ComputerAudio - where to start

Many people around here seem totally lost in the (admitedly very complex) computer audio land. Quite a few times I recommended reading a ComputerAudio101 guide so here you have the best one I know of: The Well-Tempered Computer

Somewhat dauting if you just landed into computer audio but it does contain all you need to know...and more. Including multiple references to articles and quotes by various experts: audiophile darlings like Swenson & Rankin but also people like NwAVGuy & HydrogenAudio who, inspite of being some of the most competent, are largely missunderstood and hated with a passion by every audioredneck & their sisters. Oh well...

It's a huge resource so here's the shortest & most effective path (valid for any windows 7+).

1. buy a Usb Dac and install it in Windows. Follow the manual!

2. config windows audio The Well-Tempered Computer

3. config your Dac

The Well-Tempered Computer

4. config foobar & wasapi

The Well-Tempered Computer

Enjoy bit perfect music . That should be enough for 99% of the people.

What about the rest of that huge CA resource? If you want a long, happy and rewarding relationship with ComputerAudio you need all that. Yes, *all*!

Here's how I would scale someone's CA knowledge:

Novice: you recognize and can define at least 90% of the CA terms in that site's reference. You can follow the basic CA how-to guides (e.g. the above post)

Satisfactory: you *understand* at least 75% of those CA reference terms. You can follow most CA guides.

Ok: you understand 99% of the terms *and* the reason behind most of the proposed settings/tweaks. This is also the moment you can start talking about CA. Otherwise you are just adding to the confusion and should at least refrain from *any* interpretation of what you hear. If your CA knowledge level is under "Ok" the probability of your interpretation being wrong is 7N or more. On the Ok level I'd say it's only >99%

You can follow pretty much any CA guide. You can do stuff on your own without breaking things (most of the time)

Good: you can explain *why* and *how* most of the proposed settings/tweaks do work. The probabiliy of your interpretation being wrong *may* go down to 75%. You can confidently experiment *new* CA settings...mostly cause you know how to revert what you break.

Expert: there is no such thing. Never met anyone who could be called an expert on *all* that. There are experts on various parts, e.g. a senior HA developer should be able to talk in great detail about the windows audio diagram http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/VistaTweak.htm

Keep in mind that is a *simplified* version of winaudio and just a tiny part on the road the audio bits travel from HDD to DAC. That should give you some perspective on how amazingly complex CA is. Btw there is not a single person in this world that can tell you exactly what happens with an audio-bit between HDD and DAC. Afaik, not a single company either...MBoard manufacturers are your best bet but even they don't know all that's happening inside each 3rd party component they use...not to mention the extra custom components you add in your PC.

However, being an expert on any of the CA parts gives you a pretty good perspective on the whole. The probability of your predictions may reach the proverbial 50-50... never goes better than that, not without long and painful tests & measurements.

Of course this is just my highly subjective scale. But hopefully it gives everyone a better idea on how dautingly complex & obfuscated CA is. Hint: it's much, much, much more than you think...even if you did read and understood all the above.

One more thing

If you still wanna go into the CA swamps that sit before you after finishing the tweaks in my first post, here's a qoute you should keep in mind (like *all* the time):

So in this test I compared software programs which were bit true and sound different and also some USB cables which sound different and of course file types which sound different. I have like 200 hours in testing.... so far I can't see any difference.

 

YET!!!!! 82% of the time people picked the Flat PCM file over the lossless.

 

John Atkinson and Charlie Hansen both said that I could have spent that time designing something cool. So for now that is what I am going to do!

 

Gordon Rankin

(quote taken from that temperedca site)

You may say: yeah sure but that's only valid for a guy who can design something cool...I can't. Prolly so, but you can surely discover and listen to vast amounts of cool music

I recommend you start with a degree in computer science from a respectable university.

Most of the time this hobby is consumed with wondering why your stuff does not work.

Thank you to all the folks who have helped me over the years try to get my system running and stay functional.

I recommend you start with a degree in computer science from a respectable university.

Prolly best advice. Not exactly practical for every audiophile though . Not that my guide was a peace of cake.

Most of the time this hobby is consumed with wondering why your stuff does not work.

.

Spoken like a true developer

When it comes to CA though I am more of a user or solutionarchitect and spend a lot of time trying to figure out *why* it works and if that's something repeatable or just specific to my PC. Cant say I got too many sure answers to share. If any besides the first post.

wow...wonderful online casino spam in russian...just what the people ordered

There is also quite a bit here:

Computer Audiophile - Basics

One nice thing is it is less windows-centric.

Now you can go to a Toyota forum and post about how much better nearly identical Hondas are.

Here is a Mac version:

1. Buy a DAC.

2. Plug it into your Apple computer using USB, optical digital, or HDMI, depending on your preference.

3. Select it as the output device in Audio MIDI Setup. Don't install anything.

4. Open up iTunes, turn on the music and relax while you think about all the incantations and crap those who have windows have to go through in order to get to this step.

Here is a Mac version:

 

1. Buy a DAC.

 

2. Plug it into your Apple computer using USB, optical digital, or HDMI, depending on your preference.

 

3. Select it as the output device in Audio MIDI Setup. Don't install anything.

 

4. Open up iTunes, turn on the music and relax while you think about all the incantations and crap those who have windows have to go through in order to get to this step.

Good one . And I'm sure it sounds great and more than good enough.

Here's the Windoze equivalent: buy latest NUC or similar & play music through WindowsMediaPlayer.

