[Junliang]

to the TS, i believe you found your answer.

but just saying, the response you got is due to the sub section you posted this thread in.

I believe this thread will go the other way round if you post it at the computer audio forum.

laptop as desktop source, PC for gaming

To those "True audiophiles" out there.
There are peeps who don't mind compromising a little sound quality for the sake of convenience and guess what, pc as source can sound good too, and we are fine with that level of SQ, its great to us and easy to use.
Away with the stacks of CDs.
Away with the need of manually changing CD.

guess what, i can enjoy some nice youtube video which had nice music attached to them on my monitors speakers.

With regards to the "i will be doing other stuff on my pc instead of listening to music".
I mean, so ? Isn't that a good thing to be able to do many things at one go ?
Enjoying music, playing games and surfing the net and chatting with friends online at the same time.

I don't understand those guys that just literally STONE infront of their cdp or turntable and tube amp with a headphone of their head staring in to space and say that they are listening to music.

Just being honest with my opinion about those audiophiles.. flame suit on.

 

[m1abrams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thebigcanman /img/forum/go_quote.gif typically, Audiophiles (those that know how to computer) would refuse a computer as a legitimate source based on the fact that HardDrives contain many moving parts, and sensitive audio systems most definitely pick up on this. just my 2 cents

Just because your digital music is not consumed via a CD player does not mean you use a computer as the transport. As mentioned already in this thread their are many great thin clients that solve all concerns you have about computers. Also note that a CD player is actually a noisy mechanism that has to be made quiet. It is spinning a plastic disc at a pretty high rate after all using an electric motor.

For examples of thin clients check out Squeezebox or Sonos. As for the Squeezebox line they even make a rather audiophile friendly Transporter.

 

[thebigcanman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by abellaw /img/forum/go_quote.gif I understand what you are saying and i am not saying that you are agreeing with that school of thought. But to me it seems a little ridiculous that all those things that you mentioned would be enough to seriously impact the SQ.

well the majority of the audiophile community uses speakers, not headphones. Headphones make up a tiny, tiny percentage of the market, and the costs are substantially less. I guess you have $20,000 speakers you wouldnt want anything else in your system that could compromise sound quality

Quote:

Originally Posted by m1abrams /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just because your digital music is not consumed via a CD player does not mean you use a computer as the transport. As mentioned already in this thread their are many great thin clients that solve all concerns you have about computers. Also note that a CD player is actually a noisy mechanism that has to be made quiet. It is spinning a plastic disc at a pretty high rate after all using an electric motor.

Its not a noisy mechanism 'made' quiet, they just use a quieter motor. Turn on your CD player and press play (headphones, speakers off) and put your ear on it. Do the same and put your ear on a computer. see my point?


I have nothing against computer audio, in fact, i probably use my computer as a source more than i do my cd player. Im just stating the reasons why many folk dont take computer audio seriously.

 

[m1abrams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thebigcanman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Its not a noisy mechanism 'made' quiet, they just use a quieter motor. Turn on your CD player and press play (headphones, speakers off) and put your ear on it. Do the same and put your ear on a computer. see my point?

Um a motor is a noisy device electrically and physically, yes they use a quieter motor because they HAD to MAKE it quieter for it to be used. In fact a motor is one of the more noisy device you can put near electronics short. I am not referring to just physical vibrations either, electrical noise is rather bad with motors.

Also you failed to notice that I was comparing a CD player to the other non CD player way of listening to digital music. Thin clients which eliminate ALL motors.

 

[haloxt]

Loading music into ram would solve the hard drive noise issue, except for the 10-20 seconds it takes to load to ram. But that's pretty irrelevant, 99% of people listening to music on the computer don't take any steps to make the computer an ideal audiophile solution, whether by hardware tweaks or (imo) essential software tweaks like bypassing kmixer, and also making sure that YOU ARE REALLY bypassing it because software is such a b**** to deal with

.

 

[thebigcanman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by m1abrams /img/forum/go_quote.gif Um a motor is a noisy device electrically and physically, yes they use a quieter motor because they HAD to MAKE it quieter for it to be used. In fact a motor is one of the more noisy device you can put near electronics short. I am not referring to just physical vibrations either, electrical noise is rather bad with motors. .

