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In Reply to: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC posted by Urs on October 24, 2004 at 14:37:34:
I like it, and I bet it sounds fantastic. The 5m length to the Digiface would provide a lot of flexiblity in placement.If you don't mind, I have a few of questions.
Are there any sonic drawbacks to the long cable between the RME card and digiface?
What CPU speed is the T41? What % usage during playback, and is the laptop dedicated to music while listening?
Why Flac vs APE? Also, have you looked at other jukebox software (JRiver Mediacenter, or Mediamonkey for example), why Foobar over others?
Thanks for your insights, and enjoy the music! You have a very nice setup.
Lynn
Follow Ups:
Thanks for the interest. Yes, it sounds fantastic!1. No there are absolutely no drawbacks caused by the length of the firewire cable. RME has tested cable length up to 10m. Basically this can be considered as a network connection.
2. The T41p has a P4 1.7GHz Mobile CPU
3. During playback with Winamp the CPU usage is around 5-6%. It's even less with foobar (3%)
4. Arguments for FLAC:
An APE file is a few percent smaller than the corresponding FLAC file (which is its only advantage). On the other side it really uses more CPU ressources during playback (about twice as much, if I remember correctly).
You cannot apply "replay gain" to an APE file. That's a big disadvantage in my oppinion.5. Why foobar2000 and Winamp over any other Jukebox software:
These are my requirements (which are not met by other Jukebox software):
- encode/decode FLAC
- apply replay gain
- use ASIO output
- easily convert to any compressed file format (mp3 for iPod). You can do this with foobars diskwriter plug-in (which then calls lame.exe)
- remote usage of the Jukebox software from a handheld.Urs
Nice setup indeed. Below is the link to the flac plug-in for Jriver Media Centerhttp://www.monsterfang.com/MCinFLAC/
I only have experience with WMA lossless and APE but the above should fit your needs.
To my knowledge Media Center let's you apply replaygain to all supported formats since it stores a copy of the calculated in the media library. There are a couple of solutions available for remote control of media center. Personally I use a laptop with a remote terminal to ge the full fidelity UI but there are also a few plugins available that work with a PocketPC.
I am not associated with the company just a happy customer.
Cheers
Thomas
Hi ThomasI am quite happy with my carefully configured foobar2000 (after hours of reading and searching the foobar forum at hydrogenaudio ...) I am using the "Columns UI" plug-in and got a nice configuration for it (plisk_0.1.5.fcs) which I slightly modified.
I prefer to have the replaygain values in the appropriate file header instead of storing them in a database.
But I would be really interested in this one:
" ... Personally I use a laptop with a remote terminal to ge the full fidelity UI ..."
Can you tell me more about it? Is this some kind of touch screen? How is it connected to your laptop? A link to a manufacturer would be fine.Thanks and regards
Urs
Hi Urs,Media Center stores a copy of the computed replaygain in the library and also in the actual file where that is applicable. A standard wav file has not enough meta data to hold replaygain.
I played with the columns UI but even that combination does not quite compare. I like the idea of browsing my archived CD collection by cover art, integrated instant search, support for my media players with automatic transcoding, being able to get to my music and library from any station in the house, etc. etc.
My remote is nothing as complex. I just use a standard laptop and a remote dektop session to the audio PC. I am using an 802.11a equipped laptop and this work quite nicely even when cover browsing.
Cheers
Thomas
Hi,Thanks for answering my questions. I will have to look into the RME setup.
Since Mediamonkey supports Winamp plugins, it might be a foobar alternative. The only drawback I have seen with Foobar is it's library management. Are there plugins that improve on it's ability to organize and display the libary so you can easily select songs on the fly to play?
Lynn
Just out of curiosity, do you play WMA lossless or only APE/FLAC files? I ripped all my CD songs into WMA Lossless and listen to it with my Dell D800 as I think WMA Lossless should have a better sound quality than other format. Your message is iluminating for me and I would now consider sending PC signal to my hifi system for better music enjoyment. But I just wonder if digital signal from WMA Lossless files would work with DAC?
Hi,APE and FLAC are both lossless formats and will sound the same since they reproduce a bit perfect of the orginal file. Given the same input file they will always create the same compressed file. Uncompress the file, compare it to the original, and it will be exactly the same.
WMA claims to be lossless as well. However, I have heard that tests of compressing the same file using WMA shows small differences in the compressed files. To some people, this has caused them to question if WMA is truly lossless. Microsoft apparently responded to this issue saying the differences in the files are inconsequental, but some would disagree.
However, if we assume WMA is lossless, it will sound exactly the same as other lossless formats like APE or FLAC.
You can use WMA (or any input file format) with a DAC , since the DAC only cares about the output stream from your sound card, not the input format.
Lynn
This sounds like FUD to me!I have converted audio tracks forth and back from WMA lossless to APE and these two formats are equivalently lossless. You can makes changes to the tag sections which might cause differences but this does not apply to the audio samples.
I recommend you test it yourself with something like DB poweramp music converter.
Cheers
Thomas
BTW, What DAC you use for PC-Audio listening? Do they have a website?
Hi NinoThat's my DAC:
Lavry Blue. You can find it here (and also order it directly from the manufacturer):
http://www.lavryengineering.com/index_html.htmlI have the chassis with one D/A module. It's about $1400. I like it very, very much. For me, the sound is beyond any discussions. But you don't have a big selection of inputs and outputs ... it's quite puristic:
Digital Input: AES/EBU 110Ohm
Analogue Output: Balanced or Unbalanced (changed by internal jumper settings). Connectors: XLRUrs
That's cool! I definitely would like to audition it!NG
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