PC Based Audio Systems... Anyone here use them?

Hi there

Are any folks here using a pc based audio replay system? If so, I would love to hear what your using!

I have been having a play with iTunes recently, and a pc based system looks very much to be the way things will go in the future.

Once one ventures down this path, then one needs to look at deciding upon a PC or Mac based system, and then a suitable DAC.

Has anyone started down this road?

Regards

PC playing WAV files using media monkey with external USB 2.0 DAC 24/96.

You will get good results with the convenience of ripping thousands of yr CD's into Harddisc.

Check www.computeraudiofile.com

It will be the format of the future. I have my whole collections of Cd's into an external hd which is around RM400.00

Soundwise, will be better than a lot of cd player in the mid end 5 to 6K area.

I have also ventured into PC based audio replay system recently. I am also using iTune at the moment.

I bought a new desk top for this purpose (some prefer laptop as it is more mobile). Apparently, Window XP is better than Vista and the sound card is generic that came with the desk top and for DAC I am using MF V DAC.

I have a library of songs stored in 320 GB external hard disk.

This is a start for me. Recently, I bought a 1 TB external hard disk for more storage space (planning ahead, ) .

As it is, the sound produced is good. The big advantage will be convenience as you can play many songs of your selections without having to change CDs.

Future upgrade for me will be a M Audio sound card.

However, I am still keeping my CDP as I like it very much.



To VS126,

Are you willing to share your library of songs in exchange for mine?

Yeah, no problem. It is all in wav file. A lot of audiofile releases etc. What do you have?

HI Rocketman (I am writing from China as you know,) I am glad you are sharing and exchanging information with regards to the above.
Kind attnetion to Kowtim and VS126 ( I heard from my brother you have a full MBL system , can I listen to them)
FYI - my thoughts on the above subject, 3-4 mths back written in another HIFI 4 sales forum: Progress in CD....
The Curerent Progress in Source:(PC or Mac/computer based audio system)
However I recently have migrated to Computer source music - comparable (not better) with any CD players below 20K CD players - as compared with a Krell, Bluenote and Exposure. Another tests was not 100% conclusive but computer source CD files playback was comparable with DCS (290K)and Boulder (50K) CD player. I was listening the songs from different system- since we were listening regularly my conclusion was attested with my buddy. I willing to take up the challenge with the DCS founders / This is what they claim for their CD Scarlatti range: Our design philosophy in building Scarlatti was to use our 21 years of experience to deliver the best digital playback components in the business without compromise. For people who are serious about their music, the natural realism delivered by Scarlatti is like no other system on the planet. The Scarlatti is a complete system comprising CD/SACD Transport, Digital to Analogue Converter (DAC), Master Clock and patent pending Upsampler which converts music at one sample rate to a higher sampler rate. Please note however this is not an apple to apple comparison because I uses an external DAC connected to uncompressed music files as compared said to the internal DAC of a Krell CD Player.

PC based or digital playback is realised with more products in the markets. They are so many of them and so many combinations of digital routes including wireless transport and HD APE Player .

I have been followiing the sd card based player and it is into final phase of product launch. and this is for real.

July 2009 progress:
My preference set up
Source
1. Mac laptop - advantages: mobility, ease of interface(operating system), can used remote or/and i phone as a remote. For PC base the best sound is using (self review) Window XP , the value for money recommendation is to get a used laptop; Switch off all major application softwares. Get a bare minimum processor speed computer.
Software
1. i tunes - excellent interface and ease of use. Media Monkey still slightly better sound than i tunes (according to my self review with my buddies), although they cannot play Apple " uncompressed format' - AIFF.

DAC
Using Prometheues (MYR1.8K) and PS Audio (MYR4K) - According to PS AUDIO- "The Digital Link III is the best sounding DAC we have ever produced in our 21 years of producing D to A converters. Sweet, open spacious and a joy to listen to, this device will bring the life back into your music."
Upgrade path - Bryston BDA-1 and Berkeley (according to Computer audiophile founder) Probably Bryston will be most value - quite a couple of good reviews for a USD 2K price category DAC - My friend in Singapore said side to side with a Linn and Arcam CD player ....."no fight" .....