Here's the Linux one: buy a preconfigured Vortexbox, play music through MPD.

Wanna bet that any of those sounds same as good as your MAC? ... and the vortexbox also costs less than half! That would be a fun experiment, hope someone does it.

P.S.

The CA link in your first post is prolly wrong.

Nah, it just doesn't have the forwarding "features" that somehow get installed with Internet Exploder.

Nah, it just doesn't have the forwarding "features" that somehow get installed with Internet Exploder.

In the CA app the link opens to "Auto-Tune Abuse in Pop Music - 10 Examples".

That's odd. You can see the actual link when you quote it -- it just links to the CA "academy" subsection "Basics."

I'm still a bit baffled by the intent of your initial post (as I am by most of the hydrogen audio phenotype).

That's odd. You can see the actual link when you quote it -- it just links to the CA "academy" subsection "Basics."

 

I'm still a bit baffled by the intent of your initial post (as I am by most of the hydrogen audio phenotype).

Link works fine in Safari. Just not in the CA app...another IT mistery

As about HA, I have utmost respect for those ppl...grateful for the wonderful free foobar and generally all their work in CA.

They are surely not the most beloved or friendlier people . Busy devs never are. And I also have lil patience for funny goldenears people. Doesnt mean we cant all enjoy good sound & some single malt scotch!

My first is just about that: *all* you need to do in order to be able to enjoy good sound with your friends...the scotch is your problem

Second post is to give a perspective to all unexperienced ppl on how mindboggingly complex CA actually is. Maybe convince one or two that those "I heard it, it is so" posts are just useless noise (well, most of the time)

Very sad to see noisy USB as the default interface around these parts.

Well, I am a career scientist and very skeptical of audiophool claims, but my short interaction reminded me more of dealing with creationist fundamentalists or ultra-authoritarian cops than dispassionate scientists.

I think you will find the same info here, in the CA FAQ and "Academy" section.

Where I work (a large public university), it seems like no one under the age of 60 has even the slightest problem grasping or using computer audio.

The assumption that everyone has windows can be problematic. Also, many people don't even bother with the computer for computer audio -- they use iPods or other mp3-type players, or Apple TV, or other set top boxes.

Very sad to see noisy USB as the default interface around these parts.

With you there 100%... the entire hw & sw USB stack just adds unnecesary complexity.

But it's unfortunately the most popular and all the rage nowadays. Wish there was any alternative in terms of both convenience & quality.

Toslink and HDMI.

Wireless streaming however seems like it should be the ideal solution for the future.

A brief Linux setup guide would probably be really useful.

Well, I am a career scientist and very skeptical of audiophool claims, but my short interaction reminded me more of dealing with creationist fundamentalists or ultra-authoritarian cops than dispassionate scientists.

 

I think you will find the same info here, in the CA FAQ and "Academy" section.

 

Where I work (a large public university), it seems like no one under the age of 60 has even the slightest problem grasping or using computer audio.

 

The assumption that everyone has windows can be problematic. Also, many people don't even bother with the computer for computer audio -- they use iPods or other mp3-type players, or Apple TV, or other set top boxes.

That's the IT world for you, every developer is a lil pope . I'm sure you know the type...stringtheory popes ring a bell?

In spite of all that, HA gave me foobar...and as someone who knows the *huge* amount of work that goes into such a product, I can only say: thank you HA!

I'm sure your uni colleagues can grasp a PC in a few days...but that's like .001% of the people.

Not preachin windows. Just the easiest & most convenient solution for the majority. And that tempered website also talks about Mac&Linux in detail. And I'm actually using all of those at this precise moment: linux server, windows player and iOS device for posting

A brief Linux setup guide would probably be really useful.

http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Linux/Linux.htm

In the first post too

I assume he is mocking: The Well-Tempered Computer

If someone were to read this and take it at face value, they would get a very skewed impression.

I think most of his experiences are with Windows.

Toslink and HDMI.

 

Wireless streaming however seems like it should be the ideal solution for the future.

Actually what I had in mind was a direct & dedicated pci-e link for those precious audio-bytes. Possible but you need a big MB company behind it.

Toslink...maybe..dont know...many complain about 'lifeless' sound but I dont have much exp.

HDMi...pretty good, using it for surround...no complaints but hardly the future.

Wireless...maybe...convenience king. But all wireless chips I tested in PCs were quite bad (bad drivers with lousy dpc, all sorts of 'noise'...). Could be the future but a *lot* of work to do there. Otoh, the current phone chips are quite good already, the perfect wireless may not be far.

I assume he is mocking: The Well-Tempered Computer

 

If someone were to read this and take it at face value, they would get a very skewed impression.

 

I think most of his experiences are with Windows.

windows prolly no1...but the Linux pages are very good & detailed too..and not 'mocked' at all...just check

They all seem to have their limitations. Another thing that could be quite useful is an honest appraisal of how much better each of these options is compared to the computer's own internal DAC and analogue output.

They all seem to have their limitations. Another thing that could be quite useful is an honest appraisal of how much better each of these options is compared to the computer's own internal DAC and analogue output.

A huge amount of testin & thinkin & doin is required. Dont see anyone doin it though . Guess one major problem is that only a big MB producer can do this kind of work & research. And audiophiles are just not a big enough market. Even if they pay the legendary audiophile prices, there are just too few of them. And the PC may be dying as a platform, those MB producers have enough other issues.

The incoming tablets& phones&raspberries are just not there as true audiophile devices...and there is a lot to do there before producers start 'purifying bits' ...but who knows.