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Does the computer matter?

post #1 of 27
6/26/09 at 4:33pm
Thread Starter 
Hey, I'm a relative newbie to head-fi. What I wanted to ask...When you're using a computer as a source, does it matter what computer you use? It seems when I play a flac file on my Imac it sounds better than when I play the exact same file on my Macbook. I'm using windows, wimamp, and the Ibasso D10 dac on both playbacks. Any feedback on the matter would be appreciated. Thanks.
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post #2 of 27
6/26/09 at 4:47pm
If it is streaming bit-perfect both ways to the DAC, I see no reason why it should sound different at all. Are you using WASAPI or ASIO or Kernel streaming or anything like that?
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post #3 of 27
6/26/09 at 5:16pm
Yes, it sure makes a difference.
You want bit-perfect output, and even the output connector of your preference/need.
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post #4 of 27
6/26/09 at 9:01pm
Also, even if you are getting bit-perfect data from both computers to your DAC, jitter may have an influence, and this can be different from each machine, especially if you are using different connectors (I understand the Ibasso has both USB - S/PDIF)

Are you using the same connection in both cases?
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post #5 of 27
6/26/09 at 9:08pm
If you are using usb it really shouldn't make a difference unless the computer is incredibly slow and you are multitasking.
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post #6 of 27
6/26/09 at 10:41pm
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post #7 of 27
6/26/09 at 10:46pm
With usb you are bypassing the sound card completely.
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post #8 of 27
6/27/09 at 1:39pm
Thread Starter 
I'm using the USB for both Macbook and Imac.

As far as "bit-perfect" goes, I don't know what that means.
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post #9 of 27
6/27/09 at 10:58pm
To my understanding, bit-perfect in this context means that the data arriving to your DAC is bit by bit identical to the original audio file in your computer. This happens when neither the software nor the hardware modify in any way the data contained in the file.
There are several processes in the digital domain that can alter the data and "destroy" bit-perfection (upsampling, downsampling, equalizing...)
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post #10 of 27
6/28/09 at 4:23am
Quote:
With usb you are bypassing the sound card completely.
Not true, on pc you have to unmap and bypass kmixer and in vista you have to use wasapi or other plugins to get the best sound quality because it goes through the internal sound card.User-Mode Audio Components (Windows) Here is a example of the vista process. Wasapi goes into exclusive mode which bypasses the audio card and gets output directly. While pretty much everything else gets put through the audio card. If you open up itunes and windows media center they can play at the same time, but if you then open up foobar or jriver mediacenter with wasapi output the other two will error out because the wasapi will override and that will be the only output till the wasapi application is closed. Like I said this is only one example becouse I dont feel like explaining xp too. The mac outputs bitperfect so you dont have to worry about the preceeding, but one thing to note is you can get even better quality from mac/itunes by using amarra software with it.Amarra testing Also another thing to note is All USB ports are not the same The usb cables used cables used can make a difference on the sound quality also. Also here are some good all around recomondations if you are going to do the computer setup.Computer Audio : Empirical Audio Oh well, enough with my ramblings. Good luck.
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post #11 of 27
6/28/09 at 4:29am
Also something else I thought of, test the computer your getting with some taxing applications to get the fan to turn on. Some of them are quite loud. Not a problem if you use closed cans but might come into play with open cans.
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post #12 of 27
6/28/09 at 4:30am
i picked up a Hot audio usb dac becuase my internal Auzentec X-Plosion was giving me bus noise with pci, and i still have the bus noise, i dont know if its a power issue or my motherboard is trash, but im going insane, and im sure its my computer, next im going to get a UPS from APC to clean up the power input, see if thats the problem,
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post #13 of 27
6/28/09 at 4:37am
You should be using ASIO or some other method to make your computer a bit perfect transport. I don't know how to do bitperfect on a mac as I don't have one although I guess you're running windows on a mac so ASIO4ALL would work? I think there's a way to get asio with winamp, but foobar is generally considered the best player in SQ. With bitperfect, the chances of there actually being a difference is near nil. USB is generally relatively low jitter (not always, don't flame me) and probably all your usb ports are ok although you may want to check to make sure.

Regarding the recommendations in that empirical audio post I think it's a bit over the top. If a portable is capable of decoding FLAC/ALAC/etc in realtime, any non-ancient computer is more than capable of media playback. I'm not going to comment on cabling because I don't want to start any arguments, but the merits of high end digital cables are questionable at best.
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post #14 of 27
6/28/09 at 5:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aevum View Post
im going to get a UPS from APC to clean up the power input
an offline UPS won't do much for improving the power quality...and an online one will cost you far too much money, plus they usually run a fan.

what is needed is a proper PSU(w/ as little 12V ripple as possible) and a motherboard w/ solid caps(they don't fluctuate as much as liquid, and are far more durable)...and make sure that the ground in the wall plug is actually wired.
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post #15 of 27
6/28/09 at 10:08am
My Motherboard
MSI DKA790GX Review - Motherboard Reviews - TrustedReviews
has solid state caps,
My PSU is a be quiet dark power 530w which is considered quite high end PSU for those of us who dont overclock or push 2 vhigh end video cards,, but it does have 3 years of service on its back,

and the grounded led on my surge protector is on, so i suspect that the grounding is ok

any other ideas ?
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