USB cable (if not using friewire connection produced better sound)(self reveiw)
Current using normal computer type . recommended to change to KIMBER CABLE latest dedicated computer audiophile USB cable cost USD200+ proven by my buddy that significantly improved the sound. " Just when we thought the sound is already very good"

Storage
1. Bufallo brand removable hard disc - made in japan.- limited to 500G but better with a 350 G at this moment as it may have lapses in retrival of data with the current technology. High storage hard disc, require power supply therefore one needs to manage this "HIFI sound" costly issue but it is compromise as retriving data are normally very good for this type of unit.
SSD (SOLID STATE DRIVE) with no moving parts should be the way to go for a "better control"compare to current "spining" type hard disc - (according to my hypothesis)

SSD is always better but the cost is quite prohibitive.
Kimber Audiophile USB cable is only Singapore Dollar 90 per meter.

I agree with you that Computer audio is the way to go. More and more high end manufacturer producing High End Dac with Firewire and USB input, ie Weiss, PS Audio, Benchmark, Bel Canto etc.

that is why I mentioned earlier, if you intend to buy a new CD player, explore this option first. I am talking High End Audio.

BTW, who is yr brother?

HI VSS 126,
The Kimber USB cable I refer is believe to be the latest version - bought 2-3 weeks back from USA.
Thanks for the positive feedback on music sharing as written to Rocketman.

I look forward to see you soon when I am back.
I try to write to Auronthas, Sivaguru, etc but unable to get any feedback. (in view of their valuable inputs in the forum). If you receive this message, I hope they can response.

Hi,

Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents on this topic. I've been using a PC based system since 2004. Migrated from a Theta Pearl CDT with Trichord Clock III.

The PC based system is every bit as good sounding as my modded CDT & I found no desire to go abck to CD based systems.

My old setup is :

1) PC - Pentium 4 with Zalman TNN500 case & multiple HDDs (Samsung with Nidec) - no fan in sight



2) USB connected to a modded M-Audio transit implanted into a Apogee Big Ben clock conditioner

3) Audio Note 1.1 Dac with some modifications

4) DIY linestage based on Vacuumstate FVP circuit

5) Rives audio PARC room correction thingy

6) DIY Transcendent Sound OTL



7) DIY Diatone p610 based speakers

Sounds lucid & the female vocals are to die for.

Software for ripping - EAC
Software for playback - Foobar with ASIO

A few years have passed & I kind of lost interest a bit. Recently, seems to be getting the fever back & have since upgraded some due to equipment failure :

1) PC is now a Zalamn Tnn300 with Intel Core 2 Duo


2) Empirical Audio Off Ramp is now doing the USB to SPDIF conversion duties


3) No more ASIO but using Direct Sound 2

Try it. U won't regret.

Regards,
Joe Ling

Did i see "Audiophile USB cable" somewhere up there in the post ??
Hmmm...
audiophile USB cable ..... This is perplexing...

Since the USB spec is purely based on "cooked data" , i cannot possibly imagine how can an "audiophile USB" signal above affect the sonic reproduction of digital audio. Any built-to-spec USB cable should not induce bit errors, or at least will not cause too much unrecoverable bit errors.

I'd reckon jitter is a moot point because data streams on the USB
protocol is not intended to be timing critical unlike a digital cable
carrying S/PDIF signals.

Is the USB connection set up to stream in realtime between the PC's USB port into the DAC ?
.... i hope to get a chance to hear the difference if possible, and on a decently high resolution hi-fi setup. (This excludes all "Edifier type" setups).

Alternate hypothesis: Maybe these "audiophile USB cables" actually have a better conductor for the USB +5V and Ground lines .. so the exernal DAC is powered better? The conversion from USB data into better S/PDIF or analog signals.

But then externally powered USB DACs should not be affected then since they have their own power supply from a separate power source.

