Affordable Music PC with External DAC

[bhagwan]

I prefer spending hours finding a particular version of a tune I like than changing hardware/software for different formats or genres of music....

Precisely - this is what I had in mind;
Use an I-Pod - keep your music on it - fast to find & easy to play.
Its quality is good & the cost is 100 % under check.
Do not get into this DAC / Card / UPB thing.
Unless you have larger sums of money to spend - the difference will not be audible & the entire exercise shall be futile; imho
I have done it - with a PC & cheap sound card [esi juli@] - volume control - TC Electronics etc.
Do not go down that path - it is not worth it.
an Oppo 105 will blow that set up to smitherines.:sad:
Only if you do the computer audio - meticulously will the result be good - else a waste of time. I have spent too much time & effort and money doing it - hence I say what I say;
Also used the EMU Card & USB Cable from Wireworld - Platinum / Siltech G-7 etc. etc. [this can go on forever - so I will control myself]
My suggestion is great [super] VFM & the interfece is brilliant too.
Never Play I-tunes on a Win PC - important to remember;

 

[arj]

Sir,
If mp3 is to be used, there cannot be a better solution than an i-pod.
It is a brilliant product.
Keep music in mp3 stored there & play via a 'good' cable - phono jack to rca direct to your NAD = this is a well priced & effective solution;;;
I would recommend it.
80gb should be more than enough to store lots of music in mp3 format..Besides load Amarra on the I=Pod & the sound quality will improve even further;
Sonic Studio Amarra High Resolution Music Players and Professional Audio Mastering Systems

Completely agree that For mp3 an iPod is cheaper and better than a laptop..there is no issue there. It takes all issues like power supply etc out of the equation. But I think amarra is only available on the Mac..not on the iPod ?

 

[panditji]

But if I do use my laptop for playing FLACs, then it should be good enough to play MP3s as well...Why have different sources for FLACs and MP3s?

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

You have a laptop already. Take it from there!

Why have different sources for FLACs and MP3s?

MP3s may be of audibly lesser quality than an unlossy format, thus, one might not think them worth a greater investment. On the other hand, unless they are really low-bit-rate, you might find them quite playable, but decide to stick to unlossy in the future.

Remember, also, that unless you have a great deal of cash to spare, you are not even aiming for anything ultimate. If you can get something that you can afford, that is good to listen to, that comes within your definition of hifi (and if not, just use the laptop's earphone socket!) and will keep you happy unless or until you want and can afford something else.

What I mean is... you could be listening to music instead of worrying about whether or not you should spend an extra $1,000!

 

[mowgli80]

For a music PC, I would suggest you to go for a raspberry pi and load it with Linux+XBMC. Along with the price, the form factor is a major plus. You can then play virtually any music file format and control it through an android phone over wifi. Damage = about 5K.

For DAC, I would suggest ASUS Xonar Essence STU (Xonar Essence STU - Sound Cards and Digital-to-Analog Converters - ASUS). It is a new external DAC product so not sure of the immediate availability in India but performance should be at par with STX if not better with the added advantage that you don't have to place a huge PC cabinet in your living room to use it(hello RPi). Its supports async USB which imho is the best way for communication between PC and DAC and ASUS being a computer company first should be able to do a far better implementation of it, both in hardware and drivers, compared to audio companies. I bought its bigger brother (Essence One) for 21K so I assume it whould be priced 15K + 2K. The biggest plus, imho, about this DAC is swappable opamps which lets you customize the sound signature to your liking and is a cheaper way of taking care of upgraditis. You can ofcourse go all the way and buy few expensive opamps which should push the sound few levels up. This is what I have done recently and cost me 20K. Although I have not heard other DACs in A/B with my XEO, just the level of jump in the sound makes me think the upgrade was worth it .

 

[anm]

A Mac Mini + External DAC is going to cost almost a lakh or more....Can we try and find options using existing laptops or cheaper netbooks (they start at Rs.17000 with decent specs)...the netbooks with Windows 8 installed used only for the purpose of music should be better than the Apple laptops with the recent upgrades to the Windows audio softwares......

so are you looking to use your existing laptop? That should also be fine. Keep all music on a USB disk. When at home, connect this disk on USB and connect an external dac and you are set.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

For a music PC, I would suggest you to go for a raspberry pi and load it with Linux+XBMC. Along with the price, the form factor is a major plus. You can then play virtually any music file format and control it through an android phone over wifi. Damage = about 5K

I think there is a heap of interesting stuff one could do with a raspi or similar. One possibility is building a Squeezebox equivalent, and that is something I might want to do one day, if and when my SB dies. To begin with, though, Panditji has a laptop --- and it is a case of starting from where is his, rather than going somewhere else first.

