2. pc-audio
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How can I get the best possible sound from my PC?

I listen to internet radio. The better 128 kb/s streams are probably as good as FM (what is your opinion, by the way). My bottleneck is the PC. I have decided to use an external DAC (CIA for the office and Musical Fidelity at home). I am also using high quality digital cables (Kimber D-60 and Kimber Select). How can I put the best possible digital signal on the wire? The digital cables alone cost about $1200. So it would make sense to spend some money on the digital signal if it makes a difference. Any advice?

Thanks,
Ali
boroujerdi
jazzdude
332 posts
 
Use wav files or some lossless compression on wav files. Get a good proaudio sound card with digital output. Use an external DAC.

EAC is the best ripping program.
Foobar is the best player.
Plextor make the best CD-RW drives.
boroujerdi OP
1 posts
 
Thanks Tireguy. I will get in touch with that guy. So the answer seems to be: use a high quality external DAC (which I am doing), use a high quality sound card, and send the digital output from the card to the DAC. Does anyone know what is the best sound card out there in terms of sound quality? And is there an alternative way of doing this that might give me better sound?
rhing
89 posts
 
Since you have good high end equipment, you might consider a good audio card like the RME Audio DIGI 96/8PAD which has S/PDIF digital outputs (optional AES/EBU balanced digital I/O breakout cable available), good clock synching (for low jitter) and high quality circuitry for minimizing PC EMI noise from within the PC cabinet. This card was reviewed in Stereophile magazine. If this seems like overkill to you, check out the CardDeluxe from Digital Audio Labs. If you want AES/EBU professional quality balanced digital I/O, you can get an optional interface to add on. The CardDeluxe was a Stereophile Recommended Component. For an even lower cost alternative, you can go with an Echo Audio Mia MIDI which only offers S/PDIF digital I/O. Finally, the lowest cost choice would be an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 PCI card which offers S/PDIF digital I/O.
gonglee3
304 posts
 
Both EAC and Foobar programs are available for free to download. Google search for them.
dmoffitt's avatar
dmoffitt
66 posts
 
streaming radio over a $1200 cable?????? even 160 or 192kbps mp3 sounds flat, lifeless and horid to me, perhaps your source isn't worth this kind of expenditure? maybe bringing a GOOD cdp to work would be a better choice of the $ than throwing thousands to get 'crap' to sound like 'accurate crap' ?

but i do highly recommend the m-audio line of products, anything more i think you reach that 'point of dim. returns' but they are well worth upgrading to over anything that came w/ your PC.
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