help needed for novice

[admin_exported]

Hi all

I'm very happy with my CDP and amplifier (Roksan Kandy L3) but for convenience want the option of PC based music also. I have an Onkyo 905, a PS3, and a Roksan Kandy CDP and amplifier. I use the pre outs on my 905 for the front 2 speakers into the Roksan. Music through the Roksan is great, anything that goes through the Onkyo is pretty poor. I have a laptop (running windows vista) that I connect to the Onkyo via HDMI when I play music off the laptop - the sound is poor. I'm not sure if my laptop has an optical out option. I would like the convenience of PC based music but don't like the idea of my laptop switched on (with noisy fan), the PS3 on if I am streaming (also noisy) and the Onkyo plus the Roksan off course just to listen to music.

What are my options please - I'd be interested in buying a DAC but what would i connect it to most efficiently.

Finally, I was going ot rip my music collection in Windows Media Player as WAV (lossless) - is this OK - my portable device (not an Ipod) will play .wav files.

Thanks - as title says, I am a complete novice in this area and ahve searched a bit but wondered if someone could give me answer that is relevant to my kit.

 

[Anonymous]

If you are worried about noise you could buy a dedicated netbook (the Dell's are fanless but Asus and Samsung are also quite quiet), plus a usb dac like the Musical Fidelity V-DAC.It will give you excellent quality stereo if you use lossless compression like FLAC for your audio files. Most netbooks come with 160 Gb, enough for >500 hrs of music, and you can also hook up a (quiet) external drive later. You can also start by using the V-DAC to connect your current laptop, but you need to place the laptop near your setup.

This is assuming that you want to play audio from your pc and not video. There are many other options also, especially if you already have a network.

Pete

 

[PJPro]

I'm not sure that .wav is the best option. It takes up a lot of space and doesn't really support tagging.

There's lots of codecs out there and each one has it's merits based on your particular needs. If you're dead set on WMP, then wma lossless is probably a good bet.

 

[Alec]

PJ has a point. id say WAV (as its widely supported) if it supported tags, but it doesnt, so wma lossless makes a good alternative.

I might get lynched, but theres an argument for listening to mp3s and archiving in lossless. there are those who believe mp3s are pretty much transparent at the right bit rates.

if youre happy to use another ripper you could try flac or apple lossless, but tehn you would need another player too, really, then you need to decide which of those 2 formats, as they will differ to some extent in what software and devices support them.

i can certainly see the attraction to sticking to familiar formats and software in windows.

 

[Anonymous]

if your laptop is noisy, you might consider trying to turn down the fans via software not too sure about that. also you might want to try foobar2000 which is a very lightweight music player that supports almost any music format and is free. if you plan to convert to flac try EAC (exact audio copy) which is also free to convert/rip.