Computer Based Audio

[Alex_UK]

I haven't tried a Spacemat, but a really heavy rubber Lenco GL75 one is my favourite, in conjunction with 2 of the damping rings that go around the outside of the platter - no problems with bass - what sort of problems? Sorry - thread drift - maybe post a new topic Stan, or join in on my 401 thread http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3799

[dave2010]

i'm PC only now, got rid of all my old vinyl, more due to practicalities and circumstances than anything else. it had been played to death in my teens anyway.

and i still think to do vinyl/hi-fi properly is something of a rich man's game - disposable income, detached house, exclusive listening room, decent TT, maintenance, mint vinyl, expensive record cleaner, etc. (although i understand for those in the know there are ways of getting a decent TT on a budget)

Not only the money - but also the time! Similar considerations apply in photography - where there are still some who like to play with 35 mm or even larger format films. They're probably right that they can get better results than digital, though the marginal differences are less and less, but the time to get it all done .... !!!!

I have several turntables, but they are stored away. I've not played an LP for nearly 10 years, though I do have thousands. For a very long while I didn't even believe that vinyl could sound as good as digital sources until I did eventually hear some expensive decks, cartridges etc. They were outside my price range then, and even now they're not high on my list of priorities.

Maybe when I eventually give up work ... I could do with a turntable to play my 78s too!

[Clive]

For many still using vinyl I believe it's a mix of involvement with the process of playing music and sound quality. What has changed is not so much that digital has got better but that's it's so inexpensive now. Most chart recent CDs are a tenner, many others can be bought for more like £4. If you go to 2nd hand shops then a CD is really cheap, cheaper than downloads. For those with a computer (surely everyone here), the cost of hardware is down to a DAC and maybe a USB drive or 2. It used to be that a record deck was a cheaper way to get a good sound than a CDP, that's not so true now as digital playback can be unbelievably low cost.

[dave2010]

Am I the only person who thinks the 401 is highly overrated? The mat on it has given me loads of headache on deep bass as found in reggae tracks etc.

I had a 301 - perhaps foolishly sold it for £15 years ago, and have a 401 - slightly modded unfortunately, as the previous owner for some reason cut the base to fit it into a case. Not played for years, but the rumble from these units was always a slight problem. I heard that there were kits which would reduce this, but the design wasn't quite right for stereo. I suspected that most of the unwanted vibration was in the vertical plane, so they would have performed well in mono, but the world moved on.

[Welder]

I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by the sound quality I get from my fairly modest computer based setup.
I still find the “blackness” of the background listening digital audio a bit disconcerting
I used to be of the opinion like some other contributors to this thread that a top class CD or Vinyl system would usually out perform a computer based setup. Having now heard some top class computer based system I’m not so sure now.
Computer based audio has made some considerable advances; moving away from SPDIF has had great benefits imo. SPDIF wasn’t designed for consumer audio replay to the best of my knowledge.
The ability of some USB Dacs to control the PC master clock is yet another major advance in both jitter control and buffer management.
Asynchronous data transfer shows great promise being more suitable to a computer than attempts at taking analogue signals from a noisy environment. (before anyone jumps on this statement USB signal transfer can be considered as digital because USB sends discrete packets that can be buffered and stacked intermixed with protocol instructions)
Galvanic Isolation and other methods of breaking and remaking the D+ and D- rails for USB has made concerns over PC generated noise reaching the Dac a lot less relevant.
I’m not sure a top class PC system works out that much cheaper than any other looking at some of the expensive Dacs on the market and the prices of some laptops.

I think Spur07 has a valid point.
A Vinyl setup is great but it isn’t exactly family friendly imo and the more serious audiophiles seem to have a dedicated listening room which I imagine is pretty much off limits to the rest of the household.
I have always considered music to be a social pleasure; musicians tend to play in groups to audiences. An outing to a concert has for me at least been a great social occasion. I got to feel slightly concerned when it dawned on me that I spent a lot of my music listening time alone.
Now, I have music playing most of the time I’m at home. I even have a small play list of “children’s music” including a favorite from my youth, Stanly Unwin who still manages to entertain my younger guests.

