2. pc-audio
  3. 1419002025

where to go from a hp mini 210 netbook

I tried a computer audio device from Sound Science a couple of years back and it wasn't for me.
But I noticed on the whats best for 2014 thread a couple of mentions of St Paul and the Broken Bones. So I took a listen of the you tube on my desk top computer. They sounded pretty good. I showed it to some others also and they liked it. Then I thought I would really like to hear it on my main system. So after about an hour following the steps from my Sim Audio D300 V2 dac owners manual I could get my netbook to work on my main system. After about a half hour of listening I went back to a window that gave you the option of selecting the bit rate and sampling frequncy. I could choose 24/196. I did and it is identified on my dac as coming out as 24/196. Well that sounds even better. I started listening to Kenny Burell and other suggestions. All good.
So i was wondering if you could give me some direction.
First I really like the sound quality and would like to make that a way that I go with all my new stuff. But I don't want to go down a rabbit hole. Keeps things simple.
Can I record or download any of the you tube music from their videos. Than would be ideal. I would probabaly rarely buy any more music again.
If I can what simple, obvious sound quality upgrades should I make to my system. I think from a practical standpoint if I go down this road I will need to get a larger storage capacity of some kind. It goes from my netbook through a (or around, or under, or hoovers above it according to the one thread about current/signal propagation, anyway some voodoo)16" Gigawire model #26-715 to my Moon D300 dac into my system.
If I cannot capture any of that music that way what is the next simple but very good sounding way to bring in music that will sound as good (I know some of the sources HD Tracks, ect.)and play it back just as easy.
I am just wondering what is the next best couple of simple steps toward this kind of 24/196 sound.
Thanks for any help
marqmike

Showing 2 responses by lewinskih01

lewinskih01
906 posts
 
Hello. Not sure if I'm understanding your question as you intended, but I'll take a shot.

I never used a Mood D300, but from the net I see it has asynch USB. Good starting point!

So you want to record from YouTube? I doubt that will provide good sound quality. Hence I doubt it's worth going beyond what you have accomplished. Just enjoy.

However, try and rip a CD you know. I use dBpoweramp for ripping. Not all software is made equal for ripping or any other goal for that matter. But try and hear if you like what you hear.

You can certainly improve on sonics, but most likely all alternatives will come at the expense of varying degrees of complexity and cost. I used a laptop running JRiver, playing files from a USB external drive and into an asynch USB converter and was very happy with the results. I played mostly ripped CDs.

Using the USB serial bus for both accessing files and streaming music to your DAC is an issue, as it was for me. To get around it you would need an external drive with some other type of connection, or a desktop with internal drive, or a NAS.

Using an audiophile USB card also makes a difference, but that can only be accomplished with a desktop type computer. Hardware can be optimized ad nauseum, but you'll add comlexity.

My server is highly optimized. Very time consuming...but I found a significant impact from using Windows Server 2012 R2 (operating system) and the Audiophile AudioOptimizer. You could run both on a laptop and I would expect significant results. I believe you can try both for free. It will take some work to do the installation and all, though.

Using a laptop that is only dedicated to playing music would be important. That way you can turn off many processes, and that will have an impact on sonics.

I hope I have answered at least part of your question.
lewinskih01
906 posts
 
Glad it helped.

I started with computer audio about 3 years ago. I'm not a computer guy, and I took a step by step approach to see what it was all about. Eventually I found myself only listening to the computer and decided to dispose of the other sources. Yet I don't believe computer audio is the best source for everyone, so I like encouraging people to try it out and then decide. Which is what you have been doing.

I think your next best step is a dedicated, optimized laptop. It doesn't need to be super powerful, but if quad-core, the better. Even a used one will do. I believe it's very important that it will be a dedicated to audio only. 4 GB RAM would be enough.

As a non-computer guy it took a bit of a leapfrog to install Windows Server 2012 as it was the first time I ever installed an operating system on a computer. Go to highend-audiopc.com, click on "manual" and read through the pdf for the Audiophile Optimizer Setup Guide. I followed this to install WS2012 and Optimizer.

Then you will need to install the Optimizer, which is easy. In my system the Optimizer made a very significant impact. The maker, AudioPhil, is a great guy and very willing to help. I highly recommend the guy and the Optimizer.

If you like what you hear you can then consider further optimizing the hardware. Some of the optimizations to consider:
- Disable wifi. This creates electrical noise in the computer.
- Avoid USB for an external hard disk drive.
- Disable the screen for playback. This probably sounds ridiculous, but it's easier to use than you might think.
- Turn Windows Server to core mode.
- Use a small solid state drive in the laptop instead of a HDD, just for WS2012 and JRiver or whichever player you choose. If you were buying a laptop it would be nice to get one with a SSD. Any SSD will be bigger than what you need, so no worries with size.
- Buy an audiophile USB cable.
- Maybe a linear power supply for the laptop. Not sure about the impact of this on a laptop. It had a significant impact on my desktop.

I hope this was not overwhelming. The goal was just to provide perspective.

Cheers!
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