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Mapman's Responses in PC Audio	Posts
Should Sound Quality of Computer Audio be improved Petty, At it again i see? Its like food. Some is good and some not so good? You need a good recipe. And a decent chef. How much simpler could it be	362
High Rez files, is this a joke? So what is it about the vinyl that sounds better? Also what is your system	94
Internet radio stations that sound really good There are many in various genres that sound very good even on a very good audio system, with a wireless Roku Soundbridge hookup. It offers an almost never-ending combination of . . .	86
External hard drives and sound quality Bits are bits...no inherent difference in sound quality between internal and external drives. The thing that matters with a disk (other than storage capacity) is how fast data can. . .	65
amarra or pure music..? What is it about these programs that make them sound different I wonder? Are they doing some kind of digital signal processing to produce a certain sound? I would expect any . . .	51
Are my CAT5 and router my weak link? Kijanki is correct	44
Converting Flac to Wav & Upconversion .. Better be a clear difference to justify the much larger file size. Some difference might be possible. Better? Maybe, but my guess is not definitively in any way	43
WAV vs. FLAC vs. AIFF I have not done extensive comparisons, but .wav and flac seem to be a wash in terms of inherent sound quality due to format alone. The difference is what is done with teh format. . .	41
Help with fatiguing sound in my PC system Have you tried any different ICs just to see what effect they might have? Not familiar with your but ICs are one way to solve this kind of thing sometimes. IF you think your ICs . . .	36
Logitech Squeezebox sound compared to CD Player Agree with Mlsstl	35
What format are most people using, and why? WAV for mostly CDs ripped to disk in the Microsoft world. Here's a good accounting of why: WAV FORMAT	35
Rip CD to Mac - basic question I clearly hear differences regularly with many things including power and analog ICs in my system, but with digital, the only clear noticeable difference I hear is when I change . . .	28
Importance of computer for DAC shootout Have you considered using a network player like Squeezebox Touch as the source to the DAC? That would effectively take the "computer" out of the sound making process. . . .	25
Anyone using Squeezebox server on Mac OS X? I use it on WIndows. Had some issues after upgrading this past week to the latest published version. Artwork for .wav files stopped loading. I had to upgrade to a more recent . . .	24
Can pandora be improved? "just using a roku into my Viva" Roku Soundbridge direct into a (Viva) amp? Is that correct? Using analog or digital wires from Roku to amp? Roku Soundbridge . . .	23
Best Hard Drive and Enclosure for Music Server I'm running 2 Seagate USB drives, one is 1.5 Tb (main) and the other 2 Tb (backup). Total cost: about $300 or so. They are in a small 12X12 room with my other equipment ( I need . . .	23
SB Touch w/upgraded power supply: good next step? Get the dac right first then see	21
What is the function/pupose of music plyr/streamer The music player/streamer, like say Squeezebox Touch, is a specialized computer designed specifically for streaming audio. As such it is a special kind of digital audio source . . .	21
DAC that re-clocks for under $1000? What else beside Benchmark	21
Adding a Squeezebox - Upgrading Path? I have a Roku Soundbridge, not Squeezebox. Hooking that to a relatively low cost mhdt Paradisea tube DAC made a huge difference. I suspect the same would be true for the . . .	21
External Hard Drive Search Frustration. Help I've used affordable 1.5 and 2 Tb Seagate USB drives from Best Buy for a couple of years now. No problems whatsoever. Not sure why I would want to make this any more complicated. . .	20
How is online radio so transparent? I have a couple of CDs I have ripped to my current music server and listened to that I recorded from the realmusic service (mp3 quality I believe even) back early on a couple years. . .	18
Best external hard drive to store PC ripped music The Seagate drives from Best Buy I use were inexpensive and work like a charm. The easy to setup and use and highly reliable backup software that comes with the drives for free . . .	17
Apple and Privacy issues Interesting. Apple does what is best for Apple. Not that other competitors do not as well, but the proprietary nature of Apple technology has always led me to steer clear as much. . .	17
Audiogon's most knowledgeable PC Audio gurus? Yes, gotta admit I thought of Pettyofficer too when I first saw this thread. Almarg and Steve Nugent are good choices. Kijanki is another whose posts on the topic I generally . . .	16
all about pc and audio thoughts ... I use Windows Media Player (standard with Windows) to lossless .wav. .wav is the format most like what is used for CDs. Results are top notch. Automatic metadata tagging (album, . . .	16
How do I get the most out of the Squeezebox Touch use lossless format and tweak the audio system from there. dac is one possibility. a good tube dac may not cost much and should change the sound	15
CD drive improves HD rip quality? The Pioneer drive in my Toshiba Satellite Laptop seems to do an excellent job. I think the main thing is that the drive be designed to rescan segments on lower quality or . . .	15
Understanding Jitter in PC Audio Audioengr, Can you explain to me how re-clocking is done in an accurate manner? I understand the concept of "garbage-in, garbage-out" in most information systems . . .	14
High quality music server on the cheap...sort of VEry nice. Thanks for sharing your music server architecture. My only question is are the .wav files lossless, in other words are all the bits that can be extracted from the . . .	14
