Audiophile Computer components

ttrentt
ttrentt Posts: 31
edited January 2006 in Electronics
I have searched for audiophile computer components and not found much.

I am gonna feel like an **** running all my music from my computer through my JoLida with some crappy soundcard.

I have all my music ripped into the highest quality format I can (mostly OGG), but I feel my soundcard is going to be low man on the todem pole.

My other question, is when ripping music from a CD drive, would the type of drive actually affect the sound?
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  • Early B.
    Early B. Posts: 7,900
    edited January 2006
    Keep looking. There's plenty of stuff out there. Start by purchasing a tube motherboard -- http://stereophile.com/news/11368/

    Yeah, and don't even think about putting your Jolida on a computer rig with downloaded music. That kind of behavior will get your Polk forum membership card revoked.
    HT/2-channel Rig: Sony 50” LCD TV; Toshiba HD-A2 DVD player; Emotiva LMC-1 pre/pro; Rogue Audio M-120 monoblocks (modded); Placette RVC; Emotiva LPA-1 amp; Bada HD-22 tube CDP (modded); VMPS Tower II SE (fronts); DIY Clearwave Dynamic 4CC (center); Wharfedale Opus Tri-Surrounds (rear); and VMPS 215 sub

    "God grooves with tubes."
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  • ttrentt
    ttrentt Posts: 31
    edited January 2006
    Early B. wrote:
    Yeah, and don't even think about putting your Jolida on a computer rig with downloaded music. That kind of behavior will get your Polk forum membership card revoked.

    :(

    I guess I need to buy a decent CD player then.
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited January 2006
    ttrentt wrote:
    :(

    I guess I need to buy a decent CD player then.

    Nah. Just get you a nice sound card. Look at cards from Emu and some other company who I've forgotten. You can make your computer an awesome source.
    George Grand wrote: »
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    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
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  • lanion
    lanion Posts: 843
    edited January 2006
    Look at this ->
    Basically turns into a, supposedly, very good external USB sound card for your computer.
    http://www.headphone.com/products/headphone-amps/the-micro-line/headroom-micro-dac.php
    My Iron Man training/charity blog.

    HT:
    32" Sharp LCD. H/K dpr 1001 to Outlaw Audio 7900 to Polk LSi + Paradigm Studio center. Hsu DualDrive ULS-15. PS3/Wii. Outlaw 7900.
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  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    edited January 2006
    If the Jolida doesn't have digital inputs then external DAC + a soundcard with digital output would be your best option.

    Here's a great soundcard for that purpose:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829120103
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  • karpiel666
    karpiel666 Posts: 173
    edited January 2006
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102190
    dvd player: samsung DVD-HD850
    receiver: Denon avr5700
    center: polk cs400
    fronts: polk rt800i
    surrounds: Unknown Polk monitor? series.
    sub: svs pb12 isd/v
    tv: 46 inch samsung
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  • ttrentt
    ttrentt Posts: 31
    edited January 2006
    Thanks for all the help, I am looking into these things. Still learning, need to figure out a decent DAC and learn more!
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  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    edited January 2006
    Zero wrote:
    It features 'conditioning' which should eliminate all noise in the signal that is introduced by the computer itself.
    Noise? I assume you are talking about using the analog outputs from a sound card.
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  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    edited January 2006
    Zero wrote:
    Sami,

    You would use a USB output, and not a sound-card. The noise is introduced by the power supply of your computer.

    http://www.redwineaudio.com/USB_Select.html
    That thing better have a DAC for the price.

    Noise is not a problem, at least not with digital output so a $20 soundcard will do the job just as well.
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  • ttrentt
    ttrentt Posts: 31
    edited January 2006
    Zero wrote:
    ttrentt,

    Don't let the boys fool you - using your computer as a transport can kick most redbook cd players 3g on down square in the ****.

    The most popular sound-cards in terms of value and performance come from E-MU. Look at the 0404 ($99) or the 1212M ($199). You will have to pay a hell of a lot more to get better performance.. Lynx 2 is where you should be at in the 1g range.

    The best way however, would be to get Red Wine Audio's USB - coax converter. It features 'conditioning' which should eliminate all noise in the signal that is introduced by the computer itself. You would than run a coax from that piece to a DAC. Red Wine again has the 'Monica'. Other popular choices are the Ack!Dac! or the Scott Nixon tube-dac+. You would then run that to your Jolida- boom.. sonic heaven.

