Author Topic: Computer as Music Source (Read 6486 times)

D0Hbert · « **on:** Mar 05, 2008 at 06:50 PM »

Let's start a small discussion on the benefits of using a computer as a music source/server. Currently, I have this setup: All music files are converted to FLAC lossless, played back using Foobar2k, with ASIO4all as output device. Simply put, ASIO bypasses window's audio layer, thus providing bit-perfect digital stream direct to your soundcard's DAC. For my soundcard, I'm using a chaintech av710 which uses Envy24 chipset from VIA. The beauty about this chip is that it allows bitperfect streaming out thru its optical toslink transmitter or to the onboard DAC of the soundcard and it doesn't upconvert 44khz audio to 48khz, unlike creative soundcards. This preserves the audio stream in its original form, bit for bit perfect. Optical output is then transmitted to my zhaolou 2.0 dac.
Sound from this setup, compared to my PS1 cd player, Sony 337esd and Sony 227esd cd player (both uses the revered tda1541 chips, the 337 uses 2 tda1541a chips) is very very clear and prestine. Details don't stop coming out. May mga details na madidinig sa PS1 setup na malinaw na lumilitaw sa PC (or dac) na ito. Ang difference lang I guess compared to the PS1 is that the console is very analog sounding, music just flows. Yun nga lang, even with the proper PSU mods and coupling mods, mapapansin na parang cutoff yung highs. not as sparkling as my PC + DAC setup.
Yung di maganda sa setup na ganito, first, makain sa koryente, mga 200-300 watts din ata consumption ng computer. Secondly, PC noise, both electrical (switching PSU) and mechanical (fans and coolers) and more importantly, the issue of jitter (timing errors) if any, coming from the transmitter of the soundcard, thru the optical cable, to the optical receiver of the DAC. But then again, the PC server setup is very convenient, I have around 600+ albums converted to FLAC lossless so its very very easy to change to different albums or songs. I'm still trying to find a nice casing or setup that uses passive cooling kung kakayanin para di maingay. Pero yung electrical noise from the PSU thru the computer components, mukhang wala na akong magagawa dun.
Try nyo rin yung ganitong setup, or kung sino may PC setup, share nyo rin ideas nyo. Thanks for reading

ferds · « **Reply #1 on:** Mar 05, 2008 at 10:22 PM »

Computer din pinaka-source ko dahil sa wala ako pambili ng orig na CD.

Meron ako ginawang DAC pra sa PC ko... Tower USB dac (PCM2707 > Tent Clock reclock > 12xTDA1543 > Resistor V/I > mundorf caps) meron din pala sya Coax input para sa CDp ko..

ferds · « **Reply #2 on:** Mar 05, 2008 at 10:25 PM »

OT: sir di mo ba binibenta 337esd mo?

RU9 · « **Reply #3 on:** Mar 06, 2008 at 09:50 AM »

I am also using a chaintech av710 and utilizing its wolfson DAC.

the advantage - torrents-FLAC format. just filled up my 250G hard drive.

the quest stops here:)

av_phile1 · « **Reply #4 on:** Mar 06, 2008 at 12:28 PM »

Consumer CD and DVD players are basically specialized computers.

They just use a very narrow-purpose application. But PCs do get the same job done with better flexibilities. My favourites tracks (not albums) are stored as WAV files and I can have limitless playlistings on the Windows Media Player.

narf · « **Reply #5 on:** Mar 07, 2008 at 11:51 PM »

nice thread. will definitely be watching this

any other soundcard suggestions? where can chaintechs be found?

thanks

odyopayl · « **Reply #6 on:** Mar 08, 2008 at 10:05 AM »

I saw one accessory for a Computer music source set-up. They call it "Sonos". Actually it is a system that can play all your music in your PC or laptop via wireless connection, thru this you can play anywhere in your house.