Drop-outs All web sites or just particular ones? Its not uncommon for some internet radio web sites, especially higher kbps bandwidth sites to drop out or more accurately stop and restart . . .	13
Windows Media Player If there is a musical advantage in changing, please explain what it is and why. WMP and lossless files have worked quite nicely for me	13
Peachtree Decco speaker decision help The power amp on the Decco is its weak part. I'd look towards speakers with 90db efficiency or greater. Klipsch heritage line or more recent refernce line are two that I would . . .	13
Squeezebox Mods Effective On Digital Output? What DAC do you use? My first thought is to look at that first. Jitter reduction device second. Some DACs may accomplish that for you. I'd only do mods to the SB after all else. . .	13
Wi-Fi Limitations and Sample rates...16/44.1 Also routers only route and do not implement algorithms for down sampling data streams so if you are hearing the music play without dropouts, you are most likely getting all the . . .	13
67 yrs. old computer audio I can offer a relatively simple and effective approach similar to what I adapted a couple years back. I am 52 and deal with computers for a fairly large and well known company for. . .	12
PC Based Audio - How? I use Windows Media Player to rip discs to lossless .wav format and as a music server on a Toshiba Vista PC. I use a Roku Soundbridge (~$200) with an outboard tube DAC (mhdt . . .	12
Squeezebox Dead? I'll probably keep my SBs until they are ready for the audio gear graveyard, which could well be for a while. Everything still works great. I have started to research and . . .	11
Do We need a dedicated server on PC format There are many ways to skin this cat with commodity pcs and laptops. My samsung laptop cost under $500 and windows media player included does a good job ripping. 2 1.5 + TB USB. . .	11
Duet to Touch for next upgrade? Hmm, not sure that I would look to a Touch as a significant sound upgrade if I already had a Duet + a good external DAC. The reason I think this is that with the same external . . .	11
Beatles USB via Squeezebox Touch Hmm, I have no clue but I hope someone can help. Sounds like we've reached the day where a computer science degree may be required just to be able to play the music we buy in the . . .	11
Foobar 2000 or MediaMonkey v.3? I use WMP ripping to loss-less .wav format on Windows Vista as the server in my rig. It is fast, easy, reliable and ripped CDs sound as good as original. You definitely want to . . .	10
need suggestion for external CD ripping drive Check my system page. I've been using Seagate external USBs for ripping and backup now for a couple of years and I can highly recommend these. Very reliable and good performance. . .	9
Need help setting up new pc audio system "Should I run Firewire/USB out to external DAC?" For best sound with the active speakers you are considering, I would say yes	9
Does Hardware Matter? You need a good soundcard on board the computer to do the A2D conversion if going out from the headphone jack. That is the main thing in regards to sound quality. I used this . . .	8
Please help me improve my system - next steps? How well are your speakers set up in your room compared to your friend? Also, you have different DACs (yours is in the Transporter, I believe). That could make a difference. Try. . .	8
internet radio I use a Roku Soundbridge (~$200) and an mhdt Paradisea tube DAC (~$450 used). The Internet radio sound quality near matches my other sources on the better stations and is . . .	8
Ripping problem WMP has its quirks but I have no problems with the sound quality using .wav format to rip. Auto tagging is pretty good and improves over time. Classical CDs are most problematic . . .	7
how to find free internet rock stations Google anyone	7
Need advice on formats for vinyl recordings I'm using Windows Media Player on a Vista laptop with the export media option on as a server and for ripping files. It comes with Windows, is lightning fast ripping (just a few . . .	6
Pc Based Preamp ??? Never heard of a PC based pre-amp. Not sure what you are referring to. Google search on "pc based preamp" turns up this thread at the top (not a good sign). Do . . .	5
If i share libraries in itunes is it same quality? Moving music file data over a wireless network connection should make no difference in the sound compared to downloading over a wire. What will make a difference in sound is . . .	5
EMI w/ computer, peri-HD and DAC so close 2 amps Use a network player like Sonos with wireless Wifi network connection to help isolate computers/music servers from audio gear. Also some power conditioning for the audio gear save. . .	4
Connecting my laptop to my home audio... What your doing works but is usually limited by the limited fidelity of most desktop sound cards. For CDs, I would also recommend the increasingly popular USB DAC approach for . . .	4
How to max setup for Squeezebox touch? I'd start with spdif as the least potentially problematic and give it a go that way. Optical should be fine as well if preferred. I have pretty discerning ears, I think. The . . .	3
CD changer or squeezbox or dedicated server? Music server is the option with biggest upside in terms of flexibility and sound quality. Downside is more complexity during setup, time required to rip disks, and additional . . .	3
Music file format advice What matters is that it is a loss-less format. I've used both lossless Windows MEdia Audio (.wma) and .wav lossless and they both do the job if your device supports either	3
Problem with Squeezebox / IPad Try rebooting the computer and restarting Logitech Media Server. IF the server is up and running clean your devices should be able to connect and then be selected via the app GUI . . .	2