making my computer sound as good as my cd player

[f0rge]

ok, so like many ppl i have my computer hooked up to my stereo, not the cheap way either, i went with a xitel hi-fi link pro, but the kicker is that the sound is terrible compared to my cd player, not only is it much quieter, but it is much less dynamic, less full, basically flat sounding. i've tried both analog and digital connections to no avail...

is there any way to improve this? i would like a sound comparable to my cd player as i have a large library on my computer (near 3000 tracks).

anyway my system is as follows for a reference point:

yamaha rx-v630
adcom gfa-555
nad c b21bee
def tech bp2002tl

i know there has to be a less than $500 solution to make my computer not sound like a bag of ass.

thanks

[ericl]

I think the xitel has had many less than stellar reviews. I just posted the beginnings of an article on computer audio. In it are some recommendations for sound cards and wireless media servers, which can be ha more cheaply.

http://forums.audioreview.com/showth...1761#post71761

What kind of compression are you using? what software to rip, organize a playback?

-Eric

[f0rge]

well the compression is all 128-192kbps, so its probably not that, most songs were ripped right from cds with itunes into 160kpbs mp3s, and the songs are played back through itunes as well...and i can pretty much tell when its the mp3 that sounds bad, not the system (cause there are a few bad ones on there)

well if the xitel is crap, that would be an easy fix, i was beginning to think this was the weak link

[ericl]

one more question,

how long are the cables you are using? Probably doesn't have too much of an effect but I have heard it is best to have the USB cable be the long cable and keep your digital or RCA cable lengths short. But if you're getting really terrible sound I doubt that cable lengths have much to do with it. SOmething to consider though.

-Eric

[royphil345]

A 128 kbps mp3 really will sound like a bag of ass compared to the cd it was ripped from. Noticed that when I was comparing some mp3 encoders awhile back. If you have decent computer speakers, you can test this out by playing the same cd and mp3.

Did you try playing a CD on the computer through the Xitel? That might be a good test.
Do any of the volume controls on media players or the Windows Mixer have any effect through the Xitel? If so, could be a gain problem.



Thanks for the heads up on the Xitel. Was going to buy one. Seemed like an easy way to hook the computer up to the home theater in the other room and even get 5.1 decoding. Guess it's back to the drawing board. Please let me know if it just turns out to be the mp3s that sound bad or something fixable.

[sc03979]

Is it when you play a cd from your pc or are these mp3's and what media player are you using? I would suggest downloading foobar2000 and make sure that when you rip music that it be at least 192 kbps.

Take a look at flac as well. I have an audigy 2 ZS and klipsch ultras when I play any music it sounds so much better using foobar when compared to winamp.

[wsdavies]

I rip my audio in Itunes to ALE Apple Lossless...You can really here the difference. Also, make sure your sound card is set to stereo headphones. Mine was set to speakers and the sound was flat. When I switched over to the headphone setting it was 100 times better...Now I run Co-ax out to my HK 630 and then run my Cans out of the headphone plug on my reciever..sounds great...

[bjornb17]

I rip my audio in Itunes to ALE Apple Lossless...You can really here the difference. Also, make sure your sound card is set to stereo headphones. Mine was set to speakers and the sound was flat. When I switched over to the headphone setting it was 100 times better...Now I run Co-ax out to my HK 630 and then run my Cans out of the headphone plug on my reciever..sounds great...

what sound card do you have? i have an audigy 2 zs set to 5.1 and agree the sound is flat as pancake. i also have a HK reciever, but the AVR130, and with coax it sounds great, but with analog output, sounds thin.

[Reggie Died]

I rip my audio in Itunes to ALE Apple Lossless...You can really here the difference. Also, make sure your sound card is set to stereo headphones. Mine was set to speakers and the sound was flat. When I switched over to the headphone setting it was 100 times better...Now I run Co-ax out to my HK 630 and then run my Cans out of the headphone plug on my reciever..sounds great...

Stupid quesiton, but when the sound card is set to "digital out only", woudln't this bypass the settings of my computer speaker set up?

Also, i just have a 1/8th cable from the SPDIF out on my computer, connected to the digital coaxial in on the rear of my receiver.

Is there another way to send music to my receiver which woudl result in better sound?

[sc03979]

well the compression is all 128-192kbps, so its probably not that, most songs were ripped right from cds with itunes into 160kpbs mp3s, and the songs are played back through itunes as well...and i can pretty much tell when its the mp3 that sounds bad, not the system (cause there are a few bad ones on there)

well if the xitel is crap, that would be an easy fix, i was beginning to think this was the weak link

Ok, here's what I would do. Install foobar2000. Rip some music off of one of your home cds using flac in lossless. Both flac and foobar2000 are free. Then when you play the music, play it with foobar2000.

