To use PC as music source..

[Ajith lal P N]

Hai AV experts,

I would like to use my existing PC as source for Music.
Please input, what are the requirements to convert PC as a good source.
My PC is an assembled one with Dual core 3.4 G Hz into 965 MB.
Sound card is old Creative Live 5.1.
Just 1 GB Ram and an LG DVD drive.

Regards
Ajith

 

[moserw]

Hai AV experts,

I would like to use my existing PC as source for Music.
Please input, what are the requirements to convert PC as a good source.
My PC is an assembled one with Dual core 3.4 G Hz into 965 MB.
Sound card is old Creative Live 5.1.
Just 1 GB Ram and an LG DVD drive.

Regards
Ajith

Hi Ajith,

Use as a "source" meaning? Are you planning to connect the system to a HT System? Or are you planning on playing music on the PC itself?

If you are looking to connect the PC to a HT System then you will need a card that supports digital audio out, not sure if your Creative has it. On a card with digital audio out just connect a coaxial cable from the card to the HT System.

If you are looking to play music on the PC itself then a good speaker set will do. I would recommend Audioengine A2 (10K) or Audioengine A5 (20K), they simply rock for 2.0 music. What's your budget BTW? A friend recently got Creative Inspire T6060 for about Rs. 3500 and even they rock to tell you the truth for his mp3 collection and for DivX rips in 5.1 that he watches on his PC.

 

[illusion]

Hai AV experts,

I would like to use my existing PC as source for Music.
Please input, what are the requirements to convert PC as a good source.
My PC is an assembled one with Dual core 3.4 G Hz into 965 MB.
Sound card is old Creative Live 5.1.
Just 1 GB Ram and an LG DVD drive.

Regards
Ajith

Ajith if you have an avr then as moserw said you can connect the avr with a digital connection or optionally you can go for an analog 5.1 connection. I used to use my PC as a source and the sound was incredible.

If you dont have an avr , you can buy a logitech z series which are excellent speakers !

 

[kaushik]

Lott of discussions already done on this topic .

the creative card you have is just a OK kind of card .better one may be EMU 0404 .

for the time being use a good software to play music .
windows K-Mixer drivers are not very good for music .
you can use ASIO4ALL pack and MultistreamASIO Player/ winamp with ASIO plugin.

Else use foobar(uses waveRt in vista )

or ,
XXHighEnd player.
Always get good Q wav files ,if mp3 use 320kbps encoded /FLAC.

 

[thevortex]

Kaushik, the XXHighEndplayer may not work in this case as it would play only WAV files. Also is there really a difference in sound quality between this player and Foobar with ASIO and resampling setup? Also XXHighEndPlayer is shareware.

 

[bhaskie]

Hai AV experts,

I would like to use my existing PC as source for Music.
Please input, what are the requirements to convert PC as a good source.
My PC is an assembled one with Dual core 3.4 G Hz into 965 MB.
Sound card is old Creative Live 5.1.
Just 1 GB Ram and an LG DVD drive.

Regards
Ajith

google HTPC

You main requirement is a good mobo. I assembled one early this year with a Gigabyte mobo with HDMI/DVI/SPDIF. If you get an AVR, just use the HDMI out to send sound and video to the avr and it will do the rest.
If you dont get the AVR, use the HDMI (video-only) mode to connect to an LCD, and digital audio out to connect to good PC speakers (maybe something like Z5500). If you use analog audio, get a decent sound card, but not before testing everything out with the onboard sound. The board that I have (GIGABYTE - Product - Motherboard - Overview - GA-MA78GM-S2H (rev.1.0)) has very good sound for analog speakers and you will not even require another expensive card. Check tomshardware or other sites for best HTPC configuration. Don't unnecessarily buy graphics cards or sound cards unless you really need them (cannot avoid the GPU if you are gamer ).

~bhaskie

 

[kaushik]

I have no idea as i have not compared .XXHighend is smoother than foobar and is recommended some HeadFi forum members .New versions
have MP3 and FLAC support

I use MultiStreamASIO Player [http://www.tropicalcoder.com/MStreamPlayer.htm] currently.

Some useful links :
XXHighEnd technical notes:
XXHighEnd - Technical workout

sound reviews here
Your thoughts about the Sound Quality


PC-as- a source discussions

Your questions about the PC -> DAC route

audible difference between XP and Vista:
Audio quality and Vista - Hydrogenaudio Forums

 

[thevortex]

Thanks Kaushik for the information. But still the player is shareware, right? When there are so many free solutions is it worth paying money for this player? Just curious.

 

[prashant_dv]

Hi Ajith,

If you are looking for for a card which has both analogue & digital I/O for both playback and recording (if any), then you could take a look at the Audiophile 2496 from M-Audio.

I have recently purchased this card and added on to my computer for good quality Audio. I use it to play FLAC,WAV,MP3 etc using Foobar2000 player or WMPLAYER itself. When using FOOBAR2000, they have a plugin which will help in by-passing the Windows API for audio and will use Kernel Streaming ( this is beta though and has bugs as of now ). If you are using Windows VISTA, then WASAPI included in Vista is better to use.

My on-board audio card does not have any such extensive audio capabilities.

I have only used the Analogue out's from the card so far, since my AVR does not have an COAX connection so havent got time to work with it.

check the weblink :

M-AUDIO - Audiophile 2496 - 4-In/4-Out Audio Card with MIDI and Digital I/O

There are many other cards available, but i took this one since it had analogue I/O available.

just my 2 cents...!

 

[smsrini]

Install ITunes - Free
Install a Wireless card on your PC 802.1g/n INR 3000/- approx.
Purchase a Apple Airport Express - INR 7000/- approx.

Connect the Airport Express to your HomeTheatre or powered speakers using a coaxial cable.

Viola, you can wirelessly stream music from your PC to any room with the speakers.