Hooking a computer to amplifier. Does sound card of computer matter?

[admin_exported]

Hello. My old Marantz CD player recently broke so I need a new player but I've decided to use my netbook as my audio player instead. There are a few reasons for this but the main reason being in this digital age there are an infinite number of audio formats and if I was to spend £500 on a CD player which can player mp3, acc etc a new format will probably be introduced and my £500 could become useless. At least with a computer I can just update the right software and job done and I wont have to spend more money on a new computer.
But my question is does my computers sound card have an effect on the audio quality output? I will have my computer plugged in to my Denon amplifier via an optical lead and one end of the lead will have a 3.5mm adaptor. But my concern is my computers sound card wont be good enough to replace a dedicated CD player. I dont know much about this so thats why I have posted my concern on here. Does the sound card make a difference on the audio quality? If yes what is the best sound card to have in my computer for optimum sound quality? Any help guys would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[idc]

There are soundcards which are designed with the audiophile in mind, but the usual route, to get away from electronic noise inside the PC is to get a stand a lone DAC. Then it is PC - USB/optical/digital cable to DAC - phonos to amp.

I take it you will import your CDs to your PC and not use your PC to play them?

 

[Dan Turner]

Definitely best to to buy a separate DAC and feed the signal to that from the computer digitally. Many have an optical digital output, but there are DACs out there with USB inputs too. A good quality rip (i.e. lossless or uncompressed) replayed on a computer and fed to a good outboard DAC is easily going to outperform a £500 CD player.

I heard that on a windows machine there are some settings that you need to be careful of to ensure the digital data makes it out of the machine unmolested, but I'm not too sure about that. Maybe google it.

 

[idc]

Hi Dan. Some music managers such as Foobar let you use plug ins (I think that is what they are called) such as ASOILL (or something like that) which allow you to bypass Windows own gubbins (technical term) and output a bit perfect signal. How different that is to using a music manager such as Windows Media Player or itunes and letting the PC get on with it, I am not sure many could reliably tell the difference.

 

[Anonymous]

No i want to use my PC to play the music. What I had before was a 3.5mm cable with RCA plugs on the end and that was connected to my amplifier about a year ago. But I decided not to continue with that because the sound from the 3.5mm/RCA cable wasnt very good so instead of using a 3.5mm/RCA cable I'm going to use an optical cable with a 3.5mm adaptor to plug from PC to amplifier. But my concern is, as the computer i will be using will be a laptop or netbook, is the sound card wont be very good. But I'm thinking the sound card that i have wont matter because i will have the computer plugged into an amplifier but from what you've already told me the sound card does matter. If i decided to get a laptop/netbook then replacing the sound card in it will be very hard, expensive and maybe impossible so i was looking at something like an external sound card. check this out: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/creative-l-sound-blaster-x-fi-go-usb-sound-card-01991916-pdt.html

This will allow me to have a simple connection i.e. from computer to sound card via usb then from sound card to amplifier via optical lead with a 3.5mm adaptor (to go into the sound card). This is so the computer or sound card is connected to the amplifier via an optical cable because RCA cable's are rubbish. so going back to my OP does the sound card matter and if so what would be the best sound card for best sound quality? I am an audiophile.

 

[bluebrazil]

i think the op is going to use an amp with a built in dac as he says he is going to use an optical lead to connect to the 'puter (maybe an av amp?). this should bypass the soundcard and give him the desired results.

 

[idc]

Just to confirm somethings. Will you put the CD into the PC and press play? Or will you import the CD and create a music file and play that? The latter is much better.

Secondly, an external soundcard is the same as a DAC, just different names and often functionality. I dont know enough about such soundcards to say one is better than another. But I know some are made with the audiophile, (as opposed to say someone into home music making/recording or gaming) in mind.

