music computer

[dtb]

I use foobar2000 for music, I've never tried JRiver since I've never had any reason to but if you dislike it then foobar may be worth a try, it's purely for music though. I doubt JRiver has any advantage playback quality wise but to be honest I've never really looked into it too in depth.

By the way the Asus sound cards are Xonar, not Zonar ;)

In my htpc which is my main music listening device I have an old Xonar DX (iirc) which was in my main pc but some time ago I upgraded that to the Xonar Essence STX. I can't say I immediately noticed the STX being any better quality wise when I first got it and without being able to, or really being bothered to do blind testing I never paid it much thought. The DX sounds good via RCA straight into my 2-ch gainclone amp and I'm happy

[jclin4]

More love for the Asus Xonar sound cards. I'm using the 7.1 channel D2/PM with a fan-less mini-ITX board which is running both a digital music server and DSP/Crossover under linux. I have 6 channels of the Xonar D2's analog outs running to a Marantz HTR for a stereo three-way and I'm very happy with the sound. I also have two channels of analog input into the Xonar and also have zero complaints on the ADC conversion.

(@musiclear: I bought this sound card second hand through eBay from a seller with same moniker, was it you? If so, thanks, as I mentioned it worked out great!)

[johnnyrichards]

I have Xonar DS or DX cards in all of my PC's except for the one SFF I recently completed. That mobo lacked a PCI slot, and all of my Asus cards are plain old PCI.

[Ron_E]

I run Bodzio's Ultimate Equalizer on a PC I built around the following:

ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS Motherboard
AMD FX-8350 Black Edition Vishera 8-Core 4.0 GHz CPU
M-Audio Delta 1010LT sound card (NLA)
Peachtree Audio T1 USB to SPDIF Converter

I run Windows 7 and use VLC Media Player as the front end to play my Flac and video file collection. I have a Blu-Ray drive and VLC will play them. I have a very quiet listening room and I keep the PC in the room next door and use a wireless keyboard and mouse to control it.

Ron

[JRT]

I run Bodzio's Ultimate Equalizer on a PC I built around the following:

ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS Motherboard
AMD FX-8350 Black Edition Vishera 8-Core 4.0 GHz CPU
M-Audio Delta 1010LT sound card (NLA)
Peachtree Audio T1 USB to SPDIF Converter

I run Windows 7 and use VLC Media Player as the front end to play my Flac and video file collection. I have a Blu-Ray drive and VLC will play them. I have a very quiet listening room and I keep the PC in the room next door and use a wireless keyboard and mouse to control it.

Ron

I have no direct experience with M-Audio Delta 1010LT soundcard or Peachtree Audio T1 S/PDIF USB interface.

I see that both can provide S/PDIF out, so am curious as to how/why you utilize the Peachtree T1 in the system.

...system flexibility?
...more channels?
...better sound quality?







.

[augerpro]

Regarding sound quality, the primary advantage of J River is the ability to run in WASAPI Exclusive mode, so it takes sole control of the sound device, preventing Windows from taking your 192khz audiophile tracks, and reclocking them to 48khz so it can add beeps and bongs for alerts.

JR also has solid EQ ability built in and the ability ti integrate Dirac Room EQ.

Theater View is really cool, and is made to work with a remote control.

Nothing else I've used can edit, organize, and display in so many ways, it's really powerful, which also brings some complexity. At RMAF you won't see exhibitors using anything but JR if they are using a laptop as a source which is pretty much all of them now, except for the ones displaying a turntable.

I went to JR from WMP because WMP somehow managed to mix up meta data for hundreds of tracks. Song names and cover art got swapped around. How this happens I cannot understand, but I discovered it is not at all uncommon when I was trying to search for solutions.

[Ron_E]

I have no direct experience with M-Audio Delta 1010LT soundcard or Peachtree Audio T1 S/PDIF USB interface.

I see that both can provide S/PDIF out, so am curious as to how/why you utilize the Peachtree T1 in the system.

...system flexibility?
...more channels?
...better sound quality?

I'd been running the system analog for quit a while and decided I wanted to go digital and I don't even think I thought about the board having SPDIF out. I was just looking at the sound settings in windows and the SPDIF output for the card is there so I could have probably used it.

One advantage of the T1 is that it supports sample rates up to 24-bit/94khz. Windows is only showing me 16-bit/44.1khz in the sound settings for the Delta card output. I know the Delta SPDIF input supports higher sample rates so there may be a setting for the Delta card somewhere that's limiting the higher sample rates in Windows.

