MP3 players

no the original mp3's suck but napster runs on a better code and I can download songs with a bitrate of 200k. And they sound really good so far on just my pc (as good as CD's). I've decided to get a digital output card and just run a digital wire to my D to A (I think that should work). Then I'll find out if the sound quality suffices on a good system (thiel, classe, MIT). And by the way SHAYNER I think the reason there are no other comments on this chat is probably because there are to many old geesers here that have never tried napster or even know what it is. Anyways I'll post my results for all to see whatever I decide on doing and whenever I get around to it (for good or bad).

Well, you may be right, but they sounded like crap from my friends computer into my system(JmLabs, Aragon, MIT, Classe). Let me know what you think... And don't be too hard on the old folks. Many of them probably know more than we do. Won't your card have to output the digital signal at the same rate as CD? I've only used the analog outs on the computer. I don't think a direct connection will work. Let me know what you get going. Maybe I'll play around some more...

Yeah I actually look up to allot of the old guys wisdom but I think they are reluctent to explore this area so we might be a little wiser here. Hmmm. I can understand how it could sound bad on a full blown stereo system using the analog outs. I would imagine that it would be hard for a little sound card to push a big system and it probably has to little power to have any dynamics. Also think of how weak of a front end a sound card really is. Now if I can get my dac to decode the signal then we may have something. Well my cambridge soundworks speakers came with a digital input and also a digital output piece that fits in a slot in the back of my pc. The problem is I can't plug it into the soundcard I have now so I have to go buy a new one. Thats a good point. I'll have to ask around and see if it is in fact the same type of digital signal that could be decoded by any standard dac. I would imagine that they didn't change anything since allot of what would run through the digital out would come through the cd rom drive be it cd or cd rom. I believe mp3's and computers are moving fast so even if it doesn't cut it now I think It won't be long untill we have a very good contender against at least our tuners. I know all the magazines trash MP3 but they need to keep testing all the new formats that come out and do fair tests like compare a $100 sound card to a $100 tuner or cd player. It's just like our main systems, we only get out of it what we put in so why should it be any different with MP3's? When they get true quality gear out then we'll really be able to test the format. I'll check in to all this before next weekend and put a post on my results by sunday if a digital output sound card will work. Untill then bye.

If you are looking for a card to output a digital signal for your computer I would recommend looking at the ZA2 by Zefiro Acoustics or the Sonicport or Datport models by Opcode. The ZA2 has coaxial, Toslink and AES/EBU balanced inputs AND ouputs. It has a sampling rate convertor built in and can be used as a patch bay all on the fly. In other-words you can input on one format and output on all three at the same time. It also enables you to defeat the SCMS copy code. It runs about $400. The Opcode products are cheaper, between $150 and $250 but do not have as many features, but they are plug and play USB verus the PCI slot that the Zefiro board uses. My computer is a Sony VAIO and it has a sound card from the factory that has a TOSLINK fiber-optic output. I feed this into either my DAT deck or my mini-disc recorders to perform the D-A conversion. I am a big user of Napster and have been using this set-up without any problems for quite a while. Be sure to shut down as much as you can in your start-up menu to keep the proceesor noise in the computer to a minimum. This makes a big improvement in sound quality and background noise. I also recommend downloading the Winamp player and using it for your playback of the MP3 files. It is also better than the internal player built into the Napster software. I have quite a bit of music that I have downloaded that sounds VERY, VERY good. Much better than any tuner could possibly sound. In some cases it is un-distinguishable from the cd. My system is not awesome but is very respectable. I have a NAD 1600 pre-amp/tuner, Parasound HCA-1200 II amp, Toshiba SD-3109 dvd, Sony DTC-670 DAT recorder, Sony MDS JE-500 and MDS JE-510 mini-disc recorders, PSB 500 speakers which are being used for the present because I do not have any room to set up my Carver Amazings. Not ultra high-end, but not crap by any means. When downloading be sure to pick the highest bit rate possible! The difference between 128k and 192 or higher is night and day. This is the key to getting good sounding MP3's. You should not be disappointed if you do this. Please post back or write me if you have any more thoughts or questions.

Here is the deal with MP3. It is lossy compression getting its original data from CD. Most every MP3 out there was ripped from a CD and then had a lot of data thrown out. You lose info. You might argue that the data lost is not important, but I think most audiophiles agree that data loss is never really OK. MP3 primarily loses data about the high frequencies and low freqencies. As for the bitrate thing, that has nothing to do with Napster. The idea is that when someone creates an MP3 off of a CD, they can choose the fidelity level. 128 bit is normal but it can be higher. I think that you might be able to do MP3's that are nearly lossless, but so few people make such high quality copies that you will really only encounter those if you make them yourselves. Here are my two suggestions. One is that there is a new piece of hardware coming out that is detailed on Stereophiles website that takes the data off of a CD and stores it on a hard drive with variable compression. You can use that system set to lossless or near-lossless compression and achieve an effect close to that of an MP3 player. Otherwise you can buy the home audio MP3 player that Dell is going to release and just deal with the problems.