Yes you are correct; but there is more than just motor noise. We arent dealing with turntables here. Does a CD player have a 500watt power supply built in? Does a CD player have 3-4 fans powering air around an enclosed space? Does a CD player have a mess of unshielded cables or a CPU clicking away in the background? All of these things can effect the sampling of a CD which greatly effect audio quality.


I suppose a good way to look at it is like so: You have a gaming computer, built around a Graphics card with its primary function being to play games. Expensive case, liquid cooling, solid state drives etc etc. Then you have a normal computer with a good graphics card put into it. Which is going to play games better?

the same principles can be applied to CD players. Why would you have an ordinary computer with foobar installed, when you could have a CD player where every aspect is designed to improve sound quality? and there is most certainly a notable difference.

 

[m1abrams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thebigcanman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes you are correct; but there is more than just motor noise. We arent dealing with turntables here. Does a CD player have a 500watt power supply built in? Does a CD player have 3-4 fans powering air around an enclosed space? Does a CD player have a mess of unshielded cables or a CPU clicking away in the background? All of these things can effect the sampling of a CD which greatly effect audio quality. I suppose a good way to look at it is like so: You have a gaming computer, built around a Graphics card with its primary function being to play games. Expensive case, liquid cooling, solid state drives etc etc. Then you have a normal computer with a good graphics card put into it. Which is going to play games better? the same principles can be applied to CD players. Why would you have an ordinary computer with foobar installed, when you could have a CD player where every aspect is designed to improve sound quality? and there is most certainly a notable difference.

UGH - Do people not read posts or what? I am not arguing for using computers, I am saying there are other ways to consume digital media without USING computers or CD Players! One could argue having a server in a basement or closest serving up digital music to a thin client is better than using a CD player for the same reasons people give that a computer is too noisy to use as a media player.

 

[Lazarus Short]

Long ago, I found that my G3 iMac made a formidable CDP. My G4 does also. However, I do most of my CD listening with a transport/DAC, and I am very happy with them. Before the transport, I used a DVDP as a transport, and it worked well, and was cheap to boot. I will never buy a CD player again.

 

[Punnisher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Junliang /img/forum/go_quote.gif ... To those "True audiophiles" out there. There are peeps who don't mind compromising a little sound quality for the sake of convenience and guess what, pc as source can sound good too, and we are fine with that level of SQ, its great to us and easy to use. Away with the stacks of CDs. Away with the need of manually changing CD. ... With regards to the "i will be doing other stuff on my pc instead of listening to music". I mean, so ? Isn't that a good thing to be able to do many things at one go ? Enjoying music, playing games and surfing the net and chatting with friends online at the same time. I don't understand those guys that just literally STONE infront of their cdp or turntable and tube amp with a headphone of their head staring in to space and say that they are listening to music. ...

Your opinion is welcome, and a valid one. I enjoy using my PC as a source. I built a fanless mini-itx computer with a HT Omega Claro+ sound card and the result sounds brilliant. I also maintain a meticulously tagged FLAC collection of ripped music.

However, I find myself getting very distracted when sitting at my PC listening to music. I can absolutely not read a forum and enjoy Mahler's Resurection simultaneously.

After buying a very nice SACD player from a friend, I find that I am more easily able to enjoy music fully. Putting in an album, sitting back and closing my eyes is a better way to enjoy music for me.

There's also the practical side of things. There is so much simplicity with a cd player. Power cord, rca cables and you're done. It's also much, much cheaper than a computer based source. That's not even counting the hours it takes to rip (and sometimes re-tag) albums.

Different systems for different interests and priorities. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.

 

[m1abrams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Punnisher /img/forum/go_quote.gif However, I find myself getting very distracted when sitting at my PC listening to music. I can absolutely not read a forum and enjoy Mahler's Resurection simultaneously.

I am the same way. I have a chair actually that I use to relax and just listen to music. Course I do not need old-world tech to do this, I just use a thin client that connects to my server in the basement

.

I do agree that if you really want to enjoy the music it needs to be free of distraction, however many people have no desire to enjoy the music and just want it for background noise which is fine.

 

[cswann1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Punnisher /img/forum/go_quote.gif Putting in an album, sitting back and closing my eyes is a better way to enjoy music for me.

Same here, I have my entire music collection on my PC, but for my "serious" music enjoyment, I have my headphone rig (Denon->Little-Dot->cans) next to my bed where I can stretch out and be as comfortable as possible. My biggest problem is getting so relaxed I fall asleep