Windows Media Player


I just bought a set of Audioengine A2s. They sounded great in the store with nothing more than a MacBook Air. So I brought them home and hooked them up to my new Gateway computer. The sound is not all that great with Windows Media Player playing .wav files or mp3s. I also tried PowerDVD 10 player, and the sound is somewhat better but more different than anything else. With WMA the sound is slightly distorted and pulses some, is noticeably louder at times, and it just distracting. PowerDVD 10 gets rid of these problems but is still lackluster. I want my A2s to sing like they did with the Mac. I'm not trying to do audiophile sound, I just want cleaner sound than I am getting and to be able to enjoy them while computing. What to do?

BTW, I checked the driver (Realtec I think) on my machine and it is the newest. Then installed the PowerDVD 10 with only somewhat better results. I also Googled my problem and really didn't find any definitive help in a couple of hours. I'm hoping I can get some solid direction here.
pokey77
My guess is and guess only, you were probably listening to files that were 16/44 or better in the store demo and at home you might be using 320k or so now. There is a noticeable quality difference. The above suggstions from the other 2 guys will get you going. I'd download foobar 2000 also, it runs smooth and tells you what resolution and bit rate the files are that are playing. Also, you didn't say, but I guarantee your store demo used some sort of DAC. What about you? Night and day improvement there.
Good Luck, Tim
Foobar is indeed a great music player. You can try the Kmplayer as well. Have you tried some eq tweaks or different positions? placement is very important.
Almarg,

Your post provides a lot of really useful tips. I have a question that you might know the answer to. Have you ever tried any type of line conditioner with a computer and external drives? Given that computers are not really made for high end audio, I can't help but think that it may make a substantial improvement.
Great explanation Almarg and Xxqq250. These tips should help others in the future with similar questions.
03-15-12: Xxqq250
I have a question that you might know the answer to. Have you ever tried any type of line conditioner with a computer and external drives? Given that computers are not really made for high end audio, I can't help but think that it may make a substantial improvement.
Good question, but I have no relevant experience. Even though I'm both an audiophile and a computer enthusiast, who builds his own computers, ironically I haven't yet merged the two and the only digital source in my audio system is a one-box CD player :-)

I'd imagine that a power conditioner could very well be helpful in many setups, mainly by minimizing the amount of computer-generated noise that might find its way into the power wiring and from there into the audio components. Also, if the computer is located close to the audio system a shielded power cord would seem to make sense, to prevent rfi from escaping from the power cord and radiating into the system.

I would guess that the effects of a power conditioner will tend to differ depending on whether or not the computer's power supply uses active power factor correction, perhaps making less of a difference if the computer provides that feature. Recent computers are increasingly utilizing active PFC, especially the better ones and those that are Energy Star compliant.

FWIW, I'll mention that I use a CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD true sine wave UPS on my desktop computers. It works great for my purposes, but I wouldn't recommend its use close to an audio system because I've found that it radiates rfi, as detected by a portable AM radio brought near it. Inexpensive UPS's that put out stepped approximations to a sine wave, btw, should not be used with computers that have active PFC.

Thanks for your comment, and thanks to Tom6897 as well.

Best regards,
-- Al