Some Question

[Harpy]

Greetings All,

 

I want to get good sound out of my PC. My current Music Server is a socket 479 (laptop cpu on desktop board) using the onboard sound card with the signal going out over optical with operating system being Vista 64. The optical goes into a Rotel 1098 preamp with the computer screen display on the 1098's LCD screen (or atleast it will be when I get the 1098 back from repair).

The back end is mostly 80's gear. From the Rotel it hits a DQ-LP1 Dahlquist crossover. Upper freqs go to Robertson Audio 4110 amp driving my beloved Dahlquist DQ-10's, while the low end goes to a Velodyne self power sub.

Is there anymore I can do to the PC to improve the sound? I shoot everything over at 24/96kbs. I am under the impression that all the Pc does is pass a digital signal so there would little point in upgrading the soundcard. Am I flawed in that thinking? My other question is if it going out over optical then the preamp is doing all the conversion or could the PC still be touching it?

Thanks,

Jim

 

[sandyk]

Jim

Try mounting the PC fans using rubber mounts such as the inexpensive AFM02B, and sound and vibration deaden the PC as much as you can, including both optical and HDDs. Especially around the Switch Mode Power Supply area. At the very least, your PC will sound quieter. If you can afford it, use a SSD for the storing and playback of your audio files.

 

SandyK

 

[Audio_ELF]

You don't say what software you are using as playback, but this has potential for improvement sound quality as a starting point.

 

Next by using a soundcards such as ESI Juli@ or M-Audio Audiophile 192 can potentially improve SQ by using providing more accurate feed to the Processor. While it is "just bits" a better source has a better clock so gives more accurate clock signal in the SPDIF feed.

 

Finally I would avoid letting your PC convert everything to 24/96. Playing audio back without altering the signal is your aim and by resampling everything to 24/96 you're not doing this. How to do this varies depending on your playback software.

 

Eloise

 

[Harpy]

Thanks for replies. I am using Microsoft Media Center for playback. I didn't realize I was resampling when using 24/96. I thought it just allowed 24/96 recording play back, so thanks for that info. Looks like PC playback has come a long way since I last goofed with it; need to bone up again. This looks like a good place

 

[Audio_ELF]

A good first step would be to look at one of the alternative audio playback software.

 

Chris, the site owner, recommends using Media Monkey, but others recommend J.River Media Centre (JRMC) or FooBar - IIRC the JRMC has a "theatre" mode similar to the appearance of Windows Media Center. I'm sorry I can't advise you much on configuration, etc. as I'm a Mac user myself.

 

Most of the options are either free, or have a trail version so take advantage of that and find one that has an interface which fits the way you want to work.

 

Eloise