[sonci]

It`s been some time that I usually use Pc audio for music listening,
first, its so practical, you rip your cd in lossless, put them in the large Music folder,
and then Foobar will do the rest,
also the SQ is good, even with onboard audio, is quiet acceptable,
but I use some good audiophile soundcards and also some budget DACs,
and of course I have a cd player, which can be categorized as vintage, since is about 15 years old, its a Sony, entry level, it should be the ES line, but really the cheapest of the line,
so, I use it some times when I`m lazy to turn on pc,
the point is that I still prefer the sound of my cd player with a very old unknown DAC inside,
(and I wonder how better should modern audiophile cd players be..)
or maybe because this way is better to listen and concentrate to music,  just put the cd inside, sit down and listen, without playing with the mouse or internet browser..
Is pc audio audiophile, or  its just an easy way to listen to music, without messing with hundreds of cds?

 

[earfanatic]

I'm like You, playing music from the PC all the time, using an audiophile sound card etc, etc.
What You feel about Your CD player I thing is not the player itself but the "not turning on PC effect". I fight for it for a long time as I do not even have a CD player as You, nor anything but a PC, amplifiers, speakers and stuff.
I throw out everything from my PC that make audible noise. From most parts of the room I can't even tell if it is turned on or off. I like the soundcard too, I tweaked it myself, and there are plenty of albums on it. But watching a big screen, moving a mouse and clicking buttons on it is not what I really want to do to play music.
I sometimes switch to my rockboxed sansa Clip player and I am almost sure I can hear the difference from "not turning on the PC". I even considered to buy a Clip+ with card slot, and several SD cards to store all my music. I even found myself smiling about the idea of changing cards to access my music. Thats weird.
 
What I would like is a music server with a good dac, a small but readable screen, and a remote control. But those are very expensive compared to a PC.
The other side is to build a media server for You, this would consist of a mini-ITX board, Your favorite PCI sound card, a small touch screen and a remote control built in a sexy case (that's what Olive players are made of anyway), but I would never find the appropriate display, PSU and the case I would happily turn my eyes on while I'm wearing my headphones.
So I usually turn back to my PC, get my mouse and live with it.
 
If You found a solution I may follow Your way, until then I only wish I could "not turn on the PC".
 

 

[sonci]

Back in the times when you could listen only what you buy, a music sever would be useless,
but, seriously how much music do we need,
I remember to spin my old cds a lot of times, giving time even to mediocre music,
but today, if I dont like it on the 1 and1/2 listen, than its bad..
and I dont know if having more choices is always better.
Anyway, I started this poll for fun, forgetting that most people today don`t even own a standalone Cd Player, and dont know the beauty of the heavy cd tray opening (dont tell me its the same with the pc cd drive cause its not!!)
so forget about the minITX board for a moment, and just look for a vintage cdPlayer, you can have in mint condition for 20$, put it above your amplifier (please try to match colors), and use it sometimes,
you`d feel a lot better

 

[falis]

I have my music on an external disk connected to a desktop in another room.  I then use a Logitech Squeezebox Touch ($300) to access the music coming from the computer via a wireless router.  From there, into an external DAC and the amp.
 
But there are a lot of variations possible:
 
The squeezebox could be connected by wire to the network, and it would probably be even better.
 
Its analog outputs can go directly to amp (or use its headphone out directly).
 
You can use a USB memory stick or USB hard drive for the music, plugged directly into the Squeezebox.
 
The interface is very reasonable, includes a remote, and can access all kinds of internet radio type content.  For my wife, who was so intimidated by my former setup using a laptop, we call the squeezebox "The Liberator".
 
- Ed

 

[elrod-tom]

I've been using some variation of PC Audio for several years now.  I started out using the Linksys Wireless Music Bridge with my old DAC, then the Logitech Transporter (nice piece, btw!), and now I'm using the Logitech Touch with two different DACs (including a modified Wadia 830 with digital inputs).  I also have a direct PC link to the Wadia via MF V-Link, which I find sounds a bit better than the Touch by itself.
 
I got started down this road years ago because I have a job that permits me to listen to music all day at work.  I was one of the first to get on board with a "portable" DAC when HeadRoom came out with their first USB DAC (the Coda and Overture).  I've been using various devices since, including an RSA Predator, CEntrance DACPort, and lately the HRT Music Streamer Pro in combination with an RSA SR71B.  There's nothing like being able to listen to music that's better than most people can produce at home when you're sitting at your desk at work.
 
I've never gone the route of having an audiophile grade PC card, but I'm kicking it around as something to play around with.
 
The whole PC audio thing is more for convenience than anything.  If there's anyone who's really taken to it in my house, it's my wife.  She LOVES the convenience of the Touch.  For me, the sound quality is close enough to a CD in the tray of the Wadia that I rarely listen that way any more.

 

[ChipnDalebowl]

Computer audio has come a long way and it is more than acceptable to listen to audio these days. The separate hi-fi setup is nice, but if convenience is what you seek, you can't beat a PC. You don't need to spend a fortune to get good sound either. Rip in a lossless format (FLAC, ALAC, etc.), grab a player (foobar, xmplay, etc.) and enjoy!

 

[Roller]

Quote:

Computer audio has come a long way and it is more than acceptable to listen to audio these days. The separate hi-fi setup is nice, but if convenience is what you seek, you can't beat a PC. You don't need to spend a fortune to get good sound either. Rip in a lossless format (FLAC, ALAC, etc.), grab a player (foobar, xmplay, etc.) and enjoy!