Ron

[kevintomb]

I have one laptop I tried using for audio, after having great luck and sound with a couple other computers, but found the 1/8" Jack did not put out full range sound, but seemed limited to about 125hz on the low end.
NO settings would alter it, nothing was wrong. Is that usual??

[Sydney]

... Is that usual??

No I've used my laptop to drive numerous sound systems including parade performance music and my home stereo.

[dtb]

Regarding sound quality, the primary advantage of J River is the ability to run in WASAPI Exclusive mode, so it takes sole control of the sound device, preventing Windows from taking your 192khz audiophile tracks, and reclocking them to 48khz so it can add beeps and bongs for alerts.

foobar does this as well, not sure about the other dsp things you mention but in terms of pure untouched playback quality they will be the same.

192khz audio is snake oil btw.

I have one laptop I tried using for audio, after having great luck and sound with a couple other computers, but found the 1/8" Jack did not put out full range sound, but seemed limited to about 125hz on the low end.
NO settings would alter it, nothing was wrong. Is that usual??

I don't think it's entirely uncommon but depends on the laptop, the solution to this is to buy an external soundcard/usb dac.

[JRT]

Check out the videos below showing Sound Theory's Gullfoss, a new DAW plug-in, pretty interesting in effect.

I don't know much more than what is presented in the videos below. So watch the videos.

[Hipocrates]

For HTPC:
OS: Windows 10 LTSB + Kodi /WASAPI
Hardware;
SFF HP 8200, with 2TB Hard drive for video files and 1 SSD 120GB for System
Nvidia GT1030 passive cooled. Connected to a Marantz SR8002 thru HDMI.
Dell remote dungle.
Audio files are on the server

For Audio:
OS: Windows 10 LTSB + Foobar/WASAPI
Intel nuc NUC5CPYH with 120GB ssd and ad Android tablet as remote with foobarcon
This one is connected to a ulink from belcanto and then to a DAC.
The files are on a file server. 1GB connection
Both set ups use 8 gb of RAM Really inexpensive set ups.

All the ripping process is done on my workstation HP Z800 with 2 XEON W5580 and 64gb of ram , with a nvidia 1070ti (adquired used before the whole mining craze) with EAC for CDs and Pavtube for blu rays.

The file server is on windows 2008 server on a humble HP6005 with 2 3TD hard drives, mirrored

1GB network.

Old rigs but they work pretty good for my work and hobbies

[Psycoacoustics]

Well, since I was the inspiration for this I figured I’d better weigh in. Work has been crazy and this is the first time I’ve seen this. Since it’s a “Snow Day” here in Chicago I have some time.

Thanks to all! I didn’t start a post because I didn’t realize there would be this much interest.

So yes, I need a new music computer. 2ch music only. I don’t need much, just something that will handle Win 10, because the computer I use now is still running XP and it’s internet explorer won’t open the JRiver web site anymore. That means I can’t get upgrades. Even trying Goggle Chrome didn’t work.

I want something quiet. I 7 processor, and an SSD. Don’t need a good video card, and I don’t think I even need a sound card. I’m using an Audioquest Dragon Fly DAC and will always use some sort of USB DAC.

I’m not very computer literate so I have a few questions. Do I go full size tower, or medium or small? In the little research I’ve been able to do I see one needs the specific size mother board to fit into the specific size case. Any help here would be appreciated!

Keep those cards and letters coming! I need all the help and advice I can get.

Thanks Guys! Mark

[wogg]

For your purpose there's no reason to go with an I7 processor. The workload you're proposing wouldn't stress a 10 year old system, you just need something modern enough to be supported under Windows 10. Personally, I'd go for a small form factor bare bones, like an Intel NUC or Shuttle system. Add your memory and SSD, load up your OS and go. Also, any major OEM machine will likely be cheaper and do you just fine. Choosing parts and building the PC yourself... consider the time and potential headaches.

[Psycoacoustics]

I was thinking that (Mark)Psycoacoustcs may have been referring to a DAW (digital audio workstation), hardware optimized for running DAW software such as Steinberg Cubase or Avid Pro Tools. A music DAW usually does not have the video requirements of a gaming rig, but much of the rest of it shares a lot in common with those gaming rigs, except with some added concerns with hardware compatibility issues and ASIO drivers specific to those.

You give way too much credit! About the only thing in this post that's familiar to me is the ASIO drivers. Since I'm using a DAC and don't believe I even need a sound card I should have nothing to worry about in this regard.

Correct me if I'm wrong, please. Also, thanks for starting this. Mark