Building a high quality laptop based audio system

[The Vinyl Adventure]

1 don't worry about that, it's only if you get a dac without USB input.

2 when you plug the dac in your computer will recognise it straight away and just use it as a sound card ... There are things that can be done to improve the sound ... But you can come back to that when you get that far

3. The pc knows to use the dac because it is recognised as an external sound card ... Some computers require you to select the external sound card by going into the control panel, going to "sounds" and selecting it over the computers in built one. Some will just do it straight away without needing to be set .. If the problem arises and you cant fix it, pop back and ask the question and I'll tell you in more detail how to fix it...

4 the dac becomes the sound card for everything, although it is recommended that you turn of all the pc sounds - the little "ping" you get once in a while - apart from anything they get annoying when they come out the hifi

Also, the pc will be fine doing it's normal day to day tasks as the music players don't take up much power ... The only time my computer struggles with music is when I'm processing hundreds of photos ... Any other time it runs fine...

Don't worry to much if about the logistics of buying and setting this up, it only gets fiddly when trying to optimise the set up for the best quality... Until then it's just getting it plugged together correctly (very easy) and at worst having to change a fee very simple settings in windows ....

[5by5]

Hello:

Just wanted to pass on a thank you Hamish for your help. Those are clear and helpful answers. I will now be looking at getting the DAC portion of my gear. I'm looking at the Beresford Caiman; HRT Streamer 11 or Pro; Matrix Mini-iDAC or the Little dot DAC1. I'd like to get one with the balanced outs. Then right after that, I'll want to find a nice balanced amp. I might go as suggested the way of the power amp and choose a DAC that has a pre in it. I think getting an amp with good power right at the start will future proof me.

Thanks Again,

[technobear]

I don't want to confuse you so this is for the future:

It is possible to give your music player software exclusive access to the USB DAC whilst having Windows continue to play its noises through the built-in soundcard and laptop speakers.

So when you are up and running, come back and one of use will tell you how to do it.

[technobear]

This is quite helpful: http://www.rightnote.co.uk/pdfs/dcs_...uter_audio.pdf

[5by5]

Thanks for the heads up Chris and that offer of help. Much appreciated.

[WAD62]

Hi 5by5,

Apologies if this has already been covered in the thread, but what music player are you using/going to use on your laptop?

In my study I use my PC as a music source, playing FLAC from a NAS server, obviously as it's a PC I've got the option of a better internal soundcard (in this case an m-audio 2496). But I'd recommend getting the pro version of WinAmp (about £11 for multiple installations) as your player, it has a later version of DirectSound (2.49) which supports ReplayGain pre-amp. This is obviously only useful if you are going to use ReplayGain.

Give me a shout if you want me to expand on the use of ReplayGain & FLAC.

I often use my laptop for a bit of DJing, well pressing play on a WinAmp playlist and swanning off to the bar, is probably a better description. I've got one of these little devices (it's plug'n'play so no additional drivers are required, at least not with windows 7 anyway);

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MUSE-HIFI-USB-...#ht_3132wt_812

If the link doesn't work it's a Muse USB DAC DTS, which in itself is not a very good DAC (OK for portability but a bit rough) but it does offer an easy way to get SPDIF from your laptop, both optical and coax. I've used it in conjunction with a DacMagic III (although it does also have a USB option) and found it to be a very good option at the price. But obviously the sky's the limit when it comes to DAC quality and options.

That then opens up your DAC options to anything on the market, as you no longer need the USB connection. I had read somewhere that USB connections to a DAC were worse in quality than using an SPDIF source, but more learned people on here will be able to explain, something to do with timing...anyway I'll start reversing here.

[WAD62]

P.S. I noticed you mentioned about a pre-amp...

You won't need one as you can use the volume control on your laptop for the pre-amp, so you could simply have a DAC/poweramp combo without the need for a volume pot.

One interesting amplification option might therefore be the Bantam Monoblocks;

http://www.templeaudio.net/monoblock.html

I hasten to add I haven't heard these, however I have a Bantam Classic, and a Gold (temporarily), both are very nice value for money integrated amps for secondary systems, but probably lack a little power for a main one, the monoblocks would appear to have more grunt...at an additional price.