Should Sound Quality of Computer Audio be improved


Unable to respond to, "Mach2Music and Amarra: Huge Disappointment"- Thread. Other Members take free pop-shots!
Apparently some have more Freedom Of Speech than others! I
don't know how many times I have said it, I want Computer
Audio to succeed! It will only succeed if Computers are designed from the ground up to reproduce Music (Same minimum standard applied for Equipment of ALL Audio Formats)! This is common sense Audio Engineering Design. Bandaid Modifications cannot be substituted for absence in design to produce Music! Design it right to EARN the right to become a New Audio Format- same as all other Audio Formats! No Freebee's, No Cutting Corners! Lack of design is what's causing such varied results in S.Q. between
listeners of Computer Audio. I see about 50% negative
responses here on these Threads. It will continue to happen unless you fix it! Blaming me won't help! I am an
Engineer, and I can read results! 50/50 success/ failure
rate- you have an inherit Engineering Design Flaw for the
reproduction of Music via Computers! Shock! Suprise- since
they were never designed for Music! So when is someone finally going to properly design the Equipment/Computer
(From the ground up) for Computer Audio? Do we continue
to treat any real criticism as "HERESY" in the lack of
design in Computer Audio for Music? You tell me what I am
allowed to talk about, and we will both know!
pettyofficer
Pettyofficer, no offense but you evoke an image of one of those confused weirdos wondering through central park ranting about the coming of the end of the world, or a conspiracy of some sort (in your case the alleged failure of the computer industry to addres the needs of audiophiles). Are you just pulling everyone's leg or are you serious?
Microsoft and Apple don't care about sound quality beyond a modest level, and why should they. We are a small niche market. It's up to us to work with their existing products (or not) to get the sound we require.

As I said before IT'S NOT A NEW FORMAT. And there are standards: WAV, FLAC, AIFF. What you seem to be asking for strikes me as the equivalent of standards for CD players (back in the day) beyond their ability to play back CDs. CDs are the format and the standard. Levinson approached CD playback a bit differently from Sony, as did JVC, Meridian, and so forth.
If ubiquitous audio quality is ever enabled by Microsoft, it will happen due to prodding from high-end industry leaders. However, it must be disguised as money-making proposition to them. I have made such a proposal to a Microsoft audio group Program Manager. He says that they are too involved in the release of Win 8 right now, but it has potential.

I turns-out that they already have a feature in Win 8 that can potentially enable high quality networked audio streaming called "Play-to". This does not have the multicast features of Sonos or Squeezebox, but it is an open system based on standards. It can do simple 2-channel.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Pettyofficer,

All Hifi systems suffer the issues you mention. This preamp with that power amp, that power amp with those speakers etc etc.

As with all decent systems you have to make some effort to get it to sing. This takes experience & knowledge. Just like setting up a TT, finding a decent phono stage & the correct loading for a cartridge.