PC as a source for listening to music

[arj 0]

i am skeptical of the need of a pc needing a very good sound re-production. Anybody can tell the benefit. As at the moment to me , it just like a waste of your money.

[lekguan 0]

Well you can use a PC with a good soundcard and tonnes of uncompressed audio files ripped from CDs as a source instead of a CDP.

[bzy83 0]

i am skeptical of the need of a pc needing a very good sound re-production. Anybody can tell the benefit. As at the moment to me , it just like a waste of your money.

i just like to listen to music when i am surfing the web and chatting with my friends... is the reason enough?

 

and, if you have a pure hifi system, when you are listen to it, you cannot do any thing else, because you must it in the best position to hear the sound stage. is it a wast of time? why not to do your computing job while listento musc?

[arj 0]

ok. i am not trying to be offensive and people just need some logic to it.

 

ok. let me ask this basic, is the souce (sound) from compress files is better than cdp.

 

At the moment i am also using my headphone from non-pc sourec while surfing.

[lekguan 0]

A PC can be used to replace a CDP and hece the files do not have to be compressed. They can be lossless or totally uncompressed.

 

Guys this is getting a little long, we might need to start a new thread.

[adhoc 0]

i use a PC-based setup, and convenience and value-for-money is my main reasons why.

 

convenience: i have all my music at my fingertips. a few clicks, a few seconds and i can listen to whatever i want to listen. try this with a lp or even cd-based setup.

 

value-for-money: i can also use a pc for many many many many other things asides from audio reproduction.

 

true, issues concerning the SQ come in, but i believe my setup can hold it's own (and even exceed) against the middle end dedicated setups that i have auditoned - this would include contenders from rotel (ra-01) and nad (521, 521i, 541, 541i). if i added a quality dac, who knows which setups i could contend with?

 

 

[Blues 0]

pros: save time, can multitask, ie surfing/doing work while listening to your favourite songs

 

cons: sound quality might not be optimal considering the noise in the pc and 'non-purity' of the signal due to the interference with all the other stuffs. That aside, pc audio should be pretty good nowadays.. you have high quality soundcards, etc

[lekguan 0]

IMHO pc as source provide more value for money until the higher end. Of course PC sound cards can't reach as high end as hifi sources. But for most of us here, we're nowhere near that higher end.

One big pro is that most jitter can be reduced as compared to CDP because the music is read directly from the hard disk. Besides for the lower end, we have creative sound cards which are darn value for money because of obvious reasons. One good example would be Creative sb digital music.

[adhoc 0]

IMHO pc as source provide more value for money until the higher end. Of course PC sound cards can't reach as high end as hifi sources. But for most of us here, we're nowhere near that higher end.

One big pro is that most jitter can be reduced as compared to CDP because the music is read directly from the hard disk. Besides for the lower end, we have creative sound cards which are darn value for money because of obvious reasons. One good example would be Creative sb digital music.

actually the sb live series is, to put it gently, looked down upon in general both in an audio sense and in a techie sense.

 

imo they sound awful. period.

 

secondly, creative has one of the most troublesome drivers currently avail to a windows pc. and the reliability of the sb live card is suspect - i've had 2 die on me so far.

[Yeti 0]

Adhoc, care to share with us the equipment you are using. I have my SB hooked up to my Rotel 931 Mk II amp and Tannoy speakers.

[evil-zen 0]

you get free crossfeed and EQ.

[adhoc 0]

Adhoc, care to share with us the equipment you are using. I have my SB hooked up to my Rotel 931 Mk II amp and Tannoy speakers.

hi yeti,

 

my apologies for this late reply - for some reason sgheadphones doesnt notify me whenever people post to threads i'm suscribed to anymore..

 

i use a headphones-only PC based setup. my pc comprises of an 2.53ghz p4 (non-HT), ABIT be7-RAID mobo, 512mb ram, a geforce mx440, 320gb of hdd space (2xwd 80gb + 1x160gb seagate). the psu is a 400w hec. for headphones, i use either a ms-2 or a k501. amp is a headsave classic with dual opa627s and a gain of 6. amp psu is a mascot 2083 24V linear regulated. my interconnects are magwires 'nakeds'.

 

on this setup, the previous soundcard was a sblive. i have since moved to a e-mu 1212m. for some peace of mind, all connection in my rig are progold-ed.

 

the immediate differences are: transients are better on the 1212m. highs have more 'sizzle'. there are more there also seems to be a slight hollow tone to the bass of the sblive. i can also discern more background detail on the 1212m.

 

fyi, i do not use oversampling. nor EQ. all files i use are flac'ed EAC 'accurate' extracted (offset corrected) wavs. i selected 24bit padded to 32bit in the foobar options to use ASIO direct output.

Edited August 15, 2004 by adhoc

[Yeti 0]

Hi Adhoc

 

You have quite a setup.

 

Just wondering. Where did you buy your 1212m and how much did it cost you? I have to same question for your interconnects - the pro-golds.

 

Finally, do you listen to mp3s or just wavs?

 

Cheers

[N@Z 0]

... for some reason sgheadphones doesnt notify me whenever people post to threads i'm suscribed to anymore..

It still does for me, try rechecking/updating your settings in:

My Controls -> Options -> Email notification.

 

Also if you're using spam/junk mail filters check in those folders as it may inadvertantly be redirected there, as has happened with my YahooMail account.

[adhoc 0]

Hi Adhoc

 

You have quite a setup.

 

Just wondering. Where did you buy your 1212m and how much did it cost you? I have to same question for your interconnects - the pro-golds.

 

Finally, do you listen to mp3s or just wavs?

 

Cheers

i had mine shipped over from the states - a head-fi member named zemo managed to organise a powerbuy and i picked up one for ~$300. you can get them in singapore though in the creative stores now - i believe the price is around $330.

 

just to be clear, my interconnects are magwires, and i coat the connectors with progold - you can find progold at new disc village in adelphi. i find i need progold as connections get pretty dirty quick for me. ymmv though.

 

i listen to wavs which are compressed (lossless) to FLAC. think winzip for wavs - no loss of info, just a reduction in size.