Computer for home audio

USB out to an external DAC.Check out the PC Audio sub forum..

Raspberri pi with Volumio? :)

Upgrade sound card

https://www.evga.com/articles/01281/evga-nu-audio/

I have something similar. One thing I do is keep the browser tabs to a minimum, especially on web sites that have a lot of video ads. These sites take up CPU cycles.

I also use a Sonare microRendu that isolates the computer noise from the DAC. It is an Ethernet-2-USB conversion device. I have learned recently that I can improve on this because there is some noise on the Ethernet wire that gets into the DAC. However, the microRendu sounds very good in my setup. There always the option of making an OPTICAL network from your computer to the DAC to lower or eliminate this Ethernet noise. Sonare also has a solution for this which they market as SystemOptique (a few hundred $$).

As already mentioned, USB out to an external DAC.

Why anyone uses a computer to stream music to a high end system today is a mystery. There are too many better available options now.

@ozzy62      Ozzy just read your comment about computers and music which is what I now use exclusively. I have built a bespoke computer for nothing else but music and it cost me a bomb but is so good that I eventually sold my Gryphon Mikado Signature because the PC blew it out of the ball park.

I'm using my 10 year old Dell XPS 9000 (which is still my main computer rig) to stream Tidal and Qobuz through USB.  It's feeding a MHDT Orchid DAC, and I have an ARC VSI-55 with Harbeth P3ESR and a Simaudio 430HA headphone amp.  Sound quality is as good as, maybe better than my main system which cost an order of magnitude more.

USB output to a DAC is probably the best upgrade, but it can be expensive for the DAC.  The Asus Xonar Essence ST and STX audio cards are a very good solution that is cheaper.  They can be had for less than $100 on ebay.  If you have an older PCI slot, I have read that the older ST sounds a bit better because of the clock timing on PCI.  The new PCI-E interface appears to have a bit more jitter/timing problems on audio clock signals.

That EVGA Nu Audio card looks interesting as well.  Audio Note components and influence.  I suspect the Asus card would be more neutral and transparent with the Nichicon FG caps.  The Audio Note stuff can be colored (they have a unique sound and you either like it or don't like it).

And Firefox recommended as browser for best audio playback.

Currently using a Zenbook / IcePower B&O Tech - USB PC for some streaming duty.
Sounds much better than the previous sony laptop.

Cambridge Audio Dacmagic 100 in USB port of my HP laptop (16GB Ram + SSD). Result as good as it gets, no need for any snake oiled addons.
or
USB 3.0 Flash drive in a ND 8006 Marantz to read wav and DSD.(and many other things). Should do.

I’m using a Bryston BDP-2 player.

http://www.bryston.com/products/digital_audio/BDP-3.html

ozzy

There are a lot of upgrades you can do.

I’ll list a general rundown of my system among other upgrades:

1. Windows 10 Pro boots from an NVMe SSD hard drive (2100+ MB/S, Windows boots instantly!)
2. Music is stored in a Samsung SSD 860 EVO 2TB (no moving parts)
3. SATA cable from Audiopheeling. There are other SATA cables from brands like JCAT and Pachanko.
4. Fanless computer power supply by HDPLEX 400W HiFi DC-ATX with the HDPLEX 400W AC-DC combo
5. All internal cabling is from Ghent Audio. They sell HDPLEX specific cables. This upgrade removed grit and grain from the sound. It’s a great value. JCAT also sells cables for the HDPLEX.
6. The JCAT FEMTO USB card is a vital component to my system. You must use a linear power supply. The sound quality from this is amazing. There are other USB cards from TLS, SOtM, Matrix Audio, and Paul Pang.
7. Use a network card if you have a music server: TLS, JCAT
8. Uptone JS-2 LPS feeds power to my modem and router at 12 volts. This upgrade is absolutely necessary as well.
9. TLS makes an audiophile router.
10. Network switches are available from AQVOX, Paul Pang, TLS, SOtM, Uptone Audio, and JCAT.
11. Ethernet cables are very important too but there’s way too many to list.
12. There’s also special software that optimizes your computer for music playback.