[krele]

I got tired of swapping CDs, so I was thinking into switching from my Original CD2008 cd player to - PC. I would store all cds in ape format on a hard drive array in basement, and run spdif signal to upstairs. Can I get DAC that can beat a **** out of 1000eur cd player for less than 500eur and connect it to a hdd based jukebox (pc)?

 

[CSMR]

How are you planning to control your PC to play music?

 

[BadassBob]

If he has a laptop or PDA he can VNC into it over his network.

 

[Graphicism]

Free your music!

 

[LuckyKarma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism /img/forum/go_quote.gif Free your music!

It is REALLY hard to keep myself from buying one of those, especially since I got that $400 scholarship check in the mail

They look brilliant!

 

[BadassBob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuckyKarma /img/forum/go_quote.gif It is REALLY hard to keep myself from buying one of those, especially since I got that $400 scholarship check in the mail They look brilliant!

I agree. I could really use one of those. The more I look at it the more Im tempted to purchase. It would be perfect in my bedroom hooked to my Entech 203.2 to stream music from my PC

.

 

[krmathis]

Three steps:
1. Play lossless encoded music.
2. Make sure you get bit-perfect output from your player/OS.
3. Use an external DAC of good quality.

In my case I play Apple Lossless files from iTunes through AirTunes (bitperfect) to an external Electrocompaniet DAC.

 

[Mikesul]

What does "bit-perfect output" mean? How do we get it? Is that what ASIO4ALL does?

thanks.

 

[xantus]

most important/overlooked step. silence your pc fans and / or shove it in the closet. 'cause what's the point of spending thousands on audio gear if there's computer noise in the background

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuckyKarma /img/forum/go_quote.gif It is REALLY hard to keep myself from buying one of those, especially since I got that $400 scholarship check in the mail They look brilliant!

Just buy one and thank me later

I can't say enough good things about them, from the ease of playing all your CD's to sounding better than any SACD player or sub $500 DAC. I wish I was slim devices rep!

Quote:

Originally Posted by xantus /img/forum/go_quote.gif most important/overlooked step. silence your pc fans and / or shove it in the closet. 'cause what's the point of spending thousands on audio gear if there's computer noise in the background

You would have to play your music extremely quietly to hear a PC fan in the background?

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikesul /img/forum/go_quote.gif What does "bit-perfect output" mean? How do we get it? Is that what ASIO4ALL does?

1. I don't know the technical aspect of bit-perfect audio. But I understand that it is critical if you want correct audio data out of a computer.
2. No idea. Other than using Mac OS X that is...
3. No idea.

 

[ShadowVlican]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism /img/forum/go_quote.gif You would have to play your music extremely quietly to hear a PC fan in the background?

if people here the differences between audio cables or power cords, i'm sure they can hear the computer in the background

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShadowVlican /img/forum/go_quote.gif if people here the differences between audio cables or power cords, i'm sure they can hear the computer in the background

That really depends on the computer.
I can barely hear my PowerBook G4 at all. On normal usage (music, web, email, etc) the fans never turn on, and the only noise comes from the spinning hard drive. In my case a Hitachi Travelstar 7K100, which put out a whopping 30db!

 

[HFat]

Yeah, laptops can run fanless most of the time.
My laptop display is pretty loud (for a display) but I can live with that. On the other hand I upgraded to a Travelstar 7K60 and that thing is real loud... I assume it's about as loud as yours. It's a good thing I'm not too nitpicky about audio because I would have had to switch drives again: it makes enough noise that I think getting rid of it is more important than going lossless or using a fancy DAC. I have toyed with the idea of setting up a RAM drive for the music I want to play in order to get that damn drive to shut up.

 

[Dragon Rider]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif 1. I don't know the technical aspect of bit-perfect audio. But I understand that it is critical if you want correct audio data out of a computer. 2. No idea. Other than using Mac OS X that is... 3. No idea.

BitPerfect (aka BitBatched) is a sound card setting for digital l/O that provides for a clean signal out; in-other-words, there is no audio processing (including special effects) done in the sound card. All the work is passed to the DAC for decoding/processing. This is a simplistic explanation; but, that's the kind of guy I am