2 Channel Computer Rig

zingo

I finally realized my dream and put together a "little" 2 Channel rig for my computer. I installed a M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card in my computer to start it because it has stereo RCA outs. That goes to the AudioSource Pre One, and to a pair of Audiosource Amp Ones. Finally those are bi-amped to my B&W 602 S3s with my custom made bi-amp cables. And it sounds fantastic! Now, if you think this is overkill for a computer rig, I do about 75% of my listening at my computer because of work and such, so it is well worth it to me. I also loaded a bunch of CDs onto my computer in lossless form. I am very happy with the results to say the least.

PS. Sorry about the blurry pictures. Photography is not my strong point.

michael_w

Perfectly sized components for a rig like that. It looks very clean and I'm sure sounds great.

What's your software of choice for music playback?

zingo

I am just using iTunes. It sounds pretty good in a lossless format. Is there any program that you would suggest?

Refefer

zingo wrote: »

I am just using iTunes. It sounds pretty good in a lossless format. Is there any program that you would suggest?

I would actually suggest you use Winamp with AISO drivers to bypass the internal Kmixer that Windows uses: cuts out all audio processing by the operating system, which is nice and I noticed it adequately improved the sound of my music from the computer.

zingo

Thanks Refefer. I"ll look into Winamp, seem solid. Can you explain the AISO (is it ASIO?) a little more. If it improved your sound, I'm in.

Refefer

zingo wrote: »

Can you explain the AISO (is it ASIO?) a little more. If it improved your sound, I'm in.

Whoops, gotta love the typo

Well, someone else put it better than I, so I'm going to quote it verbatim:

The kmixer simply converts all concurrent audio streams to a common sampling rate, mixes them, and then sends the stream to the audio device (so you can hear things like system sounds on top of other audio that is playing). This process takes time and may delay the output slightly. Microsoft claims that this latency is 30ms max. ASIO drivers bypass the kmixer, thus reducing latency to near zero (in practice to about 5ms).

ASIO sends the stream directly to the soundcard, which, at the end of the day, means Windows stops **** with your music!

Yashu

Nice rig!

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showcase/view.php?userid=79439 This is my computer Rig.

Have you thought about trying a DAC and using the digital out on the M-Audio?

Every part of your system screams External DAC! It's one of the best upgrades you can make with computer audio. It takes a soundcard several thousand dollars to have the DAC and analog sections that an external DAC can provide at much less cost... plus, that m-audio can easily generate a bit-perfect s/pdif signal.

I also like how you use bookshelf B&Ws... I do the same thing with PSB Alpha Bs, use them in nearfield... Computer audio can be so addicting, because you have all your music at your fingertips and endless tweaking opportunities.

Also, yes by all means make sure you are using ASIO, as this is the only way to get a true and untouched audio signal. When it has to pass through the windows kmixer, or any other software mixer, you lose fidelity.

I think that you are on the right track with using a traditional pre-power combo and passive speakers... using Active monitors can be great for computer audio (many get them and feel they don't need a pre), but then you have to rely on the software sliders to change the volume... a quality PRE is going to do a better job at this than any software, digital gain control.

I use Winamp for playback, I have the otachan ASIO plugin, and for compressed audio I use the otachan mpeg decoder, which sounds great, and of course lossless sounds better than any standalone CDP I have owned. You should look here for the plugins: http://otachan.com/ it is not in english, but you can figure out what links are for what. These plugins are the best out there and are what most computer audiophiles use, whether for Winamp or Foobar2000. The ASIO one even lets you upsample, so you can play with that... there are so many ways to tweak a computer system.

Welcome to the addiction.

Shizelbs

That is an outstanding computer setup, start to finish.

thejck

i would try foobar with with kernel streaming option. foobar is a great player that you can build on. lot smaller than winamp and I love it as winamp was causing my computer and music to jerk. right now listing to some radio streaming from shoutcast through foobar on my rti10's.
i use the chaintech av 710 that you can get for 30 bucks and it let you do bit perfect over spdif.

Gaara

I am with thejck, foobar with kernel streaming if you can get it to work, if not a ASIO.

I personally use Foober with the columns plug in and love it. Very easy to use and you have access to all your music in the column. I personally use mine with ASIO 4 ALL and SRC to great effect.

zingo

Deleted

thejck

i tried asio but was having problems with it crashing after i tried to play a 5.1 48khz movies in windvd and then switching back to foobar to play 44.1khz pcm 2 channel audio

surfntomm

i agree with foobar and kstream, i currently use it with my computer rig which is actually my main rig.

i use
lis7
rotel 980-bx
rotel rsp-960ax (only use it because it has a remote)
home made big **** cables (cat5e effective gauge ~9)
m-audio 2496 sound card

if you guys want to improve your sound i suggest using stands to elevate your speakers just a hair and to isolate them from each other. it will improve your sound a lot and also give you a chance to pull your desk forward a tad to try and create that ideal equilateral triangle for a better listening position.

ps most use foobar due its ridiculously small footprint compared to things like winamp and itunes.

zingo

My only issue is with Foobar is that I have a lot of music is apple lossless and I don't believe that is supported. Although I'd love to be wrong.

Gaara

Does anyone else uses the columns plug in for foobar? I can honestly say it has taken my enjoyment to a whole new level just through ease of use.

surfntomm,

I had no idea our systems were so similar. For a while I was running the 2496 to a Luminous Audio Axiom pre, with a Rotel RB-1070 amp and LSi7s...with cat5 speaker wire.

Face

Comparing regular Foobar to WMP, I prefer WMP.

Foobar just sounded flat or dull to me.

NeilGabriel

zingo wrote: »

I finally realized my dream and put together a "little" 2 Channel rig for my computer. I installed a M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card in my computer to start it because it has stereo RCA outs. That goes to the AudioSource Pre One, and to a pair of Audiosource Amp Ones. Finally those are bi-amped to my B&W 602 S3s with my custom made bi-amp cables. And it sounds fantastic! Now, if you think this is overkill for a computer rig, I do about 75% of my listening at my computer because of work and such, so it is well worth it to me. I also loaded a bunch of CDs onto my computer in lossless form. I am very happy with the results to say the least.

PS. Sorry about the blurry pictures. Photography is not my strong point.

Can the M-Audio go in in place of the existing soundcard? Can it be inserted as easily as a new RAM card or would a computer tech need to do it? Thanks.

engtaz

Yes, just deselect the onboard sound card in the bios

Gaara

If I recall correctly I didn't need to do any adjustments in the bios to install the card, just plug and play.

This is assuming you are installing your first sound card, I would think you would have to deinstall previous drivers if you already have a different soundcard that you would be replacing. This is what I had to do when I upgraded video cards.

engtaz

If you have onboard sound you usually have to turn it off. Sometimes the pci sound card will work plug and play but you should turn the onboard sound off. Like MS needs more reasons to crash because of IRQ conflicts.

zingo

Yup. I had no PCI sound card, just on-board sound. So I picked an empty slot, installed the drivers, and uninstalled my on-board drivers. Easy as pie. Although at first I had both sets of drivers on there, so the card didn't work until I remember that little driver conflict issue.

On a second note, can anyone help me with a good ASIO or kernel supported program that accepts Apple's Lossless format?