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Getting High-Quality Audio From a PC
audiophile writes "Just because it's a PC doesn't mean it can't output good-sounding audio. In the same vein as specialty A/V products, you can find PC-based A/V systems with extensive audio processing and step-up performance specifications, including Signal-to-Noise ratio, which can make a significant difference when using the analog outputs. Media center manufacturer Niveus shares tips for getting high-quality audio from a PC."
Because at first glance I seriously thought that this article was going to be about smoking pot...
I got nothin'
Audio should not be done inside a PC. Well, not the analog portion, anyway. Ever looked at anything inside a PC with an oscilloscope? The noise environment is awful. You should not be trying to clean up the power the PC provides to the point you can use it for analog work; it's just not worth it. Especially when you'll just get hit by all the radiated EMI inside the case.
The solution? Simple -- ship the data out digitally and do the analog work elsewhere. Fortunately this has become very easy, with S/PDIF and the availability of good amplifiers with digital inputs. Amplifier power supplies are designed to be clean, and there aren't high current noisy loads on them -- they're designed for analog work. I have a fully digital amplifier from Panasonic that I'm very happy with. (Fully digital meaning all the way to the output FETs -- it does a delta-sigma pulse density modulation directly on the output signal, which turns out to be a very low noise, inexpensive way to get high quality output.)
Come on! Didn't some editor read it before posting it to Slashdot front page? This is nothing but advertisement for their A/V product line, and their summary is ridiculous. I will spare you people the trouble to read it in TFA:
And, look at this pearl:
I rest my case. Anyone advocating WMA lossless codec (specially to Slashdot target audience) is not worth your time. Nothing to see here, move along.
audiophile writes "Just because it's a PC doesn't mean it can't output good-sounding audio.
Why would anyone even think that? Just because you have a processor that can perform gigaflops you'd think you can't output good quality sound? The only reason such a perception would exist is to get so-called audiophiles to spend more on garbage that doesn't make a difference to sound quality but they can pretend it does.
For proof, just look at this $1200 Power Cable . How stupid does one have to be to spend $1200 on a power cable. What do you think conducts the power from the breaker box to the wall outlet? Why would someone build a $3000+ amp and not properly condition the power inside the power supply?
Well, like most things...hardly anyone gets all the high end stuff all together, right off to bat!!
My stereo? I've been building it since I was about 12 years old. Right now it is all in storage as that I'm still a bit 'nomadic' since Katrina, but, I've built it starting with money I made back then babysitting, and doing yard work. Started with a Zenith stereo...el cheapo. I saved, and bought a Marantz reciever...then, my Dad found a good closeout sale on some pretty good sized Fisher speakers...I saved and couple years later, bought a pretty decent pioneer turntable. From there an Xmas present of a pretty decent at the time cassette deck (the sharp one which was one of the first to be able to skip songs, etc)...from there over the years, CD players when they came out in college....found a pair of 15 yr old Klipsch Cornwall speakers available just as I got a tax refund...later, Marantz gave out...found a Carver pre-amp with pro-logic, and their 4 channel cathedral amp...Klipsch got stolen...deal with insurance allowed me to spend $1800 and get Klipsch K-Horns (the same speakers I'd been drooling over since 12 yrs old). I've since gone to using the Decware tube amplifier...etc.
I run this system off a media box I've built, with my tunes ripped to FLAC...and I love the sound. But, while the system I have now (other equipment omitted), is in the multi-thousands of dollars, I didn't buy it all at once. Unless you are born into money, do like the rest of the world, and work hard and save and build slowly. Once you get to the point when older that your starting to pull down some serious bucks...well, you can splurge then...but, if you've been building all along, you'll find you have MOST of what you want by then.
I'm at the point now, of looking into higher end sound cards, I'm figuring that is probably the weak link in what I have now...when I buy a home, I'm gonna look into getting another set of some type Klipsch heritage speakers for the surround ones...as small as Heresy's, or maybe even LaScalla if the room is big enough.
See? you never have to quit dreaming and building your system...
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Audigy 2 and other EMU10k1 chipsets are locked to 48khz internally, which has caused me a lot of grief when wanting to play back stuff at other rates. If you're playing back 48k exclusively this is fine, otherwise better get a soundcard that supports the different sample rates of your choice natively.
Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
When you move into your new home, don't forget the Ultra Super Mega Hi-Definition Monster Cables, just $199.99/linear foot! The increased resonances fidelities and resolutions will be well worth it. Also, it's much better to be safe and completely isolate your audio system from the power grid by running it entirely off of car batteries (I buy the batteries that Nascar uses since they're the highest quality). It may seem expensive but it's well worth it. I've spent over $150k on my audio system so far and I can *hear* the difference. Every time I buy a new component that costs 10x what the old component cost, it definitely sounds better.
99% of music is indistinguishable from CD in 256kbps AAC (I don't have many 256k MP3s).
But some waveforms are just too hard to compress. In particular, harpsichords, solo classical string instruments, and solo electric guitar (through some filters) start to sound strange even at 256k.
A good but not foolproof way to figure out what is going to be troublesome to compress is to compress it losslessly using FLAC or ALAC and look at the resulting mean bitrate. Most stuff that compresses to between 400-600kbps, which is most music, will be fine at 256k. Some of my music, though, exceeds 900kbps lossless, and I even have a couple tracks over 1000kbps (where uncompressed PCM = 1411kbps). In all cases this stuff sounds like crap compressed to 256k. The harpsichords, in particular, sound harsh and flat, since the exceedingly complex waveform they make just can't all fit.
For me, it doesn't matter in the end, since I rip everything losslessly and then compress it for the car or the iPod where sound quality really doesn't matter anyway. But some people may not want to use hundreds of GBs of disk space or may have more music. For them, strategic ripping is in order.
While your ability to hear deteriorates with age, your ability to listen tends to increase, and you have more data in your brain for comparison, to know when something isn't quite right. When you're 18 and volume and bass is what counts, you might not notice that the high hat sounds like broken glass and the xylophone appears to move between the speakers depending on the note played. You might even think it's supposed to be that way. When you're older, you might be more critical and less accepting of flaws, even if you can't hear all the flaws.
Anyhow, I think the OP should have mentioned that this article is about audio for *AV*, and not pure audio. There's a vast difference between that and pure audio. While a movie can sound awesome with a bunch of small satellites and a sub, that will never do for, say, a recording of a symphony orchestra, where you know the timpani and double bass players aren't sitting on top of each other. Yes, bass at high volume (like in a movie) isn't very easily positioned, but at lower volumes, it's very noticeable. Likewise, when listening to a church organ, you can hear where the different pipes are. They don't move around, depending on the quality and frequency range of 7 different speakers. And when you listen to an AV system, you never play with the volume way down -- you're really only interested in accuracy at high volumes, quite unlike with high end audio.
ROTFLMAO. My favorite is the Wooden Volume Knob.
It's funny. Laugh.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
Monster cables suck. There are good cables and bad cables, but you'll often find the good ones cost less than the bad ones. For example, I know audio engineers (designers of equipment costing 10's of thousands) who use CAT-5 for interconnects and mains power cable for speakers. Why? Because it sounds good, it's easy to get hold of, and it's cheap.
Whilst I understand that the world of high end audio has more than it's fair share of snake oil salesman selling overpriced crap (like the wooden volume knob) I get really sick of sarcastic comments from know-it-alls whenever anyone mentions having a decent audio setup. You wouldn't mock someone for having a kick ass computer setup, but there's some kind of geek prejudice against audio - which just seems weird to me.
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"