Multimedia Players

[amarocknrollstar]

System: AMC CD6 CD Player, Denon TU-260L Tuner, Rotel RC 870 Pre-amp, Rotel RB 870 Power Amp, Yamaha DSP AX-620 AV Amp, Logitech Wireless DJ Jukebox, i-Pod, Kensington i-Pod Docking Station, Sp-19 4 way audio control switching box, Kef Model 100 Reference Series Center Speaker, Kef 55s Rears, Lake Audio 5.2 floorstanders, Sound Organisation 5 tier and 3 tier racks, isolation spikes for components, mixture of Audio Seduction and Cambridge Audio interconnects, Audio Seduction speaker cable.

Overall I'm very pleased with my system - the Lake Audio 5.2's blew away the Kef Reference's that I auditioned and at a fraction of the price.

My problem is that I niavely purchased the Logitech DJ as it had received favourable reviews. I quickly realised that wireless music reproduction is in no way similar to digital. I feel the sound from the Logitech is no better than a very low budget, poor quality cassette deck. And I hate cassette decks!

I've also found out that docking stations only serve to muffle an i-pod's sound. Connecting the i-pod straight to the amp is the best way with stunning results.

My question is - what is the best way to add my PC music files to my system other than to add them to my i-pod?

I really don't want to spend a lot of money. Second hand will suffice.

Cheers

Stevie

 

[Anonymous]

You could buy a Beresford DAC and power it from your computer. If the computer is in a different room the Squeezebox 3 is supposed to work well with the DAC as well.

 

[amarocknrollstar]

Hi, computer in same room. Would this improve the sound quality of the Logitech? Or should I ditch the Logitech? Have been considering an Imerge Soundserver. Obviously, second hand though price allowing.

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

If the logitech has a digital out on the receiver (the one closest to your stereo) then use this to feed the dac of your cd-player. If there's no digital out, there's no way to improve- ditch it!

 

[amarocknrollstar]

Hey, thanks.

Doesn't appear to be a digital output.

Any suggestions of what to get instead of this?

Cheers

 

[Nohairnick]

One way is to get some conversion software that will convert your files from whatever format you are holding them on the PC in to a format readable by CD players. Then burn them and play them as a CD. You might end up with a lot of CDs though!

A quick search turned up loads of sites offering various products that will do the job (though mainly with mp3s and not the Apple formats I suspect you have- these should be easy to convert anyway).

Here's an example:-

http://www.mymusictools.com/articles/how-do-i-convert-mp3-to-cda.htm

(Disclaimer -I haven't used this or have any idea of its quality- it just seemed relevant)

Obviously the higher the bitrate of your PC file the better chance you will have.

Regards,

Nick

 

[amarocknrollstar]

Thanks Nick, that is one way of getting the sound quality I desire, but I guess I'm really looking for a great multimedia machine.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="amarocknrollstar"]

My question is - what is the best way to add my PC music files to my system other than to add them to my i-pod?

[/quote] Try out apple airport express; take the digital signal to be processed by your cd player's dac. Then it should sound fine.Other option could be a squeezebox from slim devises/logitech. Take a look at http://www.stereophile.com/computeraudio/ to see what soots you best.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd like to share some improvement I recently made with my pc as a source:

-download and install asio4all
This prevents windows from converting the signal again and again, resulting in a clearer sound! Just make sure before you install, you don't want to use Windows media player as a source. Apparently installing asio4all disables WMP. No problem for me as I use Itunes and Plextools, but it might be an issue for you.Every little tweak helps! ;-)

 

[amarocknrollstar]

Thanks very much Solomon.

Consider it considered!

Stevie