setup) to rip existing & new CDs via EAC as FLAC files onto a HDD and stream them wireless down to my AV system using this SB3.

Ok, after a painful exercise in getting the slimserver to work with McAfee (grr! I've had to disable windows firewall) I eventually managed to get the server up and running. I now have a couple of questions and hopefully someone out there will be able to help me.

1. What is the best way of connecting the SB3 to my AV amp? I am using an optical cable at the moment which is connected to the optical in (for CD) on my amp. Should this be ok, or should I be using a different optical in port on the amp, e.g. DVR/VCR? Is digi co-ax cable a better option instead of optical or even RCA interconnects maybe?

2. I have the volume on the SB3 to max (100) to replicate a similar volume level to my ex-CD player. Is this right? Is there something I should be doing to my PC volume or what?

3. I have an account with Pandora internet radio, but I can't seem to get it to play through the SB3 via squeeze network. My PC plays Pandora fine. Is this down to how I originally setup the SB3's region, i.e. Europe? Should I restart the setup and select USA? Or am I following red herrings?

Apart from that it is a good piece of kit. My only disappointment is that mp3 playback sounds average, but I expected that anyway. I am hoping that when I eventually move over to FLAC I will hear a difference between the same tracks at different formats.

TIA for any help, Steve

[badbob]

Try comparting analogue out from the SB, to digital out (either optical or coax) on your av amp.

If you use digital out, remember to set the level to fixed in squeezebox settings.

Also use replygain (foobar) on your music collection, and enable it in squeezebox settings.

Checkout "Custom Browser" It allows you to add your own library menus, ie rather than using standard "browse" I have \A \B layout, much faster. Also singles are in there own sub menu.

I have two SB3.

[amcluesent]

>1. What is the best way of connecting the SB3 to my AV amp? <

The DAC is the SB3 is pretty good, you may find it better than that in your AV Receiver. Try listening with lossless files to test which you prefer.

>2. I have the volume on the SB3 to max (100)<

That's what I have, you can also set the pre-amp attenuation on the SB3 in the set-up.

>3. I have an account with Pandora internet radio<

Pandora have recently lost a legal case on licensing outside of the USA and have set IP filters to lock-out rest-of-world accounts. It's been hit and miss if the UK still works.

>when I eventually move over to FLAC I will hear a difference<

You should do, depends on the quality of the rest of your kit! 320kbit MP3 with the LAME encoder can sound quite good...