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Recommendation for Computer/Digital

So I've been doing research into various solutions to my issue- most of my music is on my computer. I don't have a pretty low-end CD player right now and instead of spending money on a decent player I have been exploring computer based audio solutions- Squeezebox, Roku, new soundcards (M-Audio etc.). I have a laptop and its internal soundcard is all I have.

I've been getting caught up in the idea of a squeezebox right now, and with the cost of mods it's getting out of my range. I'm looking to spend up to $500 max. An M-Audio transport, which is the basis of the Red Wine Audio USB Select solution (a $500 solution) costs $99. I'm having a huge problem in figuring out how the variety of solutions compare and where the most bang for the buck lies. I've even been using my XBOX as my digital music player for awhile now.

My request- your views on the best way to get great sound in my price range from a computer with a crummy soundcard. Personal experiences are greatly appreciated. Is a stock Squeezebox a good thing? It seems that all the raving is from the modified end.

My system so far: I have a McIntosh MA500 Amp and B&W Nautilus 803D speakers (I think that's the right Nautilus model- I'm away from home for several months for work). Any suggestions to improve that would also be appreciated. I'll admit I bought without knowing too much- my wife's ears were the main reason we ended up with what we did, even though I'm more of the music lover.

Thanks for any responses.

Nick
uzelacn4bc2
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
Hi Ghunter, yes, the jitter issue is only during playback. On our system we buffer the playback from the hard drive through memory. The idea was to create a dedicated transport- thus the zero latency configuration (we found on Windows that the system itself creates latency issues even when no other process was present- Linux seemed to solve that very nicely and no system crashes either :)

If you are running the transport with other processes at the same time a normal Linux kernal would be the way to go although is less than optimal (although newer sound cards that have appeared in the last few years seem to have erased some of these concerns).

Bel Canto has introduced a DAC that runs off of USB. Now we can bypass the stupid sound card issues altogether! Not tried it yet though.
ghunter's avatar
ghunter
164 posts
 
Zero latency still isn't going to fix jitter - that occurs at the DAC stage and there's nothing in the OS level that is going to fix it. If you are buffering the signal in memory whatsoever then you do not have a zero-latency system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitter

I'm not being super-picky here, these are digital audio basics that you are misunderstanding.

Here is some good reading from Wavelength Audio:

http://www.wavelengthaudio.com/usbdac.html

I've been using their Cosecant USB DAC for about a year now with great success.
ckorody
640 posts
 
If you survey the posts on PC Audio, you will quickly discover that using a soundcard is not the way to go. It is very, very difficult to get clean audio out of the PC environment. That is why USB and Ethernet are so attractive - in both cases its about getting the data away from the PCs electro-magnetic interior before converting back to an analog signal.
mrmb's avatar
mrmb
249 posts
 
I second the USB DAC route. I just bought a Wavelength Brick (Silver). It replaced a Wadia 861 and I couldn't be happier -- either from a sonic or ease of playback selection perspective.

Before buying a MacBook to use as a music server(and from which I'm typing this reply), I briefly used a 7 year old Dell PII (300mhz) desktop with the same success as the Mac. Old, nearly obsolete PC's are quite servicable as HD based USB music servers. So it's wise to put your bucks into audio hardware rather than PC hardware.
karavite
34 posts
 
Alas, I am in the midst of big bucks home rennovation with no $$$ end in sight and it seems like all the worthwhile USB DACS are 1k - 2k or more. Originally I though a modded SB would be the way to go, but there are a few things that keep me from making the plunge.

1. Modded, it will cost about 1k after all is said and done.
2. I have a spare iBook and firewire drives up the wazoo I can dedicate solely toward music serving, co-located with my audio system. I don't need or really want wireless. Honestly, I like the idea of a little white iBook on my rack - you can always close it.
3. I don't know if I would like the user interface of the SB. I am really really picky about such things (my profession and education is in UI development/usability - I am the hardest person to satsify on this type of thing).
4. I really really like the iTunes interface (have used it for years on my computers) and I have a wide range of Bluetooth options for controlling my Mac if and when I am too lazy to get up and walk 10 feet to the computer.

So, it seems to me I should either lie to the wife and get a USB DAC (look honey, it is small and only cost $250 - so evil of me to even think this!!!) or maybe just wait as new and better products come along. The latter seems to always be a good option. Then again, is there no sub $1k USB DAC worth a try? Any other direct from the computer options less than/equal to $1k worth a try?

Thanks in advance.
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