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I'm a newbie needing help on how to play mp3 and flac files from an external HDD (2TB, too big for a portable player) with bookshelf speakers (Bose 201-V).
My current devices: I have a powerful desktop, an OK laptop, an old component stereo amp, and of course the speakers mentioned above. What's the best way to get the mp3s from the HDD to the speakers? I'm willing to buy an internal sound card, an external conversion device, or whatever else... I just don't know what device(s) I need.
Thanks in advance!
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How much do you want to spend? The mini jack to RCA solution is under $10.
If that's not sufficient in terms of sound quality you can add a USB DAC for $50-$200+ (Audioquest Dragonfly is $149) and/or scrap the setup you have and go with a pair of powered speakers. Estimate $300-$500 for the pair, although there are plenty of options to the left and right of the given price range.
These look like good options. My budget is not very good, about $100 max, so this is an interim solution until my finances improve.
I found this DAC: Behringer UCA202 Audio Interface, which has excellent reviews on Amazon and is only $30. I'm probably going to choose that unless I find something considerably better in my price range.
Thanks, and I'm open to any other advice since I'm not placing my order until the end of the week
If you can spend $109 the Modi is in a totally different league.
The Modi looks considerably better and I'd be willing to spend $109 for it. A couple of dumb questions: it has a companion headphone amp called the Magni, does that mean the Modi is better used for headphones rather than speakers? And does the computing power the DAC is connected to make a difference in the sound, or can I use an ancient laptop just as well as a new computer?
Thanks again.
It will work equally with speakers. For what you are doing the USB power from your notebook should be fine.
Gives you some future system flexibility.
http://www.peachtreeaudio.com/all-products/preamplifier-dac.html
Or you could buy a USB DAC and some Get a software player like foobar (free) or Pure Music that let's you have a good soft volume control.
DAC
http://schiit.com/products/mjolnir
A dirt cheap solution is a Y-cable, headphone out to 2x RCA.
Sound quality will be as good as the onboard audio allows for.
At its best probably decent mid-fi.
You can use a discrete sound card but this won’t do in case of a laptop.
If you want to use them both, a USB-DAC is a versatile solution.
The Well Tempered Computer
Unfortunately, IME onboard audio can produce some unwanted noises, even without music playing - but that's easy to check beforehand with a pair of headphones.
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