Best audio from your computer?

The inside of a computer is a very noisy place for analog audio.

Works better to convert the digital into analog outside the computer using a "Digital to Analog Converter" DAC.

Even a 100$ DAC beats on-board sound, But diminishing returns after about 500$ or so.

I have a 2,400$ DAC and a 500$ DAC and you cannot hear the difference on some systems.

Whenever someone complains about a whine, Static or hiss from their computer this is usually digital noise from the computers CPU circuitry.

Also the reason that the best most expensive CD players are a separate CD Transport and DAC.

basically your headphone out is analog, the signal in a stream on the net,or playing a file is digital. a DAC converts the file/stream to analog so it can be used conventionally. some units or programs handle it,or sound better than others. and that is what all the fuss is about, getting a great quality analog signal from digital. the struggle IS real.lol

I have roughly 600 CD's of which most actually sound pretty good when I listen to them with my Cambridge Audio 651C CD Player. I do not remember how much it cost me but I know it wasn't 1000's of dollars. And since the price was considerably less than that i have to believe the DAC section wasn't very expensive. Yet it seems it's implied that in order to get good sound from a DAC lots of money must be spent. Unless I suddenly fall into a big boat load of cash I wouldn't spend lots of money on one. Upon reading DAC reviews it seems that most professional audiophile reviewers tell us that the $100 DAC's just don't cut it.

so since I'm happy with the sound from my CD's and $100 DAC's aren't worth it subscribing to a music streaming service is not going to happen at this time.

What are cd's?

audiobill wrote:What are cd's?

Certificates of deposit, You buy them to tie up your music on strange shiny discs that play well {with others} intermittently, but often skip merrily into the soundstage, never to be heard {from} again.

For the "all dacs sound the same" believers-

Please remember that, as in all other components, the power supply and the analog output stage have an enormous impact on sonics.  And $100 dacs just can't afford to do this right.

Now, if Roy built a multibit dac chip into an SP14, you'd be cooking with gas.  No switching power supplies, no opamps, no digital hash.  Better yet, make this a dac/preamp combo.

With a name like Schiit it has to be good. Would a DAC improve the sound quality of sounds ripped from a CD and transferred to an iPhone? Or will they really only make a noticeable difference to songs from a streaming service?

A good DAC will not help your iPhone.

Only the music you listen to through your computer.

So CD's, Rips, Movies, Digital downloads and streaming will all be improved.

Not entirely true.  With an iphone, you can use airplay to send digital data wirelessly to an airport express attached to your dac from your ios device.

But why bother?  Tidal provides 35 million tracks at cd resolution for $20 per month ($12 if a vet) that can be processed from your computer to a good dac to your stereo.  That's about the cost of one cd per month.

Skip Pandora, Spotify, et al, resolution 1/4 of Tidal.

yes, ive just about finished pulling up songs manually on tidal to mATCH MY SPOTIFY LIBRARYS. SPOTIFY IS HORRIBLE WITH AUDIO GLITCHING LATLEY! sorry, i hit caps loc at the A. not retexting it.lol
but anyway im just about to let go of spotify.and almost done with my free month of tidal.
SO FAR IVE FOUND everything! AND MOST OF IT IN mASTER QUALITY.. HIT THE CAPS LOC AGAIN. TEE HEEE. darn it. had a few beers :p

I love disagreeing with you, audiobill, mostly because it is so hard to find anything to disagree about.
First - Tidal is great for 99% of consumers. It simply doesn't cut it for hard-core classical buffs like me . With the enormous back-catalog of  literally a million recordings, there is no fiscally responsible way they could satisfy, given the miniscule demand for same. Thus, I'm damned to other, less frugal, sources.
Second- "a $100 DAC couldn't deliver" I can refute. All else in my system being well-tuned and matched (because of you, and Bob, and all on this forum - and dumb luck), this little Topping cheapo DAC out-performs the $1200 unit it replaced, and it is no accident. It is the barest of bare-bones, and does little other than digital to analog conversion, unobtrusively and cheaply, so that the strengths of my magical system can shine. There are no issues. Crystal sound I know I know.

The best audio that comes from my computer are the vinyl LPs I order online...

Hi,

I recently went with a Raspberry Pi and a dac hat. Bought a Hifiberry dac pro XLR https://www.hifiberry.com/shop/boards/hifiberry-dac-pro-xlr/ (actually bought one of the bundles with the PI, case and power supply), attached a 1TB USD drive and install Volumio on the Pi. Takes half an hour to assemble and sounds fantastic.

Michael

New2Tubez wrote:The best audio that comes from my computer are the vinyl LPs I order online...

Ha!  Discogs must be at least 24/192