PC For Music listening

[tharun]

Hi

I am in a Plan of using a PC for Music purpose,. I am a Zero in Computer hardware , kindly assit me to get a good PC which will be mostly used for Music and some basic accounting purpose. Which sound card to use and how much its priced. Which sound card to use . Can I connect this PC to my amplifier and if so how will be the quality of the sound when compare to the Marantz SA 7001 which i am using as a source now. Which is the best Speaker to attach with my new PC.

Thanks

 

[spirovious]

Hi

I am in a Plan of using a PC for Music purpose,. I am a Zero in Computer hardware , kindly assit me to get a good PC which will be mostly used for Music and some basic accounting purpose. Which sound card to use and how much its priced. Which sound card to use . Can I connect this PC to my amplifier and if so how will be the quality of the sound when compare to the Marantz SA 7001 which i am using as a source now. Which is the best Speaker to attach with my new PC.

Thanks

If you get basic PC with PCI-E 1X slot,you can add asus Xonar SC(XT) which is best for music,but if you need HTPC,you can read HTPC thread on this forum.

 

[studiomaster]

MX5021 would be my recommendation. THX Certified speakers.

IT rocks...............

regards,
studiomaster

 

[bhanja_trinanjan]

Get ASUS XONAR and Denon AH-D2000

Hi,
I would suggest you to get a good USB DAC like Cambridge Audio DACMagic, it will be far better than any soundcard.

If you can't afford the Dacmagic, then get the best ASUS XONAR that you can afford.

hyeah: Stay far far away from PC speakers. Get the excellent Denon AH-D2000 headphone, this will blow many good speakers away.

There is a traditional Hifi speaker manufacturer, which makes excellent active desktop PC speakers... (AudioEngine, I guess) If you are not familiar with headphones, it is best to go with the Audio Engine.

 

[audiodelic]

Get an Asus card or quality dac. Get Audioengine A5 speakers but also add a sub to have it play all the frequencies.

 

[Vijay_s]

I recommend following setup as i use it

Intel PC 945 GCNL board, Dual core Processor - Cost around 18000
Sound card - On board intel hi-def (Here you can opt for a better sound card)
Amplifier - NORGE 1000 ( Rs - 9500) - For better quality and you can connect other sources as well
Speakers - Wharfadale 9.1 pair (11500) - Standard speakers you can connect it to your home theater as well.

 

[marsilians]

Sound card - On board intel hi-def (Here you can opt for a better sound card)

Definitely a no no compared to an dedicated sound card or ext. DAC. there is no "hi def" with onboard stuff.

 

[alpha1]

Get a dedicated soundcard.
Even a creative will do.

There is a vast difference in sound quality between the onboard and dedicated soundcard.
Creative route will be very very cheap compared to DAC and exotic soundcards.
However, you won't get a good sound right out from Creatives - they are made primarily for gaming, and hence color the sounds intensely.
For music purpose you'll have to load a driver called kxdriver.

MAudio and Asus are very good, albeit expensive, options.

The output of which you can route to amp.

Compared to a dedicated CD player?
I can't really tell, because Audio CDs are the only thing I have heard on CD players - Pioneer/Denon etc

However on PC I mainly listen to mp3/aac/ogg. So there will be inherent difference because of difference in source.

 

[soundofmusic]

I dont know about the computer sound card. But i have compared the sound from the CD Player and PC , which i used as a source. The sound when i connected the CD player was better.

 

[suprateep]

I dont know about the computer sound card. But i have compared the sound from the CD Player and PC , which i used as a source. The sound when i connected the CD player was better.

try a good soundcard (EMU, Asus) with proper SW (CMP + CPlay) - it can blow away CDplayers in the region of 20-30k anyday.

My borrowed xonar is kicking some serious ##!@!.

 

[psychotropic]

hey, your amp+speaker setup now sounds pretty good (on the understanding that you're upgrading the missions), so you don't need to think of any other amplification or speakers, unless you need them to be in different places.

For the computer itself, here's a small configuration you could consdier (i haven't assembled it, but i had mentally put it together when i was considering a PC source):

Processor: AMD Athlon X2 5200 Rs. 3020
Motherboard: Gigabyte MA78GM Rs. 4000
Cabinet: SilverStone LC17B Rs. 7500 / Antec Fusion Remote Black - Rs. 10,000
Memory: Corsair 1 GB Rs. 800
Sound Card: Asus Xonar Essence STX Rs. 8000 (?)
Hard Disk: seagate 1 Tb Rs. 5500
Optical Drive: 52X CD ROM Rs. 520
Input Device: USB Remote Rs. 1500(?) or wireless keyboard and mouse Rs. 1000

These prices are what i got from some sources on the web, actual prices may be lower, and of course I am absolutely not an expert on computers, so I'd invite the guys like moser to step in here and point out if the above config would actually not be a good idae.

Hi

I am in a Plan of using a PC for Music purpose,. I am a Zero in Computer hardware , kindly assit me to get a good PC which will be mostly used for Music and some basic accounting purpose. Which sound card to use and how much its priced. Which sound card to use . Can I connect this PC to my amplifier and if so how will be the quality of the sound when compare to the Marantz SA 7001 which i am using as a source now. Which is the best Speaker to attach with my new PC.

Thanks

 

[KHK]

Hi

I am in a Plan of using a PC for Music purpose,. I am a Zero in Computer hardware , kindly assit me to get a good PC which will be mostly used for Music and some basic accounting purpose. Which sound card to use and how much its priced. Which sound card to use . Can I connect this PC to my amplifier and if so how will be the quality of the sound when compare to the Marantz SA 7001 which i am using as a source now. Which is the best Speaker to attach with my new PC.