Are those USB DACs powered by the USB port itself or via external power packs ?


Anyway, i use a vintage Audio Alchemy DAC to decode the S/PDIF signals from my ASUS desktop purely just to avoid all the electrical buzzing and hiss that comes with almost all PC sound card's analog outputs.

For needs of more serious listening, i do it on AirTunes via an Airport Express' Optical output. This sound quality is tremendously improved when reclocked (and converted from Toslink to CO-AX) with a Monarchy Audio DIP.

But the source being MP3 ...is still a far cry from Redbook audio extracted from a dedicated CD Transport and into a no nonsense dedicated DAC.

Wadia makes a iPod dock which they claim sounds better than the actual CDs that you rip from. The condition is that you have to rip in apple lossless format. The Wadia uses digital signals from the iPod and performs it's DAC magic with upsampling and all. It's not expensive, supposedly less than US$400. Add an iPod classic with a huge storage capacity to accomodate the lossless files and you have something that may rival your CD player.

I bought an iPod nano with 8GB storage to try it out and to gauge how far compressed music has progressed and so far i'm not too pleased with mp3 or aac even at 320kbps. I might get the Wadia and a large capacity iPod and go the lossless route.

Hi Joe

Your computer based system looks to be rather fabulous. Im sure you spent a lot of time on your post with the pictures and all. Much appreciated!

I too am a fan of the FVP having owned one almost some twenty years ago. At one of the audio shows here sometime back, I got to meet Allen Wright himself. I have actually wanted to build a FVP (but for Phono ) as a project next year.

I hope you will consider inviting me over to have a look at your system. Similarly... if the insides of a Quad ESL interest you... mine are in bits now and your welcome to look see!

Regards

mugenfoo wrote:Did i see "Audiophile USB cable" somewhere up there in the post ??
Hmmm...
audiophile USB cable ..... This is perplexing...

Hi Mugenfoo

Enjoyed reading your post. Its nice to know that the concept of audio objectivity still exists within some

Regards

without going into too much technical details, in order to determine the best performing analogue circuit, the I2S signals must be virtually perfect (extreme low jitter amplitude, flat jitter frequency spectrum, and lowest possible I2S signal crosstalk). That is to say, the BCK, WS and DATA signal shall be free of jitter and ground bounce. When circuit is put in practise, intermodulation will occur due to changes in voltage level, cross/inductive coupling, etc. For a 16bit conversion process, LSB change (2.3mA for tDA1543 and 4mA for TDA1541 ) equals 0.0023 / 65536 = 0.000000035A or 35nA. Such small changes can affect output sound. Only when jitter is reduced to the smallest, one can hear the best resolution and accuracy in the sound. Therefore I would choose a system where is only one almost perfect clock is feeding from the decoding to the conversion process.

Hi kakibook

Interesting post! Seems like your a real digital kinda guy! Tell me... what would the cheapest digital gear be on the market that a DIY kinda guy could buy or modify or, if its a bit old, rebuild it to meet the requirements you specify?

Regards

bimmerman wrote:Wadia makes a iPod dock which they claim sounds better than the actual CDs that you rip from. The condition is that you have to rip in apple lossless format. The Wadia uses digital signals from the iPod and performs it's DAC magic with upsampling and all. It's not expensive, supposedly less than US$400. Add an iPod classic with a huge storage capacity to accomodate the lossless files and you have something that may rival your CD player.

I bought an iPod nano with 8GB storage to try it out and to gauge how far compressed music has progressed and so far i'm not too pleased with mp3 or aac even at 320kbps. I might get the Wadia and a large capacity iPod and go the lossless route.

yeah well ... but if gOt a chance to play CDs via Wadia's 861 or 270 transport and then going into a say ... 27xi dAC ... i would think that this would still sound better than instead of transferring the raw digital into iPod, then going thru the iTransport blah blah blah...

Got to remember that the red book format does not guarrantee bit-integrity. It DOES permit for some amount of unrecoverable errors to pass thru.