Here's a thread on lossless audio formats:
HERE

[fervour]

about the sound cards, i just wanted to comment that the e-mu series of cards sounds incredibly good (noticeably better than the more mainstream cards like audigy 2, etc.). i also have a obh11 headphone amp with upgraded power supply, which makes everything sound even more crisper, more dynamic, and impactful.
however, you probably would have to order some good interconnects because the e-mu sound cards come out directly with 1/4" plugs.. or you can connect it to a mixer or receiver with optical or coax cables.
and for anybody who listens to computer music mostly through speakers, i would recomment just doing away totally with "multimedia speakers" and just go with the sound card-> receiver ->real speakers or monitors. because even if you buy the cheapest receiver and bookshelf speakers, it would probably sound better than computer speakers and even be cheaper.
hope that helps

[tmac1980]

I think the xitel has had many less than stellar reviews. I just posted the beginnings of an article on computer audio. In it are some recommendations for sound cards and wireless media servers, which can be ha more cheaply.

http://forums.audioreview.com/showth...1761#post71761

What kind of compression are you using? what software to rip, organize a playback?

-Eric

Nice job Eric. That article was very helpful. I didn't realize that the audio quality would be improved with an external soundcard. I think I'm going to pick up the M-Audio Transit and give it a try. I've been pleasantly surprised by the overall sound quality of the onboard integrated soundcard. Nothing great, but better than I expected. I did notice the overall volume level is lower than my Marantz CD player. Do you think this external card will be able to address that?

[cjtalbot]

The best method I've found for replaying digital audio on my system is the following:

Buy an Apple Airport Express unit ($110 or so...)

Install the Airport Express (AX) near your system.

Run a digital mini-optical to Toslink cord from the AX into your receiver.

Stream direct PCM digital into your receiver and let your receiver's DAC take care of the work.

You can send digital audio files from iTunes to any Airport unit in your home (I've got a few) and it's amazingly good quality playback.

You can find some great info here in this regard as well:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr...mp&1&ctg&0&50&

[hermanv]

Many inexpensive sound cards have a digital output. IMHO it is not possible to acheive truly good sound inside the very electrically noisy computer environment. Take the digital ouput to an external DAC (buy a used one from $250 and up (way up) and connect it to your main system. This makes more sense to me than an external sound card.

Most D to A's have multiple inputs, buy a better one and route your main stereo through it as well, now both the computer and the main system benefit. If you have the money, about $1000 (used) gets you very close to the best sound available assuming the rest of your system is pretty much OK.

[abstracta]

I solved this problem LONG ago. I stopped investing in over-priced sound cards, use cheap SB Live 5.1s, and invested in an Adcom GDA-600 external DAC. My PC now sounds as good as my stereo when I'm just using digital out-put.

[stevenakamichi]

I use a Creative Sound Blaster Sound Audigy NX2 24bit/96kHz sound card (whcih was <$60) and send the toslink digital output (via a 20' cable) to an Audio Alchemy DTI 32 jitter reducer and then to an M audio 24/96 superDAC via some Monster Pro1000 AES/EBU cable.Then the analog out's are sent to mu home stereo system. All of these components are very inexpensive.

The creative sound card is packed with features allowing you to play DVD-Audio at up to 24/96 (soem new Creative sound cards have up to 24/192kHz in stereo). It can record at 24/96; it even has a buit-in MIDI soundbank for your own music exploration

[prusso]

along with a PowerMac G-4 dual 1mgtz processor to play back mpg.s. I had this receiver for two years before I ever attempted to connect the usb port on the front of the receiver to my computer via usb. What I found out shocked me ! Instead of the music being output from the minijack on my computer to the receiver, now I have
sound output called (Burr-Brown Japan PCM2702 USB) that is automatically recognized by my computer(operating system Mac OSX 10.38-system preferences-sound) thru the usb port bypassing the need for the minijack. As for the sound quality-it is so much better than using the minijack. I believe the Burr-Brown originates within the JVC receiver by passing my built-in sound in my computer. With this setup, I don't have to turn up my receiver's volume as much as did when I was connected thru the minijack.
I must say that there was no mention of this in the JVC manual and I would have not been any wiser had I not experimented with the usb port on the receiver and computer.

[abstracta]

You are aware that a jitter reducer in an already clock timed digital data stream is an oxymoron? If the DAC is doing it's job properly - it won't care if you have an atomic clock timing data trasnfer and the sound result will be the same.

If I use your jitter reducer on my gigabit data switches, will I get better data flow? No? why not? You just claimed it helped produce more accurate data flow between your components? It should then increase or improve other data flows.

[cturcott]

Even a digital out on a low end soundcard will still sound bad. How they manage to make it sound bad when it's a digital file on the PC going to a digital output, I'm not 100% sure how to explain, but I do know that on a cheap card it
A) Doesn't work with a DTS CD
B) Sounds shrill and unpleasant to me

I've used more than just the creative labs cards using optical out by the way and had problems A and B, so it's more than just a matter of the ??Khz->48Khz resampling that creative cards automatically use that causes the problems. Using a recording studio grade card with the optical out solves the problem. I go to a 3000ES Sony receiver and use the preamp outs to a carver amp. The onboard amps were a sore disappointment except for watching movies which is file. I wrote a review of this receiver on audioreview recently that details this.

Oh, and if you want it to sound like a CD use the files that are pretty much a bit for bit copy don't compress or modify them even losslessly. Use EAC which is free and rip to wav.