Elizabeth,
I like to have everything on one machine, and as a frequent participant in the forums, you should know that "audiophiles" often have a compulsion to buy and configure new hardware whether or not an older device works properly.
In addition, my netbook has been on for 8-16 hours a day for about two years, and dropped in the driveway a couple of times when rushing to work. So overdue for a new machine.
Elevick, yes, I don't even think about internal sound cards - all my audio goes out via USB into my Behringer DEQ2496 and/or an Audio Research DAC 5 at the moment. For headphones, I use a NuForce DAC which sounds pretty good.
As Al points out, however, there are still settings to configure the audio which can affect the sound.
Al - thanks and I will also check the system and power usage settings.
At the moment, the Sound shortcut can see that my playback device is "SPDIF Interface" which I don't think is strictly true since I am using optical out via a Behringer interface box to the Behringer DAC.
But somehow sounds pretty good this morning, so when in doubt: reboot.
Still there are things that bug me. If I right click on the SPDIF Interface icon and choose properties, there is a "Levels" tab which seems to function as a volume control.
This is counterintuitive to me as I am trying to export bits, not levels.
I will post more as I learn if any other Windows 7 users might be interested.
I like to have everything on one machine, and as a frequent participant in the forums, you should know that "audiophiles" often have a compulsion to buy and configure new hardware whether or not an older device works properly.
In addition, my netbook has been on for 8-16 hours a day for about two years, and dropped in the driveway a couple of times when rushing to work. So overdue for a new machine.
Elevick, yes, I don't even think about internal sound cards - all my audio goes out via USB into my Behringer DEQ2496 and/or an Audio Research DAC 5 at the moment. For headphones, I use a NuForce DAC which sounds pretty good.
As Al points out, however, there are still settings to configure the audio which can affect the sound.
Al - thanks and I will also check the system and power usage settings.
At the moment, the Sound shortcut can see that my playback device is "SPDIF Interface" which I don't think is strictly true since I am using optical out via a Behringer interface box to the Behringer DAC.
But somehow sounds pretty good this morning, so when in doubt: reboot.
Still there are things that bug me. If I right click on the SPDIF Interface icon and choose properties, there is a "Levels" tab which seems to function as a volume control.
This is counterintuitive to me as I am trying to export bits, not levels.
I will post more as I learn if any other Windows 7 users might be interested.