SImple test anyone can test at home ... Do a CDDA rip of one particular track.
Using different CD Rom drives but the same ripping software and a file compare utility, the ripped files are not bit-for-bit the same.


This is in contrast to say a VCD or Data CD-ROM.. (yellow book format & beyond) where the data on the CD is "cooked", and u can make perfect clones of the original discs with no loss of quality at all, even after you've make 1000 generations down the line.

I don't know that much lah. BTW I'm on the other side of the North China Sea in Sarawak.

I've been thinking about QUAD ESL a little lately. Thinking of collecting some vintage items that sounds nice. I have additional Diatones, bought 2 pairs of Coral beta 8 - one from Singapore & another from ebay recently.

This fever is incurable.

Ya, the FVP sounds really nice. Really tempted to get an original from Octave - haven't spoken to them in years though.

As for audiophile USB cables. Well, this is really pushing the envelope stuff. Experts seem to hear a difference but I'm no expert so I go with the ordinary stuff. The only excpetion is that my cable has been spliced to remove the 5V feed from the PC but instead, there is a provision for an external precision +5V supply.

As mentioned in one fo the posts above, since USB DAC (USB to SPDIF convertor in my case) is self powered, I simply disconnected the external 5V supply. Hope I make sense.

Really happy that this PC based system thing is starting to catch on. I rememeber s few years back & even until right now whenever I mention that my PC is the transport, I get reactions ranging from disapproving & bewildered . Well, times are changing.

regards,
Joe Ling

kowtim wrote:Hi Joe

Your computer based system looks to be rather fabulous. Im sure you spent a lot of time on your post with the pictures and all. Much appreciated!

I too am a fan of the FVP having owned one almost some twenty years ago. At one of the audio shows here sometime back, I got to meet Allen Wright himself. I have actually wanted to build a FVP (but for Phono ) as a project next year.

I hope you will consider inviting me over to have a look at your system. Similarly... if the insides of a Quad ESL interest you... mine are in bits now and your welcome to look see!

Regards

Hey Mugen Foo

Maybe you can help me out to explain this?

I have started archiving CD's using iTunes.

I have configured iTunes to convert the discs into the AIF format with error correction switched on. This was done as it is lossless, and it allows for data taging of the files.

An extra factor in deciding which format to use was to allow for the ability to create new copies of the original CD should that be required.

So before commiting to AIF, I tried an experiment. The taging of course worked.

But what I did was take the ripped AIF file, and put it into a "AIF to WAV" convertor. I took the WAV file and used Nero Express to burn a CD.

So... I took the original CD and compared it to my iTunes to Aif to WAV to Nero generated CD. There is, to me, hardly any difference. It is the kind of tiny difference that requires swapping of Original to Copy CD a few times to start pinpointing what that difference is, if any.

Because they are, to me, so close or perhaps even exactly the same...i'm really not sure... I have decided that AIF is the way to go for me and my needs.

Now... here is the part you can help explain to me. I take the Original CD and I rip it using EAC. I then take the EAC generated WAV files and then burn a CD much as before using Nero Express.

The resulting copied CD sounds VERY different from the original!

The EAC generated one "sounds more impressive" and is the prefered one when compared to the original by "unskilled" listeners I have demonstrated this to. My opinion is that whilst it is indeed a more impressive sound, it highlights sibilance excessively, which I dislike.

Now, why is that so that there should be any difference between EAC generated CD's and the originals?

Hope you can clear this up for me!

Regards

Wow, I'm not qualified to answer that question. I have never thought of burning CD from EAC ripped wav files. However, I have read from various forums about the phenomenon u described (the better sounding bit but not the sibilence bit). There was a rage for black CD-R ripped copies a few years for the same reason being that they sound better than the original. From my dim memories, I am under the impression that the the CD player had an easier time reading the CD-R when compared to the original & therefore resulting in less error & error correction or something like that. Of course, I may be full of it too. So take this with a grain of salt.

Regards,
Joe Ling

Hi Joe

You may not be right ultimately, but the error correction aspect you suggest is at least plausible.

