Best way to connect digital music (from a computer) to existing HIFI

[SHAXOS]

Hi all!
I used to listen to my music solely from my ipod connected to my amp. I recently purchased a cd player and built up a bit of a cd collection and the difference in sound quality is so massive i stopped enjoying the music from my Laptop/ipod. The problem is that i although i have around 50 cds i have over 6000 songs on my laptop (built over years from nabbing various peoples music librarys). How can i improve the sound from my laptop/ipod into my hifi. Please note i do not have an digital out on my lap top but was looking at the following ideas.

Buying a small pc/music server with an optical out - (at most 150)
Then buying a cheap beresford dac or other dac. Would this give me a definate improvement?

Alternativly i could stick with my laptop and buy a usb to optical digital converter for my laptop (only around 15-20 pounds) with a dac. However i am worried they they may not be very good.

Are there any alternate ways to get the best out of my digital collection? Most annoying thing is that the music sound very brittle from my laptop and in some cases very bright will the beresford address this?

I put up a similar thread with regards to using an ipod into a dac but i found that this is not possible without something that can extract a digital signal from an i pod - like wadia transport (too expensive).
Help much appreciated.

 

[John Duncan]

Airport Express for starters, if your laptop has a wireless connection. 65 quid, and has a digital out for later DACability, but works extremely well on its own (now that I've got it working properly).

Out of the box it only works with iTunes, which may not be your music manager of choice, but you can buy Airfoil which enables you to stream any audio from your PC to the AE.

 

[Anonymous]

Some of what you suggest will give you an improvement but it really depends on the type of files you are trying to play back.

If what you are trying to play are MP3's or some versions on WMA then they will never sound as good as a CD. The reason is simple they contain less data per unit time than CD does so the quality of reproduction is diminished. For example an MP3 is roughly 10% the size of a lossless file of the same track.

To see what I mean try this - rip a CD track from a CD that you own onto your PC as an MP3. Now burn that track as an audio track back onto a CD. Play the 2 CD's original and copy side by side on the same CD player you'll soon here the difference.

 

[John Duncan]

Agreed - if the files on your laptop are poor quality, you're not going to make them sound better, but an Airport Express will at least let you hear them at close to their best. That being said, if you're disappointed with the sound coming out of your iPod, that suggests the files are poor.....

Edit - though reading again, you don't say how you wree connecting your iPod.......

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:Airport Express for starters, if your laptop has a wireless connection. 65 quid, and has a digital out for later DACability, but works extremely well on its own (now that I've got it working properly).

Out of the box it only works with iTunes, which may not be your music manager of choice, but you can buy Airfoil which enables you to stream any audio from your PC to the AE.

Excellent idea! TBH I was about to suggest a usb dac, which will also make a massive difference to the on board sound of the laptop. However, I guess you would prefer the minimum amount of boxes, which means airport express or a similar streamer. Squeezebox Duet has a very handy remote with which you can control and see what is being played.

Then connect -if possible- to your cd-players dac or if not possible, buy the beresford.

Best way to make the most of your pc collection IMHO.

Good luck & enjoy!

 

[SHAXOS]

Cheers Guys!
I understand that i will never get better than cd all i am aiming for is an improvement. Thanks for the suggestions ill have a look at the dac option for sure.

JD can you tell me where the optical out on the airport express is? All the pictures ive seen have only a jack (with usb and ethernet i think). Is it some sort of adapter? If so does it come with the bass station or is it an extra cost. Cheers mate!

 

[John Duncan]

The headphone jack is also an optical out, so you can take a mini-toslink-to-toslink cable to connect to the optical in on a DAC or receiver (or, rarely, CD player).

 

[PJPro]

I would go the USB DAC route.

For about £400 you can get the Stello DA100 from HiFi500. Supposed to be very good. Haven't heard one myself but many good reports on the web.

Alternatively, you could go for something cheaper like the FUBAR II.

There are loads of different USB DACs you could try at all price points.

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Depending on whether the PC is in the same room, then the advise changes.

If it's in the same room, I would suggest a beresford - the sound that comes out of my PC/beresford combo is fantastic.

If not, then JD's suggestion gets top marks - £60 and you can then even plug it into an extension lead and small speakers in the garden (for when (if?) summer ever arrives...)!

 

[SHAXOS]

Thanks.
This is probibly a silly question but does a computer connect directly (wirelessly) to the apple express bass station or do you HAVE to have a wireless internet connection to mediate the process?

 

[John Duncan]

You don't need a wireless internet connection, but you do need wireless in your PC - you can then just push music from it to the airport express (generalising). You could connect via ethernet cable, but that's kind of pointless since you could just connect via an audio cable.

