What file type & media player would you suggest for best possible sound from PC

[admin_exported]

I'm finally going to start using my PC as a source, CD & Vinyl will always be my main sources so I'm not looking to remortgage, my main spends will be the DAC, decent USB lead & interconnect, which will be about £250. I need some advice though:

1) I plan on getting a decent DAC, looking at the Fubar 2 from Russ Andrews at present, any other sugestions? This DAC bypasses the sound card so negates spending on a decent soundcard.

2) What media player should I use? I currently use windows media player & like it, but are there any sonic benefits to using something else?

3) What format should I store my music in? From looking at the options in windows media player it looks like WAV is the way to go, am I right? I've heard people talking about FLAC files, whats the deal with these?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Richard

 

[idc]

Monkeyboy3001: 1) I plan on getting a decent DAC, looking at the Fubar 2 from Russ Andrews at present, any other sugestions? This DAC bypasses the sound card so negates spending on a decent soundcard......

I use the Fubar and its Supplier, which I finds ads greater dynamic to the sound, Forget spending any serious money on a USB cable, I have tried three and cannot hear a difference. As for an interconnect the SHB is still cheap and highly recommended. Your budget will then streatch to the Fubar with Supplier, particularly if you buy from Firestone Audio direct.

Monkeyboy3001: 2) What media player should I use? I currently use windows media player & like it, but are there any sonic benefits to using something else?

I use WMP and itunes and cannot tell the difference between them. Ease of use is about the same as well, but itunes gives you access to their store and films etc for the future. You do not need to pick and stick to one because of the availability of file converters. Download both and any others you fancy then import a CD (keep the bit rate the same for a fair comparison) and see if you can hear a difference. Then download a few tracks and again see if you can hear a difference.

Monkeyboy3001: 3) What format should I store my music in? From looking at the options in windows media player it looks like WAV is the way to go, am I right? I've heard people talking about FLAC files, whats the deal with these? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Richard

Once you have decided which media player you are going to use, use the highest bit rate possible in that file type. After saying that I struggle to pick out the difference between 320kbps and higher bit rates. Sometimes and album imported/downloaded at a lower bit rate sounds a bit flat. I assume you have no storage space issues.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the speedy response idc, very helpful. When you say the Fubar & its supplier, what do you mean by 'supplier'?

I have 4GB memory, I think this will get me started but I can add more if needed.

Richard

 

[kena]

idc meant disk storage space Richard - A FLAC file is a lossless compressed file so it takes less space on your hard drive. Basic WMP doesn't play FLAC but you can easily download the required codec to allow it (Just google Playing flac in WMP) Itunes doesn't do FLAC so If you use that you would have to choose another lossless format.

 

[Messiah]

Monkeyboy3001:Thanks for the speedy response idc, very helpful. When you say the Fubar & its supplier, what do you mean by 'supplier'?

There is an upgraded dedicated power supply. I think this is what he is referring to.

 

[PJPro]

The media players shouldn't sound any different (if they are any good at all). The choice is more to do with file type, convenience, features and resources available. Your choice can also be influenced by whether you want to use corporation or online community offerings.

Some media players offer the ability of use plugins to by-pass some of the windows processing eg ASIO, Kernal Streaming, WASAPI, etc. If you want to use these features (better sound quality) you'll need to go for a media player that supports them.

Me? I use FLAC with Foobar2000. I used to use MWP but it ended up annoying me (I still use it to stream photos to my PS3). I tried Winamp and a few others but none offered the flexibility, features or were as resource light as F2K.

 

[idc]

Monkeyboy3001:..... When you say the Fubar & its supplier, what do you mean by 'supplier'? ....

In my signature below you will see pictures of my kit. The small red fronted box ontop of my main headphone amp is The Supplier. It is a power supply for the Fubar DAC which is the small grey fronted box to the right of the main amp. The round object to the left is my other headphone amp. There is another headphone amp in the drawer below. I am a headfier!

Monkeyboy3001:...... I have 4GB memory, I think this will get me started but I can add more if needed. Richard

That is barely enough to get you going. My 80gb ipod is full at 350 odd CDs, not all of which are at lossless bit rates. How many CDs have you got?