But as I understand it, warts and all, EAC attempts to generate an exact copy. And so, it should therefor sound the same. Error or no error.

Again, like you, Im just taking a stab at it! Perhaps Mugen has some insight...

My failing in hindsight with the trial I described above is that I should have then taken the EAC - WAVE -NERO burned copy of the original, and take that copy and rip it again with EAC to generate a 2nd generation copy.

Regards

Mugenfoo
I hope the below extract article helps
USB cable matters: written by Gordon Rankin from Wavelength Audio t I think it's pretty good evidence that USB cables do matter but not the one connected to the hard disc.

1. there are 2 cables inside a USB cable. There is the DATA differential pair that must be designed for traffic up to at least 12Mhz and the POWER cable which is VBUS 5V's and Ground.

All of the PCM27xx devices require VBUS to determine the computer is there. This means there is current running from the computer to the USB Device via the POWER side of the cable.Other devices like the TAS1020 look for signal on the DATA portion of the cable only. Therefore the VBUS is not used and only the Ground connection on the POWER side is used. On the DATA side termination on the Device side or endpoint will have an effect on transmissions. I usually get the 5M cables put them on a couple of computers with my USB analyzer on the DAC side and check for errors.

It's not suggested to use a 5M with streaming audio. These cables were meant for low speed devices. 2M and under for audio will make all the difference in the world.

With the POWER side being used it can bleed noise from the computer into the dac. It would be nice if you could switch the VBUS signal on the computer side from VBUS to Ground if your device doesn't use it. The POWER side of the cable is that noise from the computer can end up on the device. The cable should do all it can to make sure that doesn't happen.

Remember using these expensive cables on a hard drive is worthless they are in Block mode not Streaming and will not be effected by the use of costly cables.

Thanks
Gordon
J. Gordon Rankin "

Link to original comment on Audio Asylum.

kowtim wrote:Hey Mugen Foo

Maybe you can help me out to explain this?

I have started archiving CD's using iTunes.

first if all, mind to share with me what system r u listening on ?
cd player, amp, speakers, room setup .... ?

Shanghai wrote:Mugenfoo
I hope the below extract article helps
USB cable matters: written by Gordon Rankin from Wavelength Audio t I think it's pretty good evidence that USB cables do matter but not the one connected to the hard disc.

1. there are 2 cables inside a USB cable. There is the DATA differential pair that must be designed for traffic up to at least 12Mhz and the POWER cable which is VBUS 5V's and Ground.

All of the PCM27xx devices require VBUS to determine the computer is there. This means there is current running from the computer to the USB Device via the POWER side of the cable.Other devices like the TAS1020 look for signal on the DATA portion of the cable only. Therefore the VBUS is not used and only the Ground connection on the POWER side is used. On the DATA side termination on the Device side or endpoint will have an effect on transmissions. I usually get the 5M cables put them on a couple of computers with my USB analyzer on the DAC side and check for errors.

It's not suggested to use a 5M with streaming audio. These cables were meant for low speed devices. 2M and under for audio will make all the difference in the world.

With the POWER side being used it can bleed noise from the computer into the dac. It would be nice if you could switch the VBUS signal on the computer side from VBUS to Ground if your device doesn't use it. The POWER side of the cable is that noise from the computer can end up on the device. The cable should do all it can to make sure that doesn't happen.

Remember using these expensive cables on a hard drive is worthless they are in Block mode not Streaming and will not be effected by the use of costly cables.

Thanks
Gordon
J. Gordon Rankin "

Link to original comment on Audio Asylum.

ok, do enlighten me ... when a USB DAC is plugged into a PC .. do we know what kind of data is being sent from the PC to the DAC ?
Is it in raw S/PDIF format?

If it is in raw S/PDIF format, then yes, i would concur that the USB will make a difference to the sound. More so that anything, coz the USB wires carrying the SPDIF signal would be polluted by alien crosstalk and noise from the USB +5VBUS. We all know how "dirty" PC power supplies are. All that high freq switching and added noise from the MoBo chipsets and all that crap.