 

[scorps]

i currently have a pc system that set round a creative x-fi soundcard set on audio mode for listening which ive plugged staright into my amp.

have been wondering myself if i would b better getting a seperate server such as the squeezebox which gets excellent writeups or stick with what i got my amp hasnt got a digital in but the soundcard has. Would i also b able to add a seperate dac into the chain or is that pretty pointless with the dacs i already have in the soundcard

system sounds very nice at mo but obviously lacking in bit of control n detail compared to a cd player but even though i have cpl of 100 cds i have 9000 cds in mp3 format varying from 128 k/bits upto 320 k/bits and started getting a lot of flac's (free lossless audio codec) now which even better i currently have over 500 hrs on my media player which is constantly set on shuffle which makes for some very nice varied listening

 

[Anonymous]

On the question of Airport express sound quality - what was it that made it work properly, was the sound not good enough before? and is it a better bet for sound quality rather than a simple jack-to-phono cable? and finally, does the AE come with a cable for connecting to the amp, or what kind of cable should i go for? thanks..

 

[Anonymous]

Now that iTunes can be remotely controlled by the iPod Touch, the SB3 is rather outclassed. We have both here and much prefer the Apple set up.

AE sound quality is OK but since there is a digital output something like an Edirol UA25 will put the combination amongst much more expensive CD players, but with considerably more versatility.

Ash

 

[Alec]

Ashley James:Now that iTunes can be remotely controlled by the iPod Touch, the SB3 is rather outclassed. We have both here and much prefer the Apple set up.

AE sound quality is OK but since there is a digital output something like an Edirol UA25 will put the combination amongst much more expensive CD players, but with considerably more versatility.

Ash

Outclassed? By only the addition of an expensive "remote control"?

Out-priced, certainly.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tips, but I'm opting for something simple - just looking for a way to connect my laptop to hifi without any remote controls/extra gadgets etc in between for the time being, preferably with good sound quality. is jack-to-phono or airport express the best way to go then? i would only use the laptop and the hifi in the same room, so multi-room capability is not necessary.

 

[Anonymous]

Ruboman:Thanks for the tips, but I'm opting for something simple - just looking for a way to connect my laptop to hifi without any remote controls/extra gadgets etc in between for the time being, preferably with good sound quality. is jack-to-phono or airport express the best way to go then? i would only use the laptop and the hifi in the same room, so multi-room capability is not necessary.

From best to worst solutions:

-external dac between laptop and amp, outcome mainly depending on the quality of the dac

-airport express, logitech duet (with remote), or any other quality music streamer

-jack to phono cable, the gotham gac for a tenner being a very good buy. Ebay is your friend ;-)

For the last option sound quality much depends on the soundcard/dac that's in your laptop. For instance, I've heard many stories about laptops sounding bad, but when I connect my headphones to the Macbookpro, it sounds just great.

 

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know whether the Airport Express will play files from laptop to Hi Fi in FLAC lossless format?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks! So I guess that means the airport express sound quality should actually be better than a J2P, as it's less dependent on the soundcard of my laptop? i don't think i have the greatest of soundcards to be honest. i'd also like to be able to play all sorts of audio material from my laptop - BBC iplayer, wma, winamp, DVD films etc etc, but I guess an Airfoil would sort that out?

 

[Anonymous]

Ruboman:Thanks! So I guess that means the airport express sound quality should actually be better than a J2P, as it's less dependent on the soundcard of my laptop? i don't think i have the greatest of soundcards to be honest. i'd also like to be able to play all sorts of audio material from my laptop - BBC iplayer, wma, winamp, DVD films etc etc, but I guess an Airfoil would sort that out?

Yes, the AE will probably sound better; certainly if can connect it with an optical digital cable to the digital in of your cd-player. The jack plug in the AE double acts as an optical out. You could also add an external dac at a later date, should you want to upgrade.

 

[Anonymous]

If you want the best sound quality then the external DAC is the way to go. It has the benefit that it will work with any USB device in the future as well as with your current laptop. It bypasses your sound card and you can even connect it to multiple devices using a USB switch box. I'm using a Fubar III and the sound is great (much much better than Creative's X-Fi sound card) and it has a built-in headphone amp. The Fubar II is the same box without the headphone amp. Both of these are available direct from Canada or from Russ Andrews (£105). However, if you don't want an extra box then have a look at the Devilsound DAC. It is a USB to phono cable with the DAC built into the cable so doesn't require an extra power source, and doesn't take up any extra room.

 

[Anonymous]

That would be a no then I take it.................

 

[Anonymous]

MENISCUS:That would be a no then I take it.................

Well, I must admit i don't know. Using airfoil it is probably possible.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, a bit confused - are you not supposed to connec the AE to the amp, not the CD player? And what sort of cable would you recommend? Guess the one that comes with the AE would do to begin with, at least...

 

[professorhat]

Yes, the AE connects up to the amp, either via a standard 3.5mm mini-jack to RCA phono lead or, if you have an amp with an optical digital input, via an optical cable with one of these to allow you to hook this end into the AE. The AE itself won't come with a cable (I don't think, the one I bought a couple of years back didn't anyway).
Some CD players do have a digital optical input which allows you to run another digital device through the DAC built into the CD player. If you have one of these, this might be worth a go as it may well improve the sound over the DAC involved in your amp.