    I could hardly afford the JoLida, much less these things. Looking into a large DAC's I certainly can't afford them either.

    I am going to just keep on a lookout for a decent CD player with a TDA1541 DAC (supposed to be real nice) at the local thrift stores. Some nice units pop up here and there, still trying to learn what is decent.
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  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    edited January 2006
    Zero wrote:
    Sami,

    Noise is going to be there. So long as the source has that dirty power going through it, in which every sound-card will have -there will be noise.

    Noise or no noise, a human ear isn't going to detect it. :p

    As for AV-710, that's what I'm using and the link I posted earlier is for one that's on Newegg. Around $25 I believe, I got mine (actually 4) when they went for $15. I still have one on my HTPC that is used for both HT and 2.1ch listening.
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  • ttrentt
    ttrentt Posts: 31
    edited January 2006
    Zero wrote:
    Sami,

    Noise is going to be there. So long as the source has that dirty power going through it, in which every sound-card will have -there will be noise. Plain and simple. Now quite a few may find the price-tag a bit daunting. Thats fine, but that doesn't change the mechanics of the way things are.

    Ttrentt,

    The E-Mu cards aside, the other routes I proposed is really bordering on the no-bars held approach to using a PC as a source. Don't worry too much about a mis-match between your source and the rest of the gear. The time will come when you can upgrade the sound-card or move up to lesser expensive external dacs.

    In the meantime, see if you can score a Chain Tech AV-710. Its driver support for games and what not is pretty lack-luster, but sound quality wise... its amazing, at least for the $23-25 retail tag...

    I can certainly upgrade my sound card. I could probably even step up to the E-mu. I will look into this! :)

    Thanks for all the help fellas.
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  • ttrentt
    ttrentt Posts: 31
    edited January 2006
    I bought a CHainTech thing. We will see how it goes. :)
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  • Ferres
    Ferres Posts: 310
    edited January 2006
    I don't know if there is any soundcard that can reduce the 'noise' added from inside a pc. For music, I got better performance using the coax built into the mboard than thru my Audigy 2 card.
    Gear: Rotel RC 1082, Rotel RSP 1068 pre/pro, Rotel RMB1077 amp, Cayin CDT 15a CD player, S301 bluray.

    Speakers: Tannoy DC sensys speakers, Paradigm Servo15 Sub, Velo Spl-1500r

    Conditioner: Isotek :D
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  • bknauss
    bknauss Posts: 1,441
    edited January 2006
    karpiel666 wrote:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102190

    If Creative is still using the same setup as year's ago, they do a nice little converting for no apparent reason which will take 24/96 recordings and knock them down to 16/44.1, then back up to 24/96. Makes no sense, and more converting = bad. I'd look into a Lynx or M-Audio card if you're looking for sound quality.
    Brian Knauss
    ex-Electrical Engineer for Polk
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  • Shizelbs
    Shizelbs Posts: 7,433
    edited January 2006
    Check out headfi.org. Lots of guys over there are very heavy into soundcards for computers.

    Didn't Creative recently acquire m-audio?
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  • Early B.
    Early B. Posts: 7,900
    edited January 2006
    Still a bad idea, IMO. By the time you purchase everything you need for a decent computer rig, you simply could have bought a nice CD player to mate with your Jolida and have lots of money left over for other goodies. Besides, the verdict is still out the quality of compressed audio files. If it's not "CD-quality," then it doesn't matter how "high end" your computer components are, the music will sound less than stellar.

    I agree that computers, even low cost ones, can sound great, but you don't need a Jolida for that.
    HT/2-channel Rig: Sony 50” LCD TV; Toshiba HD-A2 DVD player; Emotiva LMC-1 pre/pro; Rogue Audio M-120 monoblocks (modded); Placette RVC; Emotiva LPA-1 amp; Bada HD-22 tube CDP (modded); VMPS Tower II SE (fronts); DIY Clearwave Dynamic 4CC (center); Wharfedale Opus Tri-Surrounds (rear); and VMPS 215 sub

    "God grooves with tubes."
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  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    edited January 2006
    Early B. wrote:
    Still a bad idea, IMO. By the time you purchase everything you need for a decent computer rig, you simply could have bought a nice CD player to mate with your Jolida and have lots of money left over for other goodies.
    A computer on the other hand offers a lot more than a CD player.
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