hifi to pc - no loss wanted

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frenchcr

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Hi,

How do i send music/internet radio from my PC to my quad909 amp/kef ref 102/2 speakers setup without losing quality of sound ??

I know you can get a cable with the light green headphone type jack (to pc) at one end and a red and white (to amp) at the other. But ive tried one of these and it wasnt too hot.

Any other ideas or transmitter reciever type devices...would spend £100 max.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It sounds like you are using an in-built soundcard? It could be that this is quite poor quality. You can find external soundcards for about £50 and up that will do the job nicely. Or come to think of it an internal one like the old M-Audio Audiophile2496 would do the job too, and even has RCA/Phono outputs for your hi-fi.

Edirol make some good kit (a devision of Roland).
http://www.dv247.com/invt/30313/

The other thing to consider is that a lot of music from internet radio and such like is poor quality in the first place. Have you listened on headphones or something else to be sure of the quality?
 
Cheers Tenson,

Just learned of the Onkyo UWL-1.... "they" say...

carry music from computer to hifi at distances of up to 30 metres, no wires.

plug the USB stick transmitter in to a USB socket on PC and connect the receiver to a spare input on your hifi system.

The transmission system is uncompressed, so the sound quality isn't compromised by the relay and the receiver features both analogue and digital outputs, for direct connection to your hifi or an external Digital to Analogue converter
 
Tenson said:
It sounds like you are using an in-built soundcard? It could be that this is quite poor quality. You can find external soundcards for about £50 and up that will do the job nicely. Or come to think of it an internal one like the old M-Audio Audiophile2496 would do the job too, and even has RCA/Phono outputs for your hi-fi.

Edirol make some good kit (a devision of Roland).
http://www.dv247.com/invt/30313/

The other thing to consider is that a lot of music from internet radio and such like is poor quality in the first place. Have you listened on headphones or something else to be sure of the quality?
Click to expand...

Hi Tenson,

What other internal sound cards do you rate highly for audio use with PC and do you rate rca stereo out or digital out? IE what may be better with similar features to the M-Audio one

Ta,
Steve
 
get a squeezebox... install slimserver on your PC and use it to play music through your hifi. The squeezebox has internet radio and has a not to bad DAC built into it. Its a lot better than a PC sound card thats for sure.
 
I can't say I was very impressed with the built in DAC of the squeezebox. Not bad as a freebie but its hardly 'good'.

If you want to record as well then you should go for an external soundcard like the Edirol UA-1EX.

If you want top quality recording for vinyl hen get a good ADC (like the modified Behringer SRC I make) and connect it via an optical digital input and output to the computer. This will give the best performance, but for listening on your mobile phone I'd think the Edirol ill do, and it will sound easily as good as the squeezebox with its analogue outs.

As for the question about internal soundards I'm not really sure... all good ones are external to get away from the noisy environment of the computer case. I have heard the SoundBlaster X-Fi or something like that is pretty good. I used to have a Turtle Beech card that was very good, but rather dated now. I also think there is an internal version of the M-Audio Delta 10/10 with simple break-out cables.
 
Which squeezebox was it Tenson? 1, 2 or model 3?

I have the latest one (3) - and the dac is certainly as good as I've heard up to quite a considerable sum.
 
i use my squeezebox into an external DAC anyway, so its shortcomings in this department are largely irrelevant to me. I did feel that on its own merits though, it was perhaps on par with a £300 cd player.
 
Tenson said:
As for the question about internal soundards I'm not really sure... all good ones are external to get away from the noisy environment of the computer case. I have heard the SoundBlaster X-Fi or something like that is pretty good. I used to have a Turtle Beech card that was very good, but rather dated now. I also think there is an internal version of the M-Audio Delta 10/10 with simple break-out cables.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tenson,

I was under the impression a couple of years ago that computer case internals were detrimental to audio quality, in particular the power supply? Nothing I have read recently seems to mention this though.

Ashley of AVI pointed out the M-Audio 2496 internal card as a good choice for internal. But I of course have no idea of comparisons or options between any internal or external cards.

Are breakout cables detrimental? I am not really into having a bunch of wires I am not using sticking out the card.

Steve
 
bottleneck said:
Which squeezebox was it Tenson? 1, 2 or model 3?

I have the latest one (3) - and the dac is certainly as good as I've heard up to quite a considerable sum.
Click to expand...

Number 3 I think. It was Dev's one. I bought over a modified DEQ to play with, and Dev also had another I forget the name of (started with a 'T') with a modded PSU from Tony. Oh and his Arcam Alpha 9.

The SB3 was acceptable, but I wouldn't go as far as to say its good. The Arcam Alpha 9 CDP and the Modified DEQ outstripped it by a fair margin. I felt by comparison to those, the SB3 had a bass lift of about 2dB and the whole sound was somewhat ill defined.

As I said though, for the money and everything else the SB3 does I would not want to complain.
 
sastusbulbas said:
Thanks Tenson,

I was under the impression a couple of years ago that computer case internals were detrimental to audio quality, in particular the power supply? Nothing I have read recently seems to mention this though.

Ashley of AVI pointed out the M-Audio 2496 internal card as a good choice for internal. But I of course have no idea of comparisons or options between any internal or external cards.

Are breakout cables detrimental? I am not really into having a bunch of wires I am not using sticking out the card.

Steve
Click to expand...

I'm afraid you will have to try for yourself, I don't really have a huge experience with internal cards beyond mid-budget level stuff. Why do you want an internal one? You can get ones that use a PCI card but have all the important parts external if you just want to use a PCI slot.
 
just goes to show how opinions can differ.

I didn't hear much between the SB3 and a £3,000 Dax Decade.

A smidge maybe, and a better volume control for sure.

People turn molehills into mountains in audio I feel, most Dacs don't really sound that different.
 
bottleneck said:
People turn molehills into mountains in audio I feel, most Dacs don't really sound that different.
Click to expand...

I agree, changes in these sorts of things are usually pretty small, absolutely speaking. However, as these things go, it was quite a large difference. I wouldn't consider using the SB3 analogue outputs in anything more than a mid level system or as a second source. Any budget level CD player will sound as good I suspect, and nothing wrong with using one if you are happy with it.
 
Get yoursef a decent DAC use a USB lead.
I got a dealer to loan me one on sale or return kept the DAC now use a laptop instead of a highly mod Nu-vista and no regrets.
Loads of good DACs about
 
My first post!
The SONOS system is by far and away the best Digital Music System on the planet at the moment. Nothing can touch it for ease of use, and the quality of the components. See the Steriophile review.
I have been so impressed by it that I have sold my Wadia 861b. This has been replaced by a Reimyo DAP-777 with my SONOS ZP80 hooked into the Toslink input ... with CD's RIPed uncompressed the sound quality is fabulous. Not quite as good as my Wadia, but it is huge convenience (I have over 800 CDs) over a very slight reduction in sound quality. Internet Radio sounds great as well. The support from SONOS is world class, and I should know as I work for an IT company - HP.
I have bought a Cyrus CDXt/PSX-R for spinning silver disks, and through the DAP-777 it spanks the 861b. When I can afford the Reimyo transport it will replace the Cyrus.
Some of this might sound like heresy to some of you ... but just listen and you will be converted.
 
Would a DAC improve the sound quality of internet radio?
Or would an external soundcard like the above-mentioned be better?
Any recommendations would be welcome.
 

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