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Please Help!! looking to get into computer audio.

I am looking into exploring the computer audio format, I am a long time audio enthusiast. My Digital front end currently consists of a Oppo bd103 and a Bryston Bda 1 , I currently have the capability to stream my itunes library from my computer via bluetooth to my oppo player , but the sound quality is not up to my standards. Any suggestions on how to increase the sound quality would be great. Please consider that i am a newbie to this and a little confused with the formats of computer audio. Any solution would be appreciated thanks. I have been looking at the w4s remedy and or Blink or recovery. I am also considering just getting a wadia 171 ipod transport and just using my ipod. confused and not sure which route to take for best sound qaulity.

128x128whinoman
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,381 posts
 
Yes, you can run the microRendu without a NAS in some setups, but most don't. Part of the beauty of it is that it's like a Swiss Army knife, so you can use it with NAS running Mimimserver(free) and control your music on tablet with free apps like Lumin(which I also use & love) or Linn Kazoo. If you prefer you can run HQ Player on your computer platform of choice do digital EQ,etc and use the mR as a network audio adapter. If you've been a Squeezebox guy, you can run LMS(free) on the NAS or a computer and use the Squeezelite(free) app for control. 

One of the benefits is getting a full PC or Mac computer and its associated noise out of the listening room and galvanically isolated from the dac. While some would argue "the mR is a computer", that's true but it is a low power single purpose computer that doesn't have a bunch of extra processes running and its board is designed specifically to minimize noise getting passed to the dac.  Everybody who's heard it here had an eargasm. Cheers,
Spencer
bondmanp
1,826 posts
 
I use a Squeezebox Touch with a Vortexbox Appliance from Small Green Computer. The Vortexbox is ~$425, and is a turn-key system that uses FLAC and is designed to work with Squeezebox. The sound is pretty good, and there is no USB connection in the signal chain. IMHO, coax digital is a simpler connection and getting good sound from USB requires a lot of effort that coax digital eliminates. I also bought dbPoweramp to rip CDs from my laptop, and it has a great file format converter, so you can convert your iTunes files to FLAC for the Vortexbox. If this interests you and you have any questions, let me know.  Also, Squeezebox Touch units on ebay are being sold for closer to $300 right now.
erik_squires
16,444 posts
 
I think that my next steps are to use a Linux PC with SqueezeLite and the Logitech Media Server 7.9. Why? It now streams DSD via USB 2.0. :) 

And I already have the PC there for media and games. If this works out I'll move my SB Touch to the bedroom. 
bondmanp
1,826 posts
 
You may wish to consider the Vortexbox software (which is free) on your own PC.  It runs Linux, and is DSD compatible. 
dtc's avatar
dtc
1,047 posts
 
You have a PC with a USB output and you have a fine DAC with a USB input. You can start with iTunes and just connect the PC to the DAC. I think the USB on your DAC will only accept 44 or 48 KHz audio, but it will give you a good idea of how it can sound. If you want to do higher resolutions you can get a usb to S/PDIF adaptor to connect the PC to the Byrston at higher sample rates.

Once you have this working you can try a different player like foobar (free) or J RIver ($50, but has a 30 day free trial).

I would suggest taking small steps before investing  in more hardware.
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