Squeezebox Duet DAC vs Rotel

try both, see what you like, i think it will be the rotel by a good margin.

Thanks for the responses and good advice - yes I figured the Rotel might be better although I've heard that the DAC in the Squeezebox is pretty decent all things considered. The Rotel is a few years old while the DAC is newer in the Squeezebox - I'm not sure if DAC technology has really advanced that much in the past few years :) I will sample both and see if I hear any differences.

I'm curious if you ended up trying both the dac from the rotel and the dac in the SB and if there was any difference.
How is the sound quality with whatever you decided on?
Mike

From my experience, the DAC in my NAD was preferable to that in the squeeze box. The NAD had a smoother more enjoyable sound, though the Duet had a bit more detail at the expensive of harshness.

On a side note, I love my Duet - it is easily the best piece of gear (of any hobby) I have in recent memory.

I have two Squeezeboxes - their built-in DAC is not for high fidelity systems. It's good enough for background music - I use one with Audioengine speakers, but for main system outboard DAC is a must.