HOWEVER, if the link between the USB DAC and the PC is still carrying block data (like between a HDD and the SATA or IDE interface), then there is no way in hell the USB cable will affect the sonic reproduction.

So... can anyone confirm if USB DACs are carrying timing sensitive S/PDIF signals via the USB cable, or are they streaming the typical USB data protocol ( say, v2.0 @ 480Mbps) chunks of data to be then deciphered at the external device, then fed into the DACs for D/A conversion. Anyone... ?

Hi Mugenfoo

To answer your question...Arcam Alpha Plus CD Player, Quad 34 - 405-2, some unbranded bookshelf speakers. The ripping is done via a high quality Sony external drive into my Lap Top.

Regards

Hmm! Profound! Very profound discussion!

I played these two 24bits/96kHz flac files on MediaMonkey on my computer, connected to a CA Azur740C via a Belden 1503 digital cable :

1. In A Mellow Tone
Javon Jackson/David Hazeltine/Tony Reedus/Paul Gill SACD333 -
Sugar Hill : The Music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn

2. My Foolish Heart
The Jimmy Cobb Quartet SACD - Cobb's Corner

Both are streamed at a bitrate of 3138kbps and 2631kbps respectively.

The recorded sound of track1 is so magically captured; with the instruments tonality free of artifice forming a cohesive unit, it sounded as if you are hearing it in real life - utterly natural.

Track 2 is a very high-resolution recording which you can hear each musicians in their own space.

I would say that listening to these two tracks on my computer is an absolutely fulfilling and enjoyable experience.

Nothing else matter!

tycham wrote:

I would say that listening to these two tracks on my computer is an absolutely fulfilling and enjoyable experience.

Hi Tycham

Im sure you meant the enjoyable listening experience is via your hifi systems speakers yes, not the computers speaker/s? Just making sure....

Quite a few folks seem to go for Monkey media as their player. What factors made you go for this particular player? Is there anything that you dislike about it?

I have not had a look at it. I really like the "cover flow" feature on iTunes where you can flip thru the album covers much like you could on some late model juk boxes. Does Monkey media have such a feature?

Regards

Computer speakers also sound very hifi like playing 24bits/96kHz files. I play on both, hifi and computer speakers, depending on whether I am at home or in the office.

MediaMonkey was recommended by HDTrack. Seriously, never bother to explore the full capability of this software so don't know whether got cover flow or not. As with other software-I dislike the pop-up menu showing Tips of the day on start-up! Can be disable though.

I do agree Window XP sound better as was mentioned in an earlier post.

Hi Tycham

Interestingly, my research shows that Vista and soon, Windows 7, sound superior to XP.

Apparently XP has some bad audio driver that is very difficult to disable.

Have a look at XX Highend for further info. Maybe of great interest to you and you can try it out!

Regards

tycham wrote:Computer speakers also sound very hifi like playing 24bits/96kHz files. I play on both, hifi and computer speakers, depending on whether I am at home or in the office.

MediaMonkey was recommended by HDTrack. Seriously, never bother to explore the full capability of this software so don't know whether got cover flow or not. As with other software-I dislike the pop-up menu showing Tips of the day on start-up! Can be disable though.

I do agree Window XP sound better as was mentioned in an earlier post.

Errr.... quick question here. Is sounding "hifi like" suppose to mean a good or bad thing?


In my books, a system that sounds "hifi'ish" is not a good thing. A proper hifi system should sound as close as possible to the "real thing" instead of a "hifi system".

So... can anyone confirm if USB DACs are carrying timing sensitive S/PDIF signals via the USB cable, or are they streaming the typical USB data protocol ( say, v2.0 @ 480Mbps) chunks of data to be then deciphered at the external device, then fed into the DACs for D/A conversion. Anyone... ?

quite interesting. USB interconnection has D+ , D- and Vbus. So no spdif infor being transfer. Bit perfect signal can be transfer quite easily.

but as in D/A conversions, bit-perfect alone is no guarantee of quality.
There is this nasty issue called "jitter".