I hope you're not forgetting the high quality gear that has to go with a PC in order for what comes from it to sound good

 

[wind016]

Foobar is pissing me off. There are a lot of 64-bit VST plugins that I want to use but can't. Still I use Foobar because I haven't found anything better.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

After all the voodoo cooks down to a roux, digital audio amounts to data, noise and timing. So if you have a bit-perfect stream, good galvanic isolation between the computer and the first analog stage (which resides inside your DAC, by the way), and your DAC is capable of managing jitter to below audible levels (as most of them are), you should be good. If, at that point, you hear a significant (something you can consistently ID blind) difference between your CD player and PC audio, its likely in the analog output stage of the DACs in those devices. And it ain't rocket science to get up to line level with audibly flat frequency response, so one or both of them is doing something wrong. And mind you, "wrong" is a subjective term. The wrong one, the one that is not accurate, may be the one that sounds right to you. It happens all the time.
 
P

 

[DaveBSC]

Other than the Mykerinos, I think expensive sound cards are a waste of time. Get yourself something like an Ayre QB-9 or Empirical Overdrive. Skip the sound card.

 

[Roller]

Quote:

Foobar is pissing me off. There are a lot of 64-bit VST plugins that I want to use but can't. Still I use Foobar because I haven't found anything better.

So far there are very few VSTs that don't have both 32 and 64bits versions. You sure you can't find a 32bits version of the plugins you use?

 

[sonci]

I didn`t mean so much the audio quality, cause you can get a 1k DAC connect to pc, and put to shame expensive cd players,
 
..but really the way of listening music,
its really difficult to hear an album from start to end, on pc, with any music player,
while I always do it with cd player,
I think Cd Players are still the audiophile way of listening music, even if they`re not audiophile..

 

[WrxSTI]

Just thought I'd add something to this thread, since I see the "not turning on the PC" effect has been mentioned. I've found that using my very cheap CD player with its likely far inferior DAC is generally a more pleasurable environment for listening to music. Why is this? Well, it has a LOT to do with the noise of the PC. My case has about 5 fans inside, I've deactivated 2 and put a blanket over it, which helped quiet it down greatly, but there is always that constant "fwooshh" of the fans which is with you all day no matter what you're doing on the PC. At evening, when I turn the PC off and the room becomes dead quiet, I can almost hear my ears saying "thank you, for finally getting rid of that incessant drone". A feeling akin to wearing sunglasses all day and then taking them off. Naturally, when you use a CD player the noise floor is greatly reduced, you are able to pick up subtle details easier and the dynamics of the recording come through a lot better. I would pay good money for a 0 dB PC, but even liquid cooling systems inherently produce some noise. So this is an important factor when trying to figure out why your CD player sounds better to you.

 

[earfanatic]

Getting a quiet pc is not that difficult. I have 3 fans inside (vga, cpu, psu).
The VGA manages it's own fan and it is quiet if I do not run 3D apps.
The other two is silent low spin (<1000RPM) 12cm fans. And I use huuuuge heatsink for the cpu.
My system is maybe a bit outdated but serves me well and it is almost dead quiet this way, and the case side panel is off the case.
 
I forgot to mention the HDD that makes lot's of noise usually. There are silent ones, use them.

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

Just thought I'd add something to this thread, since I see the "not turning on the PC" effect has been mentioned. I've found that using my very cheap CD player with its likely far inferior DAC is generally a more pleasurable environment for listening to music. Why is this? Well, it has a LOT to do with the noise of the PC. My case has about 5 fans inside, I've deactivated 2 and put a blanket over it, which helped quiet it down greatly, but there is always that constant "fwooshh" of the fans which is with you all day no matter what you're doing on the PC. At evening, when I turn the PC off and the room becomes dead quiet, I can almost hear my ears saying "thank you, for finally getting rid of that incessant drone". A feeling akin to wearing sunglasses all day and then taking them off. Naturally, when you use a CD player the noise floor is greatly reduced, you are able to pick up subtle details easier and the dynamics of the recording come through a lot better. I would pay good money for a 0 dB PC, but even liquid cooling systems inherently produce some noise. So this is an important factor when trying to figure out why your CD player sounds better to you.

This is why you need to build your own PC for audio use. A dedicated audio only PC can be made to be 0dB quite easily, no need for water cooling. Just get something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131635 put it in a Mini-ITX case with enough holes in it to let some air through, add a couple of SSDs and a USB > S/Pdif converter, and you're done. It's possible to use completely passive cooling with much more powerful hardware than an Atom, but for that you need a custom case with heatpipes where the entire case acts as a sink, and that gets expensive.
 
I use an air cooled, Core i7 PC in my office, and it's still effectively silent. How? Good components. There's absolutely no need to put up with cheap, noisy ball-bearing case and CPU fans. My case uses under-volted Thermalright X-silent and Noiseblocker multi-frame fans, and is lined with Acoustipack foam. The CPU heatsink is a Thermalright Venemous X silent edition. The power supply is a Seasonic X series - the quietest and the best on the market. From about 1 foot away, the system is inaudible.
 
Most cases provide far more cooling and noise than is required. Unless you're into heavy overclocking and gaming, all that's really needed for even the fastest CPU is one 120mm or larger intake, a high quality tower style heatsink, and one 120mm or larger exhaust. Get good fans from Noisblocker, Nexus, Noctua, Scythe or Thermalright, and use a fan controller to slow them down until you can no longer hear them at all.