Squeeze Box upgrades

Hi - I have both and they are both very fine units. BTW I have just learned that my RWA is obsolete since it has the Auricaps - if you read the Squaare Circle post, you will see that Vinnie mentions the difference in caps as the most plausible explanation for the difference in sound... (I got to add the battery into that)

I guarantee you will be delighted... And that you will like dealing with both Wayne and Vinnie. Each has their bent and special skills. Vinnie is more the engineer with a whole line of stuff he has designed and a real focus throughout his line on battery power which sounds awesome.

Wayne is a modder who gets a great sound, he used to do the Mensa Art DI/O DACS and he is an expert on power supplies. He also makes some exceptional cables and is big into Bybees which he will add to anything you ask him to.

If you are real tight on space I would think carefully about the RedWine only because that battery is a bit of a clunker. Definitely demands a place to call home that you can easily get to in order to switch it on and off. Vinny will gladly make an extended cable to 6 feet or so so you can position it more conveniently...

Both take a 100hrs+ for the caps to run in but you can just set them on a radio station and fuggedaboutit...

Toss a coin - this is one of those rare win wins

best,
ck

Steve Nugent at Emprical Audio informed me that he would do a Squeezebox mod as well when I was inquiring about some other things I was considering. You will have to contact him for information directly as there is nothing on his website about the mods. IMO Steve is probably the most knowledgeable when it comes to PC audio.

I have dealt with Vinnie Rossie before who bulit me a USB interface and was very pleased with the product and service. I have had the opportunity to meet Wayne and as a former Denver-ite can attest to his beer making capabilities, but unfortunately cannot attest to his mods.

Does anybody know of a free and easy to understand program I can use to rip cd's into FLAC to my computer?I understand FLAC is the way to go.

Try www.etree.org. There are some links to free tools there I use. EAC to rip the CD to the HD, then a WAV to FLAC conversion tool. If there is something free-er and easier than that I'm interested in hearing about it too.

EAC can be configured to compress with .flac as the external compressor. It works like a charm and can consolidate the .wav > .flac process.