Lossless Audio - Need some hardware recommendations :)

[SolidSqual]

Hey Guys,

I like the idea of putting all my music on a massive hardrive and mixing it all up into an endless playlist of 2 channel glory! The problem is that my laptop sound card sucks and when I purchased a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX, the sound was not at all impressive in stereo (I did notice the soundstage was a not as expansive and the sound seemed more distant. In addition, the multi-channel output of the card would not output to my sub in stereo mode). The DVD-Audio from the card was impressive, but at $250 dollars in the hole already from this purchase, I"m half-way to an amazing DVD-A/SACd player. So DVD-A/SACD aside, I want great 2 channel audio! Does anyone have any solution to my problem, or should Just return everything and pick up a good SACD/DVD-A player. On that note, any recs for a good player?

[billbillw]

I suggest you do some reading over at the AK forum:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=122

[audiobliss]

By no means am I well versed in the realm of music playback on the computer, but E-Mu has some great, very nice sounding, and surprisingly inexpensive sound cards. I'd check them out.

It seems there's another brand I've seen recommended here before, but I can't recall what it was. Try searching for sound cards. Select advanced mode and search for posts by Zero.

[heiney9]

Here's a link to my brothers music server. Extreme but it works very well.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showpost.php?p=444780&postcount=13

Here's a link to another discussion thread.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.phpt=39414&highlight=music+server

There are actually quite a few other threads out there

H9

[boxxkar]

For what's worth, I'll explain my setup in the home office as it seems to work for me. I have a regular desktop with a sound card installed. I used to have a near top of the line soundblaster card (at least in 2002), but I've changed motherboards since then and now I think I am just using the on-board sound card. I have a mini-phono to RCA cable that runs from the sound card to a stereo receiver and the speakers (Polk Rti4's) are connected to the reciever. The computer sound is setup just like a tape deck or cd player now. I've used this for years (with different gear/setups) and has always seemed to produced good sound. If you are using Mp3's, I'd make sure they were converted at the highest rate (I forget what that is, but is 368k or something that starts in the 300K plus range). For Mp3's the rate definitely has an impact on the sound quality they take up more room, but it's worth it for the sound difference.

I took a quick glance at the soundcard you purchased and I would be curious what role that USB connection has in the sound quality as I have never used a setup like this. Things like a 1.1 USB vs a 2.0 USB connection might make a difference, but I'm guessing.

I have also experimented with the Tivo, which as the ability to be networked and can read the music files from another computer in your house. I've had mixed results with this setup. Right now it's hard to say if it's the Tivo or something else in the mix causing the difference.

Hope that helps some.

[Sherardp]

Denon, Sony ES, Marantz, Cambridge, and Music Hall are worthy of a spin.

[TheReaper]

Here's what I do:

- rip my cds in Windows Media Player to wma-lossless
- play them back in Windows Media Center (note: all enhancements are turned off in windows media player except 24bit playback, windows volume set to max).
- output through my on-board intel spdif out (optical) set to 44.1khz pcm (note: all enhancements disabled).
- to my onkyo txsr702

Sounds good to me.

Note: I know my setup it is not bit perfect, when I played a DTS embeded wave file, my receiver just kept switching in and out of DTS mode.

[Toka78]

This one has the look right but seems a bit spendy...don't know anyone who has it but it might be worth a look:

http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_transporter.html

[heiney9]

This one has the look right but seems a bit spendy...don't know anyone who has it but it might be worth a look:

http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_transporter.html

My brother and I were just discussing this component. The Squeezbox is made by Slim Devices and that's what he uses to stream from his server. This particular item above is just the engine, it has no storage capability. I wonder if it sounds as good as it's price?

H9