I saw a demo using Sonos (source), Mcintosh Pre-amp (C500) & Power-Amp (MC275) connected to Martin Logan Speakers (summit)

Funny, Americans like convenience. I went to Streetlight Records with tons of LP's walang pumapansin, I saw one looking for it but Japanese guy we chat ang bought a lot of records walang kaagaw pwedeng bali-balikan. Some for sale in P.I. claiming hard to find luckily some of them nakatambak lang

Heres the link of Sonos
http://www.sonos.com/landing/lp_single_zone.htm?tref=land&ovmkt=J8NG88H93Q11DP92NPNFDIMH0O

onedown · « **Reply #7 on:** Mar 08, 2008 at 10:57 AM »

sonos is available at achitectural audio.

odyopayl · « **Reply #8 on:** Mar 08, 2008 at 07:04 PM »

Quote from: onedown on Mar 08, 2008 at 10:57 AM

sonos is available at achitectural audio.

How much bro? Baka mas mura

D0Hbert · « **Reply #9 on:** Mar 09, 2008 at 09:25 AM »

Chaintechs are a bit hard to find right now, however, there a other soundcards based on the Envy chipset which sounds better. Onkyo has a line that's getting great reviews, the old M-Audio 2346 (not sure of the model number) is also good, btw, this one has an on board opamp with socket, so you can do opamp rolling on this one. The new Azuntech's are supposedly good sounding for audio and can do bit-perfect transfer. BUt if you have an outboard dac, I think any soundcard that can do bit-perfect without oversampling to 48khz would do.

oReOsHaKe · « **Reply #10 on:** Mar 09, 2008 at 03:16 PM »

What is the best connection from the soundcard to the AV receiver for the best sound?

odyopayl · « **Reply #11 on:** Mar 10, 2008 at 01:13 PM »

Quote from: oReOsHaKe on Mar 09, 2008 at 03:16 PM

What is the best connection from the soundcard to the AV receiver for the best sound?

Ako X-10D, kahit magic sing ko dinadaan ko sa X-10D gumaganda tunog

oReOsHaKe · « **Reply #12 on:** Mar 10, 2008 at 01:18 PM »

Quote from: odyopayl on Mar 10, 2008 at 01:13 PM

Ako X-10D, kahit magic sing ko dinadaan ko sa X-10D gumaganda tunog

You mean u can connect your computers soundcard to your AVR via this thing?

D0Hbert · « **Reply #13 on:** Mar 10, 2008 at 06:33 PM »

Best connection I guess, is to use the outboard dac on the receiver, use the soundcard's digital connection (TOSLink or COAX) to the receiver's digital input. Make sure your playback application and drivers are in bit-perfect mode. This is the purest route for the audio stream. However, like odyopayl, you can use a x-10D to add some tube sound "coloration" to the audio stream. Btw, this is a buffer stage, thus you use the soundcard's audio analog output.

oReOsHaKe · « **Reply #14 on:** Mar 10, 2008 at 06:35 PM »

Quote from: D0Hbert on Mar 10, 2008 at 06:33 PM

Best connection I guess, is to use the outboard dac on the receiver, use the soundcard's digital connection (TOSLink or COAX) to the receiver's digital input. Make sure your playback application and drivers are in bit-perfect mode. This is the purest route for the audio stream. However, like odyopayl, you can use a x-10D to add some tube sound "coloration" to the audio stream. Btw, this is a buffer stage, thus you use the soundcard's audio analog output.

How much naman yang X-10D? Where is this available?

narf · « **Reply #15 on:** Mar 10, 2008 at 08:20 PM »

thanks for the recommendations dohbert!

btw, anyone here using network players like the sonos mentioned or maybe the squeezebox? better yet, has anyone succeeded in a ground-up network player thats audio only?

onedown · « **Reply #16 on:** Mar 11, 2008 at 01:55 PM »

Quote from: odyopayl on Mar 08, 2008 at 07:04 PM

How much bro? Baka mas mura

sorry, i don't know how much. call them 811 6715.

milken · « **Reply #17 on:** Dec 11, 2008 at 07:58 PM »

Up for this thread. Is there anyone in PDVD who owns or has heard either Sonos or Squeezebox music system? Kindly share your listening experience.