 

[Anonymous]

I think he is refering to Ram rather than space on a HDD...

I have also used WASAPI with FB2K and also reclock with VMC, IMHO there really isn't much difference in sound quality at 16bit... Sure WASAPI bypasses the OS faff, I would go with Flac if you need the disk space and have a desire for lots of tag options... Otherwise (if windows) go with WAV and have WMP find your album art and meta data, Sorted.

 

[Anonymous]

idc:
.....That is barely enough to get you going. My 80gb ipod is full at 350 odd CDs, not all of which are at lossless bit rates. How many CDs have you got?

I have no clue what I'm on about when it comes to computers, I have 4GB RAM & a 698GB hard drive, it's the hard drive where my music will be stored right??? May slot another hard drive in just for music & pictures. I hear that WAV (lossless) uses about 600MB per CD, meaning I have space on my current hard drive for over 1000 albums.

I have about 600 CD's (I think), long time since I counted em.

 

[Alec]

why did wmp wind you up PJ?

Also, people are aware of the existence of Windows Media Audio Lossless arent they? WAV isnt your only choice as a wmp user.

 

[idc]

Monkeyboy3001:..... I have 4GB RAM & a 698GB hard drive, it's the hard drive where my music will be stored right??? May slot another hard drive in just for music & pictures. I hear that WAV (lossless) uses about 600MB per CD, meaning I have space on my current hard drive for over 1000 albums. I have about 600 CD's (I think), long time since I counted em.

Yes its the hard drive that is important. I would suggest that even if you don't use itunes in the end that you go there and have a look at the video tutorials to get an idea of how to work media players. http://www.apple.com/itunes/how-to/

Say you do download itunes it sets up a file in My Music on your computer and the music files will be stored in there. Your PC with a 698gb hard drive will take a lot of music. But you also want to get an external hard drive to back up your music onto. Or else if the PC fails or gets stolen etc, you could lose all of your music. One of the features of itunes is that it offers to back up your music for you.

 

[PJPro]

Fumanchu:
.....I would go with Flac if you need the disk space and have a desire for lots of tag options... Otherwise (if windows) go with WAV and have WMP find your album art and meta data, Sorted.

Why would anyone want to use .wav? More space, no tagging, no difference in sound quality. Beats me.

 

[PJPro]

al7478:
why did wmp wind you up PJ?

Probably something trivial......it wouldn't take much to make we want to play with something else. But I'm now content that F2K does everything thing I need as well as appeal to my tinkering nature.

 

[idc]

The extra bits to the likes of Foobar (also known as F2K - Foobar 2000) and Song Bird mean they not for the beginner. I would stick to itunes and Windows Media Player. Both are very straightforward, or as straightforward as you can get.

Note - Foobar is a media player/music file manager that can be downloaded off the internet. Fubar is a DAC made by Firestone Audio. Its easy to see how confusing it can get when you start out.

 

[Anonymous]

I tried several programs before I decided to stick to MediaMonkey. Reasons? Not sound quality for sure, they are all the same if your system is configured correctly, just personal preferences. MM worked immediately after installing, Foobar required some more knowledge/customizing (I assume you rather avoid that, given the previous posts), WinAmp's interface was not for me, WMP was actually not bad, just didn't like the library implementation. Just personal things, and I am sure that if I had spend more time with some of the other programs they would have worked for me also. You can also switch later: cd's are just stored in folders, and all programs can read the information. So just try a few programs, they are free, and see which one you like best.

If you start ripping do it lossless - you only want to do this once, and programs let you download CD information and add it to the tags. It is easy to convert tracks, and programs like MM let you synchronize with mobile devices and does the conversion on the fly if needed.

 

[Anonymous]

Whats your thoughts on windows media audio lossless v's WAV?

 

[idc]

Lossless is lossless and claims of being able to hear the difference are usually not backed up. As has been touched upon you want something that is easy to tag ie get band information and artwork along with the music. If you choose WMP then use their lossless, if you choose itunes then use Apple Lossless.

