Should Sound Quality of Computer Audio be improved

Lmao Nonoise.

PettyOfficer, I really can't see any real truth or facts in your arguments.

As I see PC audio, it is a diy bolt together hobby for the keen audiophiles.
NO manufacturer like Apple or Del will ever produce what you are claiming should exist. It is our hobby, it is small town, 1% of the population if that.

Lets face it, our hobby is the same. You go out, buy a DAC, AMP, SPEAKERS, love em or hate em, and sell, and we go round again.

Now with PC audio, we buy a PC (no surprise that one). Then we buy a connection lead or USB convertor, whoa, that's technical! Then we buy a DAC thingy, hey I'm getting scared now... and then we hook the whole thing up to, yes you guessed it - an amp and a speaker!

So, let's rewind here. What was the problem? Oh, the virus thing, the software thing, the hard disc thing, the network thing. Like, how many in the real world can avoid those things. Deal with a bank, get a loan, apply for a job, plan your holiday, can ANY of those things be done WITHOUT a computer nowadays.

In my view being a Mac user since the first Mac commercially available, the set up is for chimps. If you want a real brain drain, and bugs and viruses, or badly designed software (I am talking system software and Office suits), buy a windows box!

The Mac hardware is SO CHEAP. Come on guys, you are spending more on interconnects, a bit of wire. A Mac Mini with Quad Core and SSD that can run a TV, stream music, play games better than an X-Box AND do your accounting on, hey it's a GIFT.

So, lets stop beefing, and lets enjoy the journey. Isn't that why we are on this forum, why we buy this stuff and build hifi kits ect. It the love of doing it. The software is also cheap, the massive external drives are cheaper than ever. It's potentially a cheaper route to audio bliss, way cheaper than Esoteric CDPs and fancy 2k interconnects.

No assalt rifles, Devilboy; but, you are still "Going To Have To Pry my CDs From My Dead Hands"! Really, I kid; but has it seriously come to this? You are kidding, right?
"Solar Flares Aside"? Have you forgotten how extremely suseptible those FRAGILE magnetic Hard Drives are to large magnets? First thing to fry will be the Hard Drives during a severe enough Solar Flare. Power Grid will go after all of the Computers controlling it go blank! CDs being affected, I don't see it. CD Player fried, Power fried, these things can be replaced. Music Files stored on your Hard Drive...will...be...a...little...harder to replace. My Stump can tell me when the last severe Solar Storm was, just look at the rings. Radiation retards growth. Sorry,
my Stump tells me just how rediculously F-R-A-G-I-L-E those so-called "CONVENIENT" magnetic particle based Music Files really are. It is the Cassette Tape all over again. Let them sit around long enough, and the magnetic flux just bleeds right off of them. This is Physics, Math, Science, Entropy, and Experience- not crazy rants. Fragmentation is real, Music Files are "CONVENIENTLY" disposable Music Trash. Sort of like the disposable lighter, and the disposable cassette. So long as you have a steady supply of replacements- no problem. You lose that your screwed. Same Magnetic Flux wipes Hard Drive, will certainly wipe your Back-up Hard Drive. Whoaaa- two Hard Drives at once, how CONVENIENT! Don't you guys ever watch BURN NOTICE? Micheal sneeks into a hotel room, and wipes the entire memory off of a Laptop just by swiping it with a powerful magnet. How about the Computer Geek from THE CORE? F.B.I. is knocking at his door, he is trying to destroy evidence. He wipes the memory of multiple Computers by swiping them with a powerful Magnet. You guys sold this "convenient" LEMON to the American Public as a place to store their valuable Music??? I have a Stump you can hide under. Hate to be you if American Public ever finds out first hand. You two will have ALOT to talk about (Along With Microsoft). I will just be on my way. I will be busy looking at the pretty sky. I don't think that you will enjoy it as much. There has just got to be a special place in Hell for those who steal someone else's Music/ Music Format- you think? You will be so busy shaking hands with so many friends there, you won't have time to worry about it. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of Guys!

Petty......Really, what are you trying to convince all of us to do??? You know we are all happy in our computer worlds. Why can't you just listen to your umpteen formats happily and let us listen through our computers without feeling the need to bash computer audio and for that matter, all of us that listen through a computer. I just don't understand what you are trying to accomplish. Please write all of your rants to companies that can do something about it. We have all heard what you have to say, you've heard our how much we agree. Take it somewhere to make a difference and please stop bashing here, where we can't help you. Tim

Timlub- I don't know how many times that I have said it! Save the Silver Disk Format along with the Downloads. Ten thousand CDs being out-of-print, and no longer available.
Can you say "Last Nail In The Coffin"? Write to the Companies who are doing this? Forcing us to buy the Downloads by eliminating the CDs? Buying disposable "Convenient" Music Files, as if buying anything disposable isn't a Manufacturer Profit motivating exercise? Why don't they offer a Music File replacement guarantee if anything should happen to your Music Files? Is it because, like Thieves, they know where the money is? You would trust them with your Bank Account Number, along with your valuable Music? My OPINION is to keep CD (MLP, XRCD, DXD...etc) around so as to provide Consumer LEVERAGE on Sound Quality from all of these Downloadable "THIEF-DOMS". You want to throw away any leverage I might have, put all of my eggs in one basket of a single downloadable Audio Format, without any alternative, force me to take risk with my valuable Music, hold my breath for more high resolution download selection, and accept the elimination of any high resolution alternative from Silver Disk? You want me to bet the Farm on a few beans of "Soon To Be Released" Sound Quality? I say that I need some insurance. You say "Give it up, and bite the bullet". Is this what YOU are trying to accomplish? I am bashing Computer Audio, and you are bashing me for doing so. You don't know the difference? Take another look at that long list above. What is "CONVENIENT" about any of it? I see the Consumer being thrown under a bus of a profit motivated single Audio Format. Z-E-R-O L-E-V-E-R-A-G-E for the Consumer in Sound Quality. Manufacturer's can just mop up with ever lower Sound Quality for cheaper Downloads at an ever increasing price- boom "$$$PROFITS$$$"! Step down from being an Audiophile? No Sir, we don't agree at all! You are trying to help Manufacturer's do this? You are not helping me at all by throwing me under a bus. Yes, I am NOT afraid to stand up to you TO MAKE a difference. I am not stopping you from listening to Computer Audio. Wish that I could say the same towards me, and Silver Disks. You show me the necessity for doing this, and not once have you addressed it. Changing Formats exclusively, is a big move. How about explaining the necessity for it this time, if Sound Quality isn't the necessity? Profit? Certainly NOT the Consumers Profit! Format Competition, not convenience, is the Mother of Consumer benefit in quality. My bread is buttered on the side of Sound Quality, not sacrificing it for Manufacturer Profit/Convenience. How about you? Ahhhh...Nuts! Don't waste your time answering that! You are trying to dictate to me how I should be allowed to listen to my Music, no matter how well you try to sweeten it. WRONG on so many levels!!! I know it, and you know it- enough of the B.S.!