There is always the future, and one thing is that a DAC with only USB input is somewhat inflexible. Pity I can't connect my ODAC to anything else but a computer --- but hey, I wanted that particular device and that's why I bought it.

 

[panditji]

I am even open to buying a new netbook especially for music as these start around Rs. 17,000 with very good specs....A laptop configured solely for music and a decent DAC for around $500 connected directly to an integrated amp..What do you think?

 

[anm]

I am liking this one - as it can double up as a headphone amp as well. If u are going to use a comp, USB only dac should be fine for you. I am looking for one that can take spdif as I want to use my appletv as source.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

I run one tower PC for everything, and as I'm sitting in front of it quite a lot, I use it for most of my music listening too. I can't comment on whether a laptop/notebook would be any different, or if USB audio out is any different from one such device to another (it shouldn't be). Some people are even able to get USB audio out from tablets and even phones (sadly I can't from mine: would love to try).

Buy your DAC. If you stick to the laptop you have for now, you can invest more on the DAC.

 

[anm]

A dedicated laptop will give him the flexibility to cut it down to most essential stuff only, while also allowing to experiment with different players, like foobar ot itunes, or jplayer and what not.

 

[panditji]

I only have 1 laptop which is my work laptop and I carry it everywhere......I do not mind using another cheaper laptop which can be used as and when an alternative comes up as technology is changing very fast.....

I can even buy a used laptop for a lot cheaper and only install Windows 8 as believe it is good for audio now....Another reason is that I do not have to connect it to my system everytime I listen to music and it can be switched on like a CDP whenever I like....

 

[panditji]

Off topic but has anybody heard the NorthStar Essensio DAC ? If yes, any impressions?

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

I only have 1 laptop which is my work laptop and I carry it everywhere

In which case it might be better to use a dedicated machine for your audio.

And if you choose to do that, then why not consider building a small-format audio PC that you can administer from your laptop and control from a phone app?

 

[manniraj]

In which case it might be better to use a dedicated machine for your audio.

And if you choose to do that, then why not consider building a small-format audio PC that you can administer from your laptop and control from a phone app?

+1 to the above and I use the same with the Foxconn barebones PC and I run Win7 + Foobar2000 and nothing else. Modified the MMC to load Foobar2000 in high priority and nothing else happens on this system. Connected this to ODAC and the sound is very good with no fan noise as the Foxconn is fanless.

Thanks

 

[panditji]

In which case it might be better to use a dedicated machine for your audio.

And if you choose to do that, then why not consider building a small-format audio PC that you can administer from your laptop and control from a phone app?

I would prefer a laptop as a desktop would become useless incase I decide to change the source in future if something better comes along....

I do not use any smartphone and have no plans on using one in the future as well...I use a phone only to make and receive calls and messages with 1 game to keep me busy....

 

[arj]

whats the budget you have in mind for this Laptop ?

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

I would prefer a laptop as a desktop would become useless incase I decide to change the source in future if something better comes along....

The computer as storage and transport seems to be the thing of the future, with the DAC as the improvable/upgradable "source." --- but I see your point.

I do not use any smartphone and have no plans on using one in the future as well...I use a phone only to make and receive calls and messages with 1 game to keep me busy....

Very wise!

Actually, I use the phone very little, and think of it more as a miniature computer in my pocket with which I sometimes make phone calls hyeah:

 

[panditji]

Arjun, the laptop needs to be as cheap as possible but I quite like the idea of a small netbook from ASUS loaded with Windows 8 or the most basic Lenovo machine..The netbooks should be had for around 18,000 and the Lenovo laptop comes for Rs.25,000 with an i3 processor and 4 GB RAM which is more than sufficient....

Thad, IMHO every device needs to be used for what it does best....marrying a phone and a PC will make everyone go crazy as they currently doing....

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

offtopic... I hate this phone-glued-to-ear thing, and it seems to be particularly bad in this part of the world. It is a major cause of dissent in my own home