 

[PJPro]

I disagree that F2K is difficult to use; it's not. What it does do is offer scope for increased complexity if you want that.

 

[Alec]

idc:Lossless is lossless and claims of being able to hear the difference are usually not backed up. As has been touched upon you want something that is easy to tag ie get band information and artwork along with the music. If you choose WMP then use their lossless, if you choose itunes then use Apple Lossless.

I'd agree.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

al7478:
idc:Lossless is lossless and claims of being able to hear the difference are usually not backed up. As has been touched upon you want something that is easy to tag ie get band information and artwork along with the music. If you choose WMP then use their lossless, if you choose itunes then use Apple Lossless.

I'd agree.

Me too. WMP using WMA Lossless would work perfectly fir the OP. I suspect it will become his main source soon!

 

[SteveR750]

Resurrecting this thread - I have been ripping WAV into WMP - so WMP lossless is as good? If so, why does anyone bother with EAC? I am assuming that the less compression the better, i.e maintaining file integrity is critical otherwise night as well use a cd player with the inherent disc errors..?

I am of course ignoring the logistical benefits of using a computer as a music source...

 

[Alec]

SteveR750:

Resurrecting this thread - I have been ripping WAV into WMP - so WMP lossless is as good?

SteveR750:If so, why does anyone bother with EAC?

Could you spell it out as I don't really get the connection...?

WMA Lossless is as good as WAV, yes, and superior perhaps as it can be tagged and WAV cannot. But they are formats, whereas EAC is ripping software, not a music file format...

 

[SteveR750]

So why use EAC? What I am asking is EAC more accurate that WMP ripping WAV? Does WMP (or itunes et al) go through a similar error correction process to ensure all the data is copied? My point being that if WMP rips at the same rate as a conventional CDP streams, then its prone to the same error correction, this totally negating any advantage over the PC vs CDP, in fact its likely to be much much worse as the PC disc drive is inferior to that on the Cyrus.

The main reason for ditching the CDP was because in theory a computer will always be as good as any transport, providing the rip is 100% accurate.

 

[SteveR750]

al7478:
WMA Lossless is as good as WAV, yes, and superior perhaps as it can be tagged and WAV cannot. But they are formats, whereas EAC is ripping software, not a music file format...

all of the albums I have ripped in WAV have the full track listings and cover artwork downloaded onto each file...is that what you mean by tagged?

 

[Alec]

SteveR750:

So why use EAC? What I am asking is EAC more accurate that WMP ripping WAV? Does WMP (or itunes et al) go through a similar error correction process to ensure all the data is copied? My point being that if WMP rips at the same rate as a conventional CDP streams, then its prone to the same error correction, this totally negating any advantage over the PC vs CDP, in fact its likely to be much much worse as the PC disc drive is inferior to that on the Cyrus.

The main reason for ditching the CDP was because in theory a computer will always be as good as any transport, providing the rip is 100% accurate.

OK I think I'm with you. Someone will come and correct me if I'm not.

A CDP corrects on teh fly, as the CD plays. Ripping software corrects whilst it is ripping, so from the on you will always have an accurate file. This in theory makes the PC a better choice.

WMP does apparently have an error correction option somewhere, but im not sure where as i only use it for playback. Itunes also has one AFAIK. The supposed advantage of EAC is taht it just has better error correction; it wll repeatedly check a track against its database to see if its accurate, and it will keep doing this for an age if necessary, believe me.

However, I have known rippers flag up errors i have not been able to hear, and have known people who have not been impressed with EAC. I now use DBPoweramp which is much quicker than EAC and ive bneen happy even with tracks with supposed errors.

So do any rippers produce audibly better results? Not in my experience so far, thats all I can say*

*Except I know when i used to use WMP i didnt liek the results of th erips, so maybe thats because i didnt turn error correction on, or its rips arent very good.

As far as tagging is concerned, i think with WAV the data is not actually embedded in teh file ("proper" tagging), but that it jsut shows up when you play the track in wmp as the data has only been tagged to an internal database and not to the file itself.

Hope this helps a bit at least.

G'night.