Sonos: http://www.sonos.com/whattobuy/bundles/
Squeezebox: http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_duet.html

dimfer · « **Reply #18 on:** Feb 22, 2009 at 02:06 PM »

Quote from: milken on Dec 11, 2008 at 07:58 PM

Up for this thread. Is there anyone in PDVD who owns or has heard either Sonos or Squeezebox music system? Kindly share your listening experience.

Sonos: http://www.sonos.com/whattobuy/bundles/
Squeezebox: http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_duet.html

I've listened to both, I am a SB owner for 2 years now.

The Sonos controller is a cool toy, well built. The Sonos Bundle 150 is a good starter system, because you will have a stand alone playback system and another unit hooked to your audio/main system. But I think the Squeezebox is becoming more popular, especially with the introduction of the Duette. Some people use a reclocker like Empirical's Pace Car and outboard dac with great result. The Transporter is SB's big brother, and a capable one too, can compete well with cd players in the $3k - $5k range. I listened to the Modwright modified Transporter too, a good performer as well.

They are good and will be a good addition to mid-fi or hi-fi system, but I still prefer the sound of my MBL cd player. The main difference between the SB and other good cd player is in the weight and body of the musical playback, and will be revealed in bigger and more transparent system. I think the difference will be negligible in smaller/medium sized system.

My Squeezebox, MBL transport and Nova Physics Memory Player are all hooked to the same DAC, MBL 1511, making it quite easy for me to compare. I very rarely use the SB since I acquired my NPMP last year. I use the cd player if I want instant gratification, and the NPMP for critical listening.

ShowMeTheMoney · « **Reply #19 on:** Jun 16, 2009 at 10:57 PM »

99% of my music is played through my laptop now. MP3's and FLAC.

Currently playing through Foobar via Wasapi > Keces DA-151 USB DAC > Amp > Headphones.

bass_nut · « **Reply #20 on:** Jun 17, 2009 at 01:40 AM »

Toshiba Laptop with iTunes lossless file >> usb cable>> 707DAC upsampling type >> rca cable >> Headphones amp>> Headphones

headphones amp
s/s: G&W TW-J9, iBasso D2 Boa dac/amp (Ferds modified), FiiO E5, Ferds mini3
tube amp: Little Dot mk ll

at times iBasso D2 Boa dac/amp placed between Laptop and headphones

SQ surprisingly very good as per my ears, preferred music and gears

John E. · « **Reply #21 on:** Jun 17, 2009 at 06:39 AM »

just downloaded foobar2000

thanks for the tip!

John E. · « **Reply #22 on:** Jun 17, 2009 at 07:00 AM »

@ flac! grabe ang lalaki ng files for 1 song.

http://www.archive.org/browse.php?collection=etree&field=%2Fmetadata%2Fcreator

uvax · « **Reply #23 on:** Jun 17, 2009 at 07:21 AM »

Well the thread is about using a computer as a music source but i've been using my TViX as a music source for quite some time now. The Tvix is connected to an HK AVR135 via toslink cable and infinity p362 fronts, c350 center and JBL SCS260 subs and surrounds. My favorite jazz albums are in flac. I had it in mp3 before to save space but the degradation in quality is discernible. It's really very convenient having your entire collection availalbe at a touch of your remote.

Invinciible · « **Reply #24 on:** Aug 16, 2009 at 06:20 PM »

for super pro dac 707 owners playing flac files, this might prove to be a useful read...

http://www.pinoydvd.com/index.php?topic=100341.0

iiinas · « **Reply #25 on:** Aug 16, 2009 at 07:22 PM »

Quote from: Invinciible on Aug 16, 2009 at 06:20 PM

for super pro dac 707 owners playing flac files, this might prove to be a useful read...

http://www.pinoydvd.com/index.php?topic=100341.0

interesting read sir invinciible. thanks. currently using vlc as client. hmmm... no complaints right now.

but will try the tweak, once i familiarize myself with this new source.