The million dollar question, is that will jitter in a USB cable affect audio sound quality ? This will depend on whether the D+ & D- are somehow carrying raw S/PDIF signals , or are they carrying cooked signals.

This would depend on how the USB device drivers are written for a particular USB DAC. Somehow... still no one here seems to know for sure... anyone ?

mugenfoo wrote:

tycham wrote:Computer speakers also sound very hifi like playing 24bits/96kHz files. I play on both, hifi and computer speakers, depending on whether I am at home or in the office.

MediaMonkey was recommended by HDTrack. Seriously, never bother to explore the full capability of this software so don't know whether got cover flow or not. As with other software-I dislike the pop-up menu showing Tips of the day on start-up! Can be disable though.

I do agree Window XP sound better as was mentioned in an earlier post.

Errr.... quick question here. Is sounding "hifi like" suppose to mean a good or bad thing?


In my books, a system that sounds "hifi'ish" is not a good thing. A proper hifi system should sound as close as possible to the "real thing" instead of a "hifi system".

As an anology - 'fish like' and 'fishy' are completely different in meaning.

kowtim wrote:Hi Tycham

Interestingly, my research shows that Vista and soon, Windows 7, sound superior to XP.

Apparently XP has some bad audio driver that is very difficult to disable.

Have a look at XX Highend for further info. Maybe of great interest to you and you can try it out!

Regards

I changed computer every 3 or 4 years so doesn't really matter whichever is better. Moreover I only used PC for music review. All audio files I possessed end up either as CDs or DVD-A for my listenning pleasure.

I'm using the PC to replace my CDT. it's not tuned to play high rez as my DAC is low rez .

So, I follow the gurus on the internet to tweak the Operating System (in my case the XP) to optimise the sound quality. People in the know talk of 'kmixer' driver or something like that like a plague. It must be eliminated with extreme prejudice. The way to get round kmiser is to use ASIO driver to bypass the mixer. There is another way but I don't know how to describe it

Playback software makes a difference too. I use Foobar to good effect.

There are loads of info floating around on this subject :

Check out www.audioasylum.com under the PC audio section

Check out audiocircle under discless circle & empirical audio sub forum

Check out www.empiricalaudio.com - the boss man Steve Nugent knows his 1's & 0's. In the early days about 5 years ago, I had my clock conditioner modified by him. Did some amazing stuff like inserting an M-Audio Transit USB to SPDIF convertor with mods into the clock conditioner tied to the Toslink input. Rocket Science stuff man.

Regards,
Joe Ling

Hi Joe

That's the one I was trying to think of to tell Tycham... kmixer!

Say Joe, been meaning to ask you about your FVP. Do you use the super shunt reg? If so...One for both channels? Or One for each channel?

Would it be possible to post any pictures of your FVP unit?

Back in the day Joe, the original unit I used to have had a somewhat narrow stereo spread width wise, and was a bit noisy... but I never forgot how much depth there was to the sound. One could close their eyes and almost imagine themselves being able to walk around the various instruments in the room. The illusion of space around things aspect was at a level that I have never heard equalled since. Mind you this was back in the LP heydays and the Koetsu Rosewood Signature had just come out.

Have you ever come across any digital playback system Joe where one can close their eyes and feel that they could really walk around the musicians in the room?

Regards

guess this will need plenty imagination.

To some people, a pair of Edifier speakers can give them this walk around the musicians effect already.

For others, even a million dollar FM-Acoustics system still won't cut it, save from being actually in Carnegie Hall itself.

Hmm, I thought I didn't have any pics of my FVP. Well, turns out that I did take some photos back in 2001 :









It's a 2 chassis thing.

Looks pretty crude but sounds damn amazing :-)

kowtim wrote:Hi Joe

That's the one I was trying to think of to tell Tycham... kmixer!

Say Joe, been meaning to ask you about your FVP. Do you use the super shunt reg? If so...One for both channels? Or One for each channel?

