[ibdrew]

Help for a newby. I have an external HD with tons of flac music. I am going out of HP Laptop through USB into my Peachtree NOVA 300 integrated which has a USB input and goes into Peachtree's on board DAC. The sound is OK but not anything near my CD sound quality.
Questions:
Should I change the software (bypassing windows) I am using Winamp and I also have Aimp installed. I have the settings as WASAPI Exclusive. My pc volume controls are not being bypassed.
Is there some external piece of Hardware that will make a huge improvement and get me closer to CD sound? (Audiophilleo 1?)
Is there some type of hardware that I can plug my external into that will allow me to completely bypass the PC?

I am looking for my next step and need some of you smart Computer Audiophile's help.

Thanks, Drew

 

[LoveKnight]

Yes. You need some devices like a music server or a streamer as I have an entry Melco N100 music server to have a sound quality closer to a CD player . You should use foorbar or Roon software to stream music or just play music directly from a music server.

 

[ibdrew]

Yes. You need some devices like a music server or a streamer as I have an entry Melco N100 music server to have a sound quality closer to a CD player . You should use foorbar or Roon software to stream music or just play music directly from a music server.

Thank you for the reply.. So with this device you completely bypass the PC?

 

[LoveKnight]

Yes. With a music server I store the music files on it and play from it or streaming music from the internet .

The normal PCs are noisy and not suitable for listening to critical music unless you treat them with special components such as linear power supply, audio usb card or network card and so on.

 

[tjl5709]

If it was me, I would be looking into understanding why you are not bypassing the volume if you are running exclusive. There is a possibility windows is reprocessing your digital files. I have used a laptop running both mediamonkey and musicbee to drive my DAC's. My primary server is a tower win 10 PC that I built and I have no issues in regards to my FLAC files not sounding "CD" like. I think your HP is reprocessing. I would explore some alternative software and drivers.

On a side note, was the cd plugged directly into the NOVA 300? If so, how was it connected? Digital (Coax or optical) or analog (line out)?

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Help for a newby. I have an external HD with tons of flac music. I am going out of HP Laptop through USB into my Peachtree NOVA 300 integrated which has a USB input and goes into Peachtree's on board DAC. The sound is OK but not anything near my CD sound quality.
Questions:
Should I change the software (bypassing windows) I am using Winamp and I also have Aimp installed. I have the settings as WASAPI Exclusive. My pc volume controls are not being bypassed.
Is there some external piece of Hardware that will make a huge improvement and get me closer to CD sound? (Audiophilleo 1?)
Is there some type of hardware that I can plug my external into that will allow me to completely bypass the PC?

I am looking for my next step and need some of you smart Computer Audiophile's help.

Thanks, Drew

Along the lines of what @tjl5709 said, something is wrong if you have exclusive mode but can still control the volume. Digital output should be set to 0 dB (max) and volume should be always be controlled at the amp. Otherwise you risk blowing your brains out and/or destroying your gear.

You could look into foobar2000 or MusicBee (both free), use ASIO if your Peachtree supports it. You want Windows audio totally out of the picture, ASIO is the best way to do that.