Better sound with cable box or Squeezebox Duet?

I use to have Time Warner Cable through a Scientific Atlantic HD8300 DVR using the optical TOSLINK with a glass cable connected to an Apogee BigBen digital clock, which would feed my Zanden DAC.

I also had a SqueezeBox connected to the BigBen clock through a coax cable. Music was ripped using WMA lossless on my PC music server at the time.

All sources that connect through the BigBen become reclocked signals then feeding my DAC. This would essentially level the playing field for when listening to different digital sources.

Both MusicChoice channls on Time Warner Cable and SqeezeBox delivered digital from my music server were very very close. I suspect the optical TOSLINK connection was the weak point in the chain detracting from the cable box's performance. I'm not claiming I could even hear the difference, it was probably more 'in my head' knowing about the interface differences.

Both sources were 44.1k non compressed.

Internet radio is horrible, compression rates are the culprit. I try to listen to 192K stations only, and they are the only ones worth listening to IMHO.

I don't listen to my CDs or albums much anymore. I like the thrill of hearing something new without getting off of the sofa. That is what is so appealing about cable music channels. I'm just trying to find the best sound using that format.

Agreed. Lossless files streamed to an SB sound worlds better than cable radio, internet radio and even satellite radio.

Internet radio sounds really bad to me on anything but computer speakers. My Squeezebox, on the other hand, streaming Apple Lossless files to my stereo (I also use a Benchmark DAC-1), sounds as good as my expensive high end CD players. But make sure you are streaming high bitrate music files; MP3 level files won't sound any better than internet radio.

I compared a Comcast cable box playing digital cable radio to an IPod Nano playing 128kps through an DLO dock using in ceiling speakers in a clients home and the IPod blew way the Comcast box. In another clients home, I compared a Sonos ZP100 screaming Rhapsody to the Comcast box, through in ceiling speakers, and again the Comcast box lost.

In a friend’s home, I compared the new Comcast DVR to a modified Squeezebox3 through an outlaw 990 processor, outlaw 5x200 amp and VSR VR4jr's. Again the Comcast box lost. BTW, the squeezebox was playing 128kps internet radio.

WMMV.

I don't have your cable box, but I am willing to bet it will sound much better. PC Radio is usually very heavily compressed, low bit rate.