[Puddleglum]

I was wondering if the dc drive of a computer matters for audio quality. Right now I have your standard toshiba DVD-ROM drive, and it seems to be ok, but I could be wrong. Does anything else matter i.e. motherboard, line-in cables, etc?

 

[CSMR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Puddleglum I was wondering if the dc drive of a computer matters for audio quality. Right now I have your standard toshiba DVD-ROM drive, and it seems to be ok, but I could be wrong. Does anything else matter i.e. motherboard, line-in cables, etc?

A good drive will have fewer glitches in sound. For clean discs no drive should have problems. Apart from this there shouldn't be any differences, although some will say that a clean power supply to the sound card will make a difference.

 

[Budley007]

Well, true....but I think the term would be "stable" power. The only other concern I would have would be RF noise. Most "Class B" systems generally work well with what the folks here accomplish as a "high end" music sources. There are exceptions, but in general you shouldn't have to address any of these concerns. The only money I would even think about spending in this area is a very good power supply. The quality of the soundcard is going to get you the best return for your investment. Decent interconnects with a good amp would be next on my list.

 

[Cyrix_2k]

Your CD drives DO matter... They can introduce noise into the audio

Also, don't use the analog cable; enable "Digital Audio Extraction" instead. Oh yeah, and a quiet computer helps the listening experience