Would it be possible to post any pictures of your FVP unit?

Back in the day Joe, the original unit I used to have had a somewhat narrow stereo spread width wise, and was a bit noisy... but I never forgot how much depth there was to the sound. One could close their eyes and almost imagine themselves being able to walk around the various instruments in the room. The illusion of space around things aspect was at a level that I have never heard equalled since. Mind you this was back in the LP heydays and the Koetsu Rosewood Signature had just come out.

Have you ever come across any digital playback system Joe where one can close their eyes and feel that they could really walk around the musicians in the room?

Regards

I can see a lot of efforts putting in the DIY. For me, I save the hassle of putting them neat and tidy. Probably a copper ground wire running would be good to have.

Hi Joe

Thanks mate for posting the pics. Fabulous! Much appreciated! I see the super reg

How did you get the circuit for the power supply? Would you still have one? I had a first edition preamp cookbook, but I sold it to someone who wanted it.

Did you by any chance get the cable cookbook by AW? Any thoughts?

Regards

Hi, i'm new to this forum and also a noob. Have anyone tried using the PS3 to play music files compared to a PC soundcard. I streamed the FLACs files from my PC using PS3 and output to my amp.

The sound output from my soundcard compared to my PS3 make a huge difference, unless I need to spend a audiophile soundcard for it.

Thanks!

Forgive me for being an old fart but PS3 = Play Station 3 ?

haha, forgive me for being a young fella and interested in the audiophile hobby.... yea.. PS3 is playstation 3..

joeling,

What did you buy your Zalman PC and casing ? I see the HTPC Casing on zalman.co.kr, they look very nice ?

I bought mine from the local dealer - can't recall the name but they are the agent for Zalman in Malaysia. It was a special order item though. Sad to say that the TNN series of cases have been discontinued. Apparently, the new CPU nowadays require more cooling than the cases were able to provide.

Only place that I know of that has them is www.endpcnoise.com but they no longer ship to Malaysia .

carz wrote:joeling,

What did you buy your Zalman PC and casing ? I see the HTPC Casing on zalman.co.kr, they look very nice ?

Regards,
Joe Ling

joeling wrote: Apparently, the new CPU nowadays require more cooling than the cases were able to provide.

How is that so? Even with the 32nm technology?

I've not been looking at PC specs for the last few years. My TNN spots a Intel core 2 duo CPU. Was told that the CPU is a dinosaur already...

tycham wrote:

joeling wrote: Apparently, the new CPU nowadays require more cooling than the cases were able to provide.

How is that so? Even with the 32nm technology?

joeling wrote:I've not been looking at PC specs for the last few years. My TNN spots a Intel core 2 duo CPU. Was told that the CPU is a dinosaur already...

tycham wrote:

joeling wrote: Apparently, the new CPU nowadays require more cooling than the cases were able to provide.

How is that so? Even with the 32nm technology?

I using a duo core E7500 undervolted to 0.75V at max temp. 42 degree C using linear power supply. With SMPS it is only at 37 degree C.

For me I am using notebook (therefore no huge power supply) and one can choose to unplug the power supply and forget about earth connection/regulated noise if need to, etc feeding the spdif signal.

Since I had large collection of lossless files, I have chosen to go n the computer audio route. Most of the time, I had to comb thru folders for the correct music.

I had tried the Teralink X2 spdif transport and it comletely outclass my marantz transport with modded clock.

For me Teralink X2 with its 1ppm has some potential and value for money on digital playblack

I have experienced first hand the Teralink X2 at none other than Mr.Chua55's residence and I am impressed. Big time impressed!!!

I was sceptical when it came to PC based playback systems but I was totally sold on the idea. I can't imagine a USB driven device like the Terralink can sound so good. What really shocked me was MP3 ripped at 128Kbps sounded full and free from the usual MP3 nasties. And the Flak and Wav files simply blew me away.

Of course it was played through Chuas's Audio GD Reference DAC and my Mark Levinson but I give the Terralink full marks and 2 thumbs up!