2. pc-audio
  3. 1137136595

Can a PC match the quality of the best CD players?

Okay, if an audiophile CD player can run you anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000, how do you build a PC that is in the same league? With the audiophile CD players you have to figure that every part of them is maximized to be the best that it can be: Transport, circuit designs, DACs, power supply, signal path, power cable...

How can a PC compete when you're stuck buying consumer grade CD burners, power supplies, motherboards etc.? Even if they are the most expensive that you can find. Is there a way to build a PC that rivals a $5,000 CD player? Of course you can add an audiophile power cable to your PC, but I have to believe that it's just throwing good money after bad when you consider the rest of the non-audiophile components used (and non-audiophile components are the only ones available as far as I know).

Does anyone know the answer to this? I know that the better CD players use great DAC's, but I am not so concerned with that as I use an RME sound card which is indeed a beautiful sounding converter. But I can't help wondering about the rest of the machine... What separates this $1000 computer from a $5000 CD player???
studioray
coffee_nudge
120 posts
 
I am currently experimenting with computer based audio using a Squeezebox (http://www.slimdevices.com/). I ripped my CDs to hard drive using EAC and FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Compression). The Squeezebox directly supports the FLAC format, and decodes it.

I have my computer in a different room from my audio system, and have the Squeezebox connected to it with a CAT 6 Ethernet cable (you can also do it wireless). The Squeezebox decodes the FLAC and then I send that digital signal via a DH Labs D-75 digital cable to a Bel Canto DAC2 (you can also use the Squeezebox's own internal DAC).

At this point, the ease of use is fantastic...I have approxmately 3000 songs available instantaneously, all searchable by song, album, artist, genre and year. The sound quality is pretty decent, but not in the same league as my Wadia 861 with GNSC Statement mods.

I am going to be playing with different DACs and cables etc. to see just how good the audio quality can get.

If nothing else, it's a lot of fun to play with.

Cheers.
hepl
147 posts
 
Edesilva,

I agree with you. I am using a Bel Canto Dac2. To avoid the "noise" and "ground loops" I changed the Coax for an Optical cable and it does sound cleaner. I use an external hard drive (1,000 GB) and the I-Tunes program to store all my cds using the WAV encoder.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
"How can a PC compete when you're stuck buying consumer grade CD burners, power supplies, motherboards etc.? Even if they are the most expensive that you can find. Is there a way to build a PC that rivals a $5,000 CD player?"

Certainly, infact, it will beat your $5K transport. Read this article for more info:
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue22/nugent.htm
eandylee
124 posts
 
the HUSH PC looks nice... sort of what I was looking for... but the price is little too steep for me...

I just picked up a refurbished Dell 5150 from dell.com for $500 and it is pretty quiet. Looks ok with the new silver case.

harrya
8 posts
 
Thought I would chime in on this one...

In most "cheaper" PCs on the market, there are three cables coming from a DVD/CD drive in a computer; "general data", a "left/right analog" and a "digital" cable.

Therefore it is my experience and understanding that if you play a CD directly from the drive the signal passes over the "digital" cable which is a VERY poor grade cable that connects directly to the sound card on the computer.

However, if you "rip" the CD to the computer's hard drive first and then play the file off of the hard drive, you should and do get a better sound as it does not transfer over the poor quality "digital" cable from the DVD/CD drive.

Anyway, give it a try. I have noticed far better sound from the hard drive compared to the DVD/CD drive directly.

On a side note, the fans in computers and such really do destroy the audio quality. I have upgraded my HTPC to a fanless system entirely and it sounds much better.
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