For me at least, one of the biggest advantages of PC audio is the ability to listen to net radio at an acceptable quality.
I believe as one gets older for many it becomes increasingly difficult to find new music to enjoy. Many of my friends don’t listen to music much any more tending to watch TV instead, and those days of “have you heard this?” seem to have gone.
I don’t have a TV.
I have discovered a vast amount of music from these two radio stations; no advertisements, no inane dj chat, no FM hiss and a wide range of genres.
http://www.radioparadise.com/
http://www.dcsoundstream.com/playing.html
I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Okay, I’m obviously a computer audio fan, but I’m in my fifties and a relatively recent convert.
A few of my friends are reluctant to make the transition mainly because of a lack of computer knowledge and a disinclination to wade through the audiophile bullshit once again in an attempt to find out what’s good and what isn’t.
Okay, I did struggle, but I set myself a two month period to make the transition which included selling two record decks plus associated amps, a CD player, all my remaining Vinyl and the appraisal and purchase of a Dac.
These days I unplug my HRT Music Streamer and put it in my pocket along with a portable hard drive when I visit my friends and when the appropriate moment arrives it’s me that pulls a couple of small boxes from my pocket and says “have you heard this?”

[Batty]

We have a humble digital setup we use for background music, I still use the Copland and Howards but the front end consists of a WDTV hd box thingy and a USB HDD it plays FLAC as well as MP3 and with a terabyte of space loads of tunes to play on random. We are happy with it and at such a low cost is excellent value for money. Of course a PC in the house somewhere is needed to rip the CDs in the first place. Plus we have a second HDD with video media on, 2 birds, 1 stone.

[Spur07]

Not only the money - but also the time! Similar considerations apply in photography - where there are still some who like to play with 35 mm or even larger format films. They're probably right that they can get better results than digital, though the marginal differences are less and less, but the time to get it all done .... !!!!

I have several turntables, but they are stored away. I've not played an LP for nearly 10 years, though I do have thousands. For a very long while I didn't even believe that vinyl could sound as good as digital sources until I did eventually hear some expensive decks, cartridges etc. They were outside my price range then, and even now they're not high on my list of priorities.

Maybe when I eventually give up work ... I could do with a turntable to play my 78s too!

Dave,

As I understand it there's little doubt a decent TT set up would outgun digital every time, but it's not just the time factor that squeezed analogue film out of the game (although that was one of several factors in the beginning) - the quality of digital far exceeds film in photography now. The latest medium format backs have surpassed even 10x8 sheet film. All on a hefty budget of course

[Marco]

Hi Paul,

...but it's not just the time factor that squeezed analogue film out of the game (although that was one of several factors in the beginning) - the quality of digital far exceeds film in photography now. The latest medium format backs have surpassed even 10x8 sheet film. All on a hefty budget of course

I'm in no position to argue otherwise, but I doubt that one of our resident professional photographers Shaun (Haselsh1) would agree

If you're curious, you may wish to raise the subject with him in the Abstract Gallery

Marco.

[Spur07]

Apologies for the de-rail Marco

[michaelhigh]

I’m computer based for audio (dodges the bricks)
I used to have a pretty decent Vinyl system.
Real life intruded on my luddite audiophile time capsule; moved home, grandchildren, friends children etc.
If I include all the self built bits and pieces, spare components, wires, tools, two pairs of speakers and the eye candy hanging off the walls, I estimate I had 4 ½ cubic metres of kit worth a few grand just to play music.

Shortly after I moved I visited a friend who I used to “audiophile” with many years ago. I’m talking serious converted garage into listening room, Naim and enough valves to heat a swimming pool type.
He had transferred to computer based audio some years ago, albeit somewhat more up market than my current setup.
He got me started with computer based audio and I wouldn’t go back to Vinyl or CD player if you bought and installed the system for me.
I tried a number of Dacs (Beresford, V-Dac, Vintage Audio NOS, even built a couple). Eventually I bought the basic HRT Music Streamer for £130 to try the whole concept out. I believe some people spend that much on a set of interconnects.
I have to say the learning curve was quite steep despite being reasonably computer literate due to my interest in video games. I already had a PC and a laptop so the cost involved in the initial trial and learning curve was minimal.
Much as I appreciate many here won’t want to hear this, the simple fact is computer based audio is here to stay and the sound quality I have now tore my CD based system to shreds and from what I can remember about how my Vinyl system sounded, comes close enough for me not to miss it.
I have less than a cubic metre of “stuff” now. I don’t have heart attacks when the kids show up. I have a whole new world of music to listen to via internet radio, I can organize play lists for different moods, record my attempts at playing music, transfer music files to friends via FTP; the list of conveniences just goes on.
Is any of this going to make me Mr Popular here? I very much doubt it.
Would I recommend it to anyone else? Absolutely.

Horrifying isn’t it.

I'm with you, just haven't put my vinyl away yet. I'm ready for the convenience and the space (see Gallery...) but, honestly, after a day of listening to black platters I know it's going to be hard. Not to pick up computer audio, but to put down vinyl...Hmmmph.