 

[bluebrazil]

an optical lead only carries a digital signal

 

[bluebrazil]

the best soundcard for quality is no sound card. if your amp does not have a built in dac you cannot use an optical cable. only rca's will carry an analogue signal to your amp. if your amp has an optical connection then it has an internal dac, thus bypassing your computers soundcard. the usual route people take for this is a standalone dac connected to an amp via rca's and to computer by either of the digital outputs/inputs shared

 

[Anonymous]

Hi guys thanks for all your replies. I dont have time to read them now but i'll read them in the next hour and post a reply. "Just to confirm somethings. Will you put the CD into the PC and press play?" the answer to this question is yes AND i will be playing audio files from my computers hard drive and/or from a memory card. i have to go now but i will check the replies in the next hour. thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

bluebrazil:the best soundcard for quality is no sound card. if your amp does not have a built in dac you cannot use an optical cable. only rca's will carry an analogue signal to your amp. if your amp has an optical connection then it has an internal dac, thus bypassing your computers soundcard. the usual route people take for this is a standalone dac connected to an amp via rca's and to computer by either of the digital outputs/inputs sharedPrecisely. Your optical connection means the DAC in your AV amp will be fed a digital signal effectively cutting out the sound card. Be aware, however, if you use the volume control in your computer software (iTunes or whatever) this could have a negative effect on sound quality.

 

[drummerman]

Tarquinh:

Be aware, however, if you use the volume control in your computer software (iTunes or whatever) this could have a negative effect on sound quality.

on anything less than 100% only though, is that correct?

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, spot on.

 

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone again. right from what i've been reading my Denon amplifier already has an in built DAC (because my amplifier has an optical port) this means, if i understand correctly, the sound will by-pass my computers sound card which means the sound card of my computer wont have any effect on the sound quality. is this correct?

could someone clarify on the post "Be aware, however, if you use the volume control in
your computer software (iTunes or whatever) this could have a negative
effect on sound quality". does it mean that i should have the sound muted on the audio software so as to not distort the sound?

please clarify on the above points thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

No! Sorry if I've caused confusion. Just meant that you should use the volume control on the amplifier to control the volume, not that on the PC, which should be set to maximum.

You're correct on your first point.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a similar set-up to you mate, with PC connected directly to CA amp using 3.5mm jack to twin RCA cable into amp and I find the sound perfectly acceptable with iTunes...however, saying that I have been on the look out for ways to improve sound quality because it's not as good as a CD played through my amp on a separate Cd player (not surprisingly !!)

I spotted a thread this evening mentioning a silverstone EB01DAC that plugs directly into the usb port of your PC and then feeds an analogue signal via RCA cables to your amp and it's very reasonably priced and has received very high praise throughout...might be worth investigating...hope that doesn't confuse matters further ?!

I am presently trying to found out where I can get my hands on one...

 

[Anonymous]

i got mine from scan computers with next day delivery came to £58, that was in silver though and they have none left now. the black ones are alittle more expensive. they sound very good, but are not very loud using my fatman itube amp and mezzo 2 speakers but very good though.

stephen

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks alot for that Stephen...definitely going to look into that and see if they will deliver to Ireland...not something I take for granted anymore...too many disappointments !!

I think it would be a benefit to me alright...

 

[scorpionro]

I'm also using a computer as a source and I've been testing a few "variants". From my experience ( on both an XFi Fatal1ty Pro and on the Xonar ST ) use the coaxial out if you have it. The optical output sounded much worse for me ( I tried 4 different optical cables - none of them was priced at more than 50 GBP ). The onboard soundcard proved to be a much worse performer then both the XFi and Xonar, so a dedicated sound card is still worth it.

 

[Anonymous]

been using it none stop now for 3 days and the sound is very warm and likeable

 

[Anonymous]

I use a quality 3.5mm to twin RCA lead to play MP3 and WMA files from my HP Pavillion Dv7 Multimedia lappy and the sound is more than acceptable. It may be that this lappy, being a multimedia specialist, has a better soundcard than the norm though...

System:

Thorens TD316 turntable

Cambridge Audio 540p Phonostage

NAD CD524 CD deck

NAD C340 Amp

Mission 773 Speakers