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Newbie question
45.47.66.196 |
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Posted on April 2, 2021 at 11:33:08 | ||
Posts: 695
Joined: August 31, 2009 Contributor Since: July 16, 2010 |
Greetings All! I am new to streaming, having started several weeks ago. Well, I suppose it started months ago when I got pair of planar headphones, then a headphone amp, and then an external DAC, then using the external DAC instead of the DAC in the CD player in my "big" system... I'm sure you all have "been there, done that" :). I've been streaming Amazon Music HD through a laptop, connecting to the external DAC using USB. I got a 4 month trial of Amazon Music Unlimited and a 1 month trial of HD. So far I'm impressed with the sound quality of both the HD and Ultra HD offerings. So, here's the question: Why is the soundstage different when using 2 different laptop PC's? The sound quality is the same, near as I can tell, but the soundstage collapses when using my laptop vs. using my wife's laptop. I have compared playing the same track on CD through the CD player, through the PCs, and streaming. The soundstage collapses with my PC and is fine with hers in all cases. My laptop is around 8 - 10 years old, my wife's laptop is around 3 years old. Both are running Windows 10. The settings for the PC sound and Amazon Music are the same, both using the same USB cable and DAC, and both connect to the modem using the same ethernet cable. My understanding is that using the USB to the external DAC bypasses the laptop soundcard. Is that truly the case? Could it be a difference in USB chipsets? Could it be I'm delusional? (I already know the answer to that...) This isn't really a big deal as my wonderful wife is very good at indulging my audio hobby. However, I'd still like to know for my understanding of streaming hardware and software. Regards, Steve |