Windows XP or Windows 7?

Don't know where you heard that from, but maybe a big truck was going by or an airplane was overhead.

I've never heard nor seen anything like that before.

I have an XP box... 3 of them actually. 2 Pro's and one Home.

Using either Fubar 2K or JR MC 12 or higher, all my high Res files, downloaded or ripped to the hard drive play at their native resolutions.

I own files ranging from 16/44K to 24/176.4K.... none are reconfigured during playback.

Windows 7 however allows for WASAPI output. ASIO, Kernel Streaming, and WASAPI, all bypass the windows sound mixer.

BTW... i RECENTLY ASKED A LIKEWISE q HERE:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Should-I-move-XP-Pro-Win-7

Blindjim, read it from an Article in a National Magazine.
Some Professor who is supposed to be an expert in utilizing
and upgrading PC's for Music Storage. It just goes to show the Misinformation Mine Field that Novices like me have to navigate. For me it is the biggest objection to utilizing
PC's for Music Storage. In other words, its a real drag
that is so wrong on so many levels. I only wish that
proponents would atleast acknowledge this instead of just bragging about the advantages. It is a SERIOUS PROBLEM, and the lack of addressing it turns most people off. Your
average Geek Squad is extremely knowledgable in ALL
applications of PC; but, knows next to nothing about Music
Storage and could care less. It is not how they get their Music. Is there ANY reliable source out there that can
answer ALL questions accurately? How about a step by step
process or proceedure so that even a Novice with a PC can
upgrade for Music Storage. Don't tell me that it depends
on what you want, that is the lazy mans excuse. There
should be a Reliable and Accurate source of Info that
covers many options. The fact that there is a vacuum is
telling. No-one is really serious about utilizing
downloading to replace the optical disk. Prove me wrong!

Ahh Pettyofficer...try here:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/

Pettyofficer

Easy tiger.. ‘cause it is easy, once you get some more info.

A friend of mine, now retired, was a district super for IBM. With limited time on the job at IBM, and responsible for improving their training department, he noted quite readily , the reason they had so many bad managers was that the bad managers were doing the training. They were ill equipped to train or lead, for that matter.

That’s the lot we have daily now in our own existence. It’s everywhere. Lack of product knowledge and technical expertise, as well as apporpriate sales people is rampant. Half truths and facts unsaid are the soup du jour. I feel your pain.

But take it easy. It’s all going to work out . If you want it to.

The problem is/are the amount of choices the PC based music devotee has in front of them now. Wired. Wireless. File types. Lossless or lossey. Bit perfect or bit true same thing actually. Which media Player? Want to use a sound card output via SPDIF/BNC/AES ? Want to go USB OR FIREWIRE? Want to make the music available any where locally or just anywhere? What about file storage and archiving? Got a thousand CDs? More? Less? All of these factors play into making a very good or very inadequate decision initially.

and just how far into the rabbit hole do you want to go fidelity wise with your audio playback? This part alone indicates the budget primarily.

You’ve got a pc already,. Got a DAC? If so you’re half way there.

There’s tons of info here if you search the archives. This querry comes along a few times a month and I’m tired of laying it all out over and over again, truth be told. It’s all over the web too if you use the links supplied just so far in this thread.

The obvious Q I’d ask is just how serious are you about going fully PC based with your music? If you’re serious indeed, you’ll do some researching and then ask more pointed questions to which you’ll get cleaner answers.

The biggest dilemmas for me were which DAC to go with, and which way to feed it from the PC. I had no DAC to begin with and went along the hard way trial and error on my own. The DAC and how it’s fed are the two main keys for PC playback. Sound waulity depends on those and the systems abilities working in concert. Your media player and file type selection add in significantly, though not as much as the aforementioned..

My current XP box delivers for me in my main system, sound quality on par with CDPs which range in the $5K to $7K retail arenas..IMHO

Consequently, I feel a hard drive based music playback rig is worth some effort . And with a $5-6K CDP .. it’s one album at a time. With a PC affair, it’s whatever whenever, and as quick as you can type or click . Or you can revert and simply play the whole album just like it was a CDP.

Concentrate on the themes you see recurring and bypass the unique & one off aspects. It’s really not that tuff to figure this out. The more tedius aspect will be the ripping everything to your drive (s) with error checking applications and that’s not rocket science either..

The bit on Win 7 or XP gets simpler each month as support will soon be non existant for XP and then it becomes entirely a DIY project. It’ll be a while for Win 7’s support to pass by. For music? Both work very well. Until it’s necessary then, like getting a new box I’ll stick with XP.