PC based music to HiFi

[Dermondo]

Hi all, at the moment I have arcam cd92 and A80 amp which is a great player but I am getting more into music download side as I have an Iphone also.Question I am thinking of making to cd redundant and to listen my laptop/iphone based music via my hifi.

Initiallly I was thinking of purchasing an arcam rdac to listen to my downloads through my hifi set up and if I needed to play some cd would use my blu ray as a transport to the rdac.

I this a good option or what are the alternitives as I would like to keep the audio side of things to to near cd quality as possible.

Many thanks in advance to all who reply.

 

[Anonymous]

I had the same idea as you. Got rid of my rega apollo and now have and rdac. Play music off the computer for my second system and it sounds very good. Rip your cd's to itunes and send it to the dac via usb, sounds great.

 

[idc]

A cheap DVD as a transport and/or lossless music files from a PC to a decent DAC to your amp will result in hours of musical pleasure.

 

[Dermondo]

Brill, sounds like the way to go, thanks again.

 

[Anonymous]

idc:A cheap DVD as a transport and/or lossless music files from a PC to a decent DAC to your amp will result in hours of musical pleasure.

A thread that is of particular interest to me, but withput getting into a protracted dialogue about cables, would anyone suggest a reasonable usb cable for connection to a streamer from a PC or does it make any (sonic) difference ? I plan on hooking up an Iomega HD Director player to my 1TB storage unit onto av amp source from pc and iTunes...thanks in advance.

 

[idc]

I do not believe that a USB cable makes an actual difference to the sound quality. A nice one, maybe even an expensive one may make you feel better about your hifi, which is good in itself.

I would look at Amazon's own brand or ThatCable off ebay. Belkin is another good reputation brand and they make cables for others as well (maybe even the Amazon one!). Or, just use one you got with something else that fits.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks idc, that was my impression too, and a cost saving for a better optical or hdmi cable which would make more of a difference I would think...!!

 

[idc]

rtfarty:Thanks idc, that was my impression too, and a cost saving for a better optical or hdmi cable which would make more of a difference I would think...!!

Er, no. I bought my first ever HDMI cable and went for a ThatCable at £6 off ebay. No cable makes a difference.

 

[Anonymous]

idc:

rtfarty:Thanks idc, that was my impression too, and a cost saving for a better optical or hdmi cable which would make more of a difference I would think...!!

Er, no. I bought my first ever HDMI cable and went for a ThatCable at £6 off ebay. No cable makes a difference.

I swear by Thatcable hdmi too but would get a reasonable optical cable for conection to amp...I tend to agree that cables don't make huge differences at my end of the cost range of gear but would spend up to ?40-50 on an optical if only to get a good quality connection !!

 

[SteveR750]

rtfarty:idc:
rtfarty:Thanks idc, that was my impression too, and a cost saving for a better optical or hdmi cable which would make more of a difference I would think...!!

Er, no. I bought my first ever HDMI cable and went for a ThatCable at £6 off ebay. No cable makes a difference.

I swear by Thatcable hdmi too but would get a reasonable optical cable for conection to amp...I tend to agree that cables don't make huge differences at my end of the cost range of gear but would spend up to ?40-50 on an optical if only to get a good quality connection !!

They probably do make a difference, as cables can incur jitter, the question is whether you can hear it or not. Some can, others can't (I cant hear much difference between any types of cable personally yet think my PC is significantly better than any CDP I have owned)

 

[Dermondo]

Dermondo:

Hi all, at the moment I have arcam cd92 and A80 amp which is a great player but I am getting more into music download side as I have an Iphone also.Question I am thinking of making to cd redundant and to listen my laptop/iphone based music via my hifi.

Initiallly I was thinking of purchasing an arcam rdac to listen to my downloads through my hifi set up and if I needed to play some cd would use my blu ray as a transport to the rdac.

I this a good option or what are the alternitives as I would like to keep the audio side of things to to near cd quality as possible.

Many thanks in advance to all who reply.
What about the apple route, by using the Apple airport express, would be a step down from the previous mentioned set up.

 

[Sorreltiger]

Airport Express would be fine - and very convenient - as long as you use optical out to the amp via a DAC rather than just analogue. Going back to the original question, the most important factor in all this will not be the cost of one cable over another, but the quality of the original files you're using. Downloads (presumably mp3s, or perhaps AACs) will never match CDs for sound quality.

 

[Dermondo]

Sorreltiger:Airport Express would be fine - and very convenient - as long as you use optical out to the amp via a DAC rather than just analogue. Going back to the original question, the most important factor in all this will not be the cost of one cable over another, but the quality of the original files you're using. Downloads (presumably mp3s, or perhaps AACs) will never match CDs for sound quality.

I wouldn't use optical out as arcam amp has analogue inputs only, so maybe the best for sound quality would be the arcam rdac route rather than apple ?.

 

[datay]

He said "via a DAC".

 

[Dermondo]

datay:He said "via a DAC".

Yeah well spotted, anyhow in that case I would need a dac and the airport express, maybe I would be better off then just using the wireless version of the Arcam rDac.