[jaK]

Hi, I just ordered myself a pair of hd570 headphones for music on my home system and also gaming on the PC. I figured I might as well invest in a decent soundcard (instead of my onboard) to enhance my gaming and music experience on the computer, but I was wondering what most of you listen to on the computer? My equipment is no where as elite as most of the people's on here, but I'd like to get started out in the right direction DVD-A , your own mp3 rips from your cd's? just cd's? I just want to get the most out of my listening experience

Thanks!

 

[pedxing]

I hope you are not planning to drive the HD570 right from your sound card. Those headphones are very hard to drive. You will need an intermediate amp inbetween you headphone and your sound card, something like a receiver or computer speakers with headphone jacks.

People use all sorts of lossy and lossless compressions. mp3's are popular, but many people here have discussed ogg vorbi, monkey audio, flac, and wma. If you are using windows OS, you might want to look into a free piece of software you can download called foobar2000.

 

[Stephonovich]

I've got about 20GB of ripped albums in FLAC, (56 albums) and another 3GB or so of various MP3s and FLAC rips. I primarily listen to the albums, through the setup described in my sig.

(-:Stephonovich

 

[some1x]

I would really not recommend using headphone jacks from computer speakers as they will make the headphones sound even worse (with 99% certainty).

 

[tiberian]

wav/wma 9 lossless and various mp3s from BT and DC++

 

[Edwood]

Monkey's Audio --> Foobar 2K (upsampling to 92K)-->Modded RME digi96/8 PAD --> Balanced output --> Grace 901 --> R10 -->my ears.

-Ed

 

[Distroyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood Monkey's Audio --> Foobar 2K (upsampling to 92K)-->Modded RME digi96/8 PAD --> Balanced output --> Grace 901 --> R10 -->my ears. -Ed

What happened to the AKG's?

 

[mxs1030]

Must have gotten AC

.

 

[halcyon]

sound treated/hand built "quiet" computer -> big HD -> MPC (some flac) -> Foobar 2K (no upsampling / no re-quantisation) -> RME 96/8 PAD (stock) -> self-made IC -> Meir Audio Prehead -> HD600 / HFI-650 / ER-4S

For now...

Possible upgrades (just to give you an idea, what I might be chanding in the near future):

absolutely dead silent pc -> bigger HDs -> FLAC -> Foobar 2k (no upsampling/no requantisation) -> RME 9632 or EMU 1212m -> analog out -> ultra-low capacitance cables -> Single Power MPX3 -> HD650

or alternatively the same as above, but with....

-> digital out -> external DAC (pending, Benchmark DAC1 still amongst the best options due to its superior jitter rejection capability) -> analog out -> ...

So much to tweak in a computer setup

 

[Permonic]

Laptop setup:

Toshiba Satellite M30 -> Monkey's Audio (.ape) -> Foobar2k (ASIO 24/44.1) -> USB cable -> M-Audio Transit (analog out) -> Radioshack 1/8 to RCA adapter -> Headsave IC -> Headsave PPA -> Alessandro MS-2's.

The summer upgrade would be a decent standalone DAC with optical in. I will use Transit's optical out and Toslink optical cable.

 

[jaK]

Hmm, most of the time I am on the computer, I'll be gaming w/ the phones. Sometimes at night, I will want to listen to some music on headphones; most of the othertimes I'll probably plug it into my amp in the living room.

What sort of headphone amp would you recommend for my current configuration. Not looking to spend too much as I am only a noob and have HD570s

I'll have to look into this FLAC format! :]


Damn, I need so much stuff now!!!$$

 

[Geek]

I use the RME 96/8 PAD. Its analog out can drive even the hardest to drive headphones to satisfying volume levels. However, you will need a good headphone amplifier ($200-400 range is fine) to bring out the best of your phones. The HD570 is a bright headphone and not recommended for computer sources, at least from what I've heard.

Computer sources aren't very good, in my experience. I have a $120 CDP (its primary function is DVD-A and SACD, so thats saying a ton) that beats out my $300 computer soundcard in every aspect except versatility of course.

Cheers,
Geek

 

[Earwax]

Right now, I'm using HD280s directly off the soundcard. HD280's isolation blocks all the PC fan noise. I've tried using an amp with them but it really didn't add much to this setup.

Most music is high bit-rate MP3s (lame -aps usually). The last few CDs I purchased I ripped in Monkey's Audio, but I'm not going to rerip the others because I still can't hear any difference. I though I could hear more fullness in the lossless copy, but when I re-checked in a blind test I really couldn't tell them apart.

 

[fewtch]

Equip's in my .sig... as for file formats, mostly lossless (flac, lpac, monkeys) with a few MP3s here and there for stuff I've neglected to re-rip or am unable for some reason. Gotta say that my gear is revealing enough that most MP3s sound pretty bad (the very high bitrate Lame --alt-preset files aren't too bad, but HD space is cheap enough to not have to risk artifacting at all anymore).

 

[beetledude]

i'm almost done building out my PC system -- just a few small odds and ends to finish up (better interconnect cables).


M-Audio Delta Dio 2496 -> Glass Toslink Cable -> Benchmark DAC-1 -> Equinox Cable -> HD650

For jazz, vocals, and classical I throw a MG Head 32 into the mix:

M-Audio Delta Dio 2496 -> Glass Toslink Cable -> Benchmark DAC-1 -> MG Head 32 -> Equinox Cable -> HD650

source is mostly WMA lossless or FLAC

I haven't heard any of the better soundcards (RME DigiPad, EMU), but the Benchmark DAC-1 completely blows away the previous M-Audio Audiophile 2496 I had before...

I'm enjoying this hobby very much!