2. pc-audio
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Best sounding PC for adudio may vary

Hi I have owned many many different PC,s . From Desk tops to laptops but I have found that HP lap tops the new I5 quad core and 6 gig ram 640 gig hard is my newest toy but it is by far the best on my stereo. It has a much more laid back sound than my Compaq or my old Dell. The Compaq I found very forward with lots of mid bloom that could sound great on another rig but this HP is my boat. The Dell....Well honestly the Dell both laptops and desk top both just were boring and just never made think " this is the best it can be" I knew it was lacking and no one had to tell me that dell isnt what you want for audio. But some swear by it so more power to them. It may intergrate perfectly with there rig. I want to know what you guys Think? Tell sound differences you have noticed between different computers and by the way if you cant tell the difference in the sound between computers ....well...Thanks anyway?
jayb77
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
The easiest way to get beyond this sound varibility and generally poor SQ of PC is to go with Mac. Then Use Amarra, Pure Music or Ayrewave for playback. These all have slight sound differences, but they are all excellent.

A Mac Mini is an excellent choice, and if you want to tweak it out, just buy a Mach2 from mach2music.com. They have already done the foot work to do all the right things IME. I dont sell these, but I used one of their Minis at RMAF and my system got best of show from TAS. It was not because of the Mach2, but it did make a noticable improvement.

Also, dont even think about ripping with iTunes or using iTunes on a PC. Dreadful IMO. Use dbpoweramp and Accurate rip on PC and XLD on Mac:

http://tmkk.pv.land.to/xld/index_e.html

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
jayb77 OP
46 posts
 
Thanks for the all the great feed back and epecially the Mac ideas guys! Ive heard others say Mac is the best practical everyday use/music server for audio use. My new HP has the I2S output or it looks like HDMI. Should I run that instead of USB to my Wyred 4 Sound DAC? All suggestions are appreciated.Oh does dbpoweramp have a free trial or software?
jayb77 OP
46 posts
 
Totally agree with mechans. I really was refering to most main stream everyday PC,s or Mac,s and the different forms of connections from fire wire to USB or now Is2. Just kinda to help with sonic adjustments. More simple than complicated but the super servers are out there so we must talk about the possibility but I personally may never know the joy of a dedicated audio server. Oh! And much appreciated Steve from empirical Audio.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Jayb - the HDMI output on your computer is not I2S and not compatible with the W4S input. This input only works with the PSAudio transport.

dbpoweramp has free downloads, but you must download several pieces I think and install and configure them. I think it is easier to pay the $39 or whatever and get the pro version.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
cbw723
89 posts
 
Steve, I notice that your Off Ramp has I2S output. It's a different connector than the W4S uses, but can they be made compatible?
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