Thanks

What's your budget? Do you already have an amplifier? What abt speakers? You have them? What will the budget cover? PC+speakers? Or only PC?

 

[tharun]

From Yesterday i have started hunting for the prices of the Components which you guys have suggested. My budget is upto Rs.25000/- for the PC Alone. I already have the Amplifier and the Speaker.

Thanks
Tharun

 

[suprateep]

From Yesterday i have started hunting for the prices of the Components which you guys have suggested. My budget is upto Rs.25000/- for the PC Alone. I already have the Amplifier and the Speaker.

Thanks
Tharun

AMD 7750 +M M3n78EM = 8k
RAM 2gb Kingston = 1.2k
OD LG DVD RW = 1.2k
HDD=seagate 1tb=5.2k
Wireless Mouse/kyb=1.5k
Casing: 1.5k (generic)~8k (silverstone HTPC)
HDAV 1.3 Slim=9k (is a good card for stereo overall and bitstream for HD audio to receiver)

PS: I have the above config minus the HDAV and am using a borrowed xonar stx)

 

[iaudio]

From Yesterday i have started hunting for the prices of the Components which you guys have suggested. My budget is upto Rs.25000/- for the PC Alone. I already have the Amplifier and the Speaker.

Thanks
Tharun

Tharun ji, I am also from Cochin, was finding out about music pc a few months back. Your budget of 25k is more than enough.
Would you be using it exclusively for stereo music? or movies too? You can get ASus Xonar stx from Rashi Peripherals.

 

[doors666]

AMD 7750 +M M3n78EM = 8k
RAM 2gb Kingston = 1.2k
OD LG DVD RW = 1.2k
HDD=seagate 1tb=5.2k
Wireless Mouse/kyb=1.5k
Casing: 1.5k (generic)~8k (silverstone HTPC)
HDAV 1.3 Slim=9k (is a good card for stereo overall and bitstream for HD audio to receiver)

PS: I have the above config minus the HDAV and am using a borrowed xonar stx)

HDD 1tb is about 4.3 + tax nowadays.
Wireless kbd/mouse - for 1.5k you will get junk which will not work with htpc unless you are sitting within 5 feet of it. so keep more budget for this. I learnt this the hard way.
HDAV is a waste as he just wants to listen to music. HDAV makes sense if you want to go for watching blu ray on htpc. Instead you can go for a mobo in which the soundcard gives spdif out, and connect an external DAC. Make sure that the spdif port is available on the back of the pc. some mobos give you just an spdif out header on the mobo itself, and to take it to the back of the pc, you need another card. Learnt this also the hard way.
Or go for asus essence.

 

[suprateep]

HDD 1tb is about 4.3 + tax nowadays.
Wireless kbd/mouse - for 1.5k you will get junk which will not work with htpc unless you are sitting within 5 feet of it. so keep more budget for this. I learnt this the hard way.
HDAV is a waste as he just wants to listen to music. HDAV makes sense if you want to go for watching blu ray on htpc. Instead you can go for a mobo in which the soundcard gives spdif out, and connect an external DAC. Make sure that the spdif port is available on the back of the pc. some mobos give you just an spdif out header on the mobo itself, and to take it to the back of the pc, you need another card. Learnt this also the hard way.
Or go for asus essence.

1. HDAV is a pretty good sound card even for 2 channel sound. I can vouch for that.
2. M3n78EM supports spdif for D5.1/DTSC as well as 8 channel LPCM - but the spdif is prone to noise (many mobos have a functional spdif - functional only as there are clips ocassionally)
3. Asus Essence STX is good but a novetly value (i am using a borrowed piece for some time) unless you are using headphones.

BTW thanks for the HDD prices.....they have come down substantially.

 

[spirovious]

1. HDAV is a pretty good sound card even for 2 channel sound. I can vouch for that.
2. M3n78EM supports spdif for D5.1/DTSC as well as 8 channel LPCM - but the spdif is prone to noise (many mobos have a functional spdif - functional only as there are clips ocassionally)
3. Asus Essence STX is good but a novetly value (i am using a borrowed piece for some time) unless you are using headphones.

BTW thanks for the HDD prices.....they have come down substantially.

Have you tried Asus Essence STX with system?even Onk606?
How does it sound?

 

[suprateep]

Have you tried Asus Essence STX with system?even Onk606?
How does it sound?

yes bro am using a borrowed STX for the last 2 weeks. Imaging has improved and no crackle that I was getting from the onboard spdif. But spending 9-10k on this is too much for my liking. IMHO a HDAV is better overall for movies and can be paired with a DAC too using coaxial.

BTW I am waiting to get my hands on the HDAV deluxe - yet to see in the Indian market - a few guys on an external forum have compared the two saying that there is absolutely no difference wrt analog out of the two. the hdav has one of the better (DACs BB1796 DAC + NS LM4562 OP) combos wrt HW around.

 

[Sairam]

AMD 7750 +M M3n78EM = 8k
RAM 2gb Kingston = 1.2k
OD LG DVD RW = 1.2k
HDD=seagate 1tb=5.2k
Wireless Mouse/kyb=1.5k
Casing: 1.5k (generic)~8k (silverstone HTPC)
HDAV 1.3 Slim=9k (is a good card for stereo overall and bitstream for HD audio to receiver)


+1 but WD HARD DRIVE is batter than seagate