Invinciible · « **Reply #26 on:** Aug 16, 2009 at 07:55 PM »

Quote from: iiinas on Aug 16, 2009 at 07:22 PM

interesting read sir invinciible. thanks. currently using vlc as client. hmmm... no complaints right now.

but will try the tweak, once i familiarize myself with this new source.

not that familiar with vlc as the source for superpro dac 707, will look into it as well.

however, based on what i have read, since the main reason for the superpro's bugs seem to be the generic driver, this could in theory manifest in possibly any situation and in an erratic/unpredictable fashion, which is even more annoying right

so i would advise anyone to at least install the 707's specific usb driver...

bass_nut · « **Reply #27 on:** Aug 17, 2009 at 01:51 PM »

707dac is plug&play with iTunes on my laptop (with 64bit Vista)

now playing
Laptop iTunes lossless >> 707dac >> Little Dot mk ll (with ef92 driver tubes and 6N6P power tubes) >> Koss ksc75 (will try Grado sr325iS and Ferds Denon AH-D2000 later)

bass up a bit (ample and tightly controlled).. mids detailing well.. highs rolled off pleasingly .. soundspread wide enough (beyond the drivers).. noise (humming, hiss) can not hear any

ProtegeManiac · « **Reply #28 on:** Aug 17, 2009 at 07:02 PM »

Guys, planning to set up my HP media PC where my set-up is, and a 32" LCD. Will retain my traditional CDP and DAC, but I want to connect the PC to the DAC, an EAD DSP100, via coax. I rip my music as WAV files, so I have no problem with the music files. BUT, what about DVDs? I was hoping to use this set-up primarily for watching concert DVDs. Since my music DVDs specify that the 2ch layer is "2ch PCM," that means the DAC can process that, right? Also, does this apply to movies also? And what about compressed video files, as I have several Gunam series in there, too...if it can't process outright, is there any software aside from the usual ASIO+Foobar for this?

RU9 · « **Reply #29 on:** Dec 02, 2010 at 10:52 AM »

High Resolution Technologies Music Streamer II $150

Music fans who keep on top of cuttingedge technology have had a few starts and stops to deal with during the past decade. That’s right, I’m talking about SACD and DVD-Audio. But while releases in those high-resolution disc formats have slowed to a trickle, a steady rain of highrez music has been issuing forth from the online cloud. A number of music Web sites like HDTracks offer high-resolution 96/24 and 88/24 downloads of select titles.

To play these on your A/V system directly from a computer, in most cases you’ll need special software (MediaMonkey is a popular option for Windows; as for me, I use VLC on my Mac) along with an outboard USB digital-to-analog converter that’s capable of handling high-rez fi les. (A number of newer network-capable A/V receivers are also quite up to the job.) Some such DACs cost several thousands of dollars. But the High Resolution Technologies Music Streamer II does the same stu. and costs only $150. The candy-bar-size (think Toblerone) MSII has only two connections: a USB port on one side and a stereo analog output on the other. The unit draws power over USB, so there’s no need for a power cable. While its look may be unassuming, what goes on inside the MSII is quite high-tech indeed: Unlike regular USB-DAC connections, the MSII enables an asynchronous link where the DAC, and not the computer, establishes the clock for passing digital audio data. Listening to the 96/24 FLAC files that I downloaded from HDTracks with the MSII connected between my laptop and A/V system, I heard an effortless, unstrained quality that I don’t normally associate with computer-based audio. Classical music was especially easy on the ears, but at the same time sounded detailed and dynamic. The era of high-rez music isn’t over; it’s just migrating online. And products like the Music Streamer II now let you experience it on the cheap.