Dedicated CD Player VS Premium Sound Card

[iaudio]

I have a blind spot, because I am not a movie watcher: I forget all about 5.1, 7.1, etc. To me, if a sound card has multiple channels, it is made for multi-track recording in a studio. Either way, I try to maximise the focus of my spend by going for the simple two channels that I actually want!

Yes, but the OP had mentioned DTS capability in his first post, thats why. I think we would be looking at Asus Xonar ST and STX and then the ones from M audio, ESI Juli etc

 

[reignofchaos]

I would personally go with a BR Player which could play FLACs and MP3s with ACDs. I personally trust the DAC on my AVR and am happy with the SQ.

I have a Audigy 2 ZS and onboard 7.1 sound card based on ADI 1988B chipset. While listening to music through my PC, I ensure that I choose digital output from onboard card as it supports 44.1kHz, 88.2kHz and 176.4kHz. Both cards support DTS Connect encoding (I am not interested in compressing Audio to pass through SPDIF though).

Audigy 2 has a serious digital output issue as it resamples all Audio to either 48kHz or 96kHz. This significantly reduce the quality as they are not multiples of 44.1kHz (typical of Audio CD, FLAC or MP3s, etc).

I personally do not prefer a FANCY DAC to convert the Audio to Analog, pass through a preamp before getting to AVR as it introduces another layer of preamp and loss through the analog cable till it reach the AVR. Even if the DAC is of superior quality, the additional analog layers spoils the purity of Music (by changing frequency response characteristics, add THD and Noise) which otherwise would not happen if I pass the original 44.1kHz to my AVR UNADULTERATED.

I do not like the fan noise created by several fans on my PC (as I need an OS to play compressed music, hence my mobo will fully power my components unlike newer ones), hence prefer getting a decent Samsung or Sony BR player which can also act as a universal media player.

Personally the above configuration with a decent AVR and Speakers makes me happiest. I prefer good Amp (with digital input) and Speakers to a fancy CD player or an external DAC.

Sorry to spoil the party but the most lossy component in your case is not the dac or whatever else but the AVR. Using an AVR for music means losing most of the musical information immediately. If I were you, I'd get a dedicated amp for music - whether integrated or pre-power is your choice.

 

[maniac_2004]

Let me put it this way. I have heard a Marantz 6002 through a Benchmark DAC1. I have heard a number of other CDPs such as NAD, CA, Primare, Creek etc.

In the recent past, I have also been troubled between the choice of going for a CDP or looking at a serious PC based music system. I experimented with a Core2Duo PC using an Asus Xonar STX. Using cPlay, and FLACs and routed to an 'ordinary' amp using an Arcam rDAC, I very strongly feel I have achieved my sonic nirvana. The kind of sound stage and three dimensionality I heard from this combination, I have never heard before excepting in the 6002+DAC1 combination. But, in that case, the amp and speakers were at least five times more expensive than what I used with the STX + rDAC.

I will be writing a detailed review after I overcome some issues in terms of OS and ability to play at the kernel level using ASIO drivers. In my mind, at least for me, the CDP is dead.

At the same time let me warn people. The PC route can deliver wonderful music. But this path is wrought with dangerous steps and need a high level of commitment, and the ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Cheers

Hi Venkat,
could you specify the components entire chain ( pc->dac->amp->speakers) and how you zeroed in on them ?

Also do u use this setup for video also ?

Regds

 

[GeorgeO]

I have a slightly different set of components, I use a NAS-SqueezeBox-DAC-Amp/Sub amp-Speakers/Sub.In a couple of other rooms I dont use a DAC.

I was at Venkat's place yesterday evening along with Rajiv, and saw and auditioned his PC based system. My needs are different from his, since I have multiple rooms where I listen( 3 actually) to music and watch HT, whereas he listens in his dedicated AV/Audio room only.

Ever since I ripped my music my CD player is sitting gathering dust.In my mid HT and 2 channle audio are two different creatures.

 

[iaudio]

george, was the pc connected to that arcam rdac? What is your impression of the set up?

 

[venkatcr]

could you specify the components entire chain ( pc->dac->amp->speakers) and how you zeroed in on them ? Also do u use this setup for video also ?

A little patience, my friend.

Anyhow I have two different rigs for audio and HT separately.

The audio PC is a Core2Duo bases system with 4 GB of DDR3 RAM, 2 TB of HDD, Asus Xonar STX Card, and an Asus 5450 based GPU. The OS is Windows 7 that I am currently optimising for audio. I have used a Arcam rDAc down the line with a VDH coaxial cable acting as the link. The speakers are either Wharfedale 9.5 or Audire's IO2s. The amp is a surprise that I will reveal later.

For HT purposes, I have different machine based on a 4 core AMD processor and a ATI 5750 based GPU. It has a 64 bit Windows 7 and 4 GB of RAM. The connection to my AVR is through an HDMI cable.

Cheers

 

[GeorgeO]

Set up was very neatly done, unfortunately we listened to very little music and watched only one clip from Die Hard-most of the time was spent chatting!

Venkat's HT set up uses a 42 inch flat panel, and he hadn't connected his sub up.In my view a sub is mandatory for both the audio as well HT experience-but that's only my personal opinion. The FR is a horn, using, I think, small Fostex drivers, and sounded nice. The floor standers were Wharfedales, I didnt look to closely at the design.

 

[iaudio]

Yes, he has the Audire IO2s.

 

[venkatcr]

Venkat's HT set up uses a 42 inch flat panel, and he hadn't connected his sub up. In my view a sub is mandatory for both the audio as well HT experience-but that's only my personal opinion.

George, the sub is always connected, but I did not power it up. If I knew this was important, I would have powered it. I agree a sub is mandatory for movies. In my AVR I have set the fronts to Large, and they would play the low frequencies when the sub is off.

At times, it is sheer laziness on my part. Sorry for that.

Cheers

 

[GeorgeO]

Venkat

No problem-we enjoyed ourselves sub or no sub!