Audiophile digital music setup

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quesnelam
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2009 4:05 am

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by quesnelam »

What are some legal music site where I can pay monthly for unlimited music dowloads? I'm looking for legal legit sites that I can pay a monthly fee and download all the music I want and be able to put those songs on CD's or on to my MP3 Player / iPod. Anyone know of such Services??? Thanks in advance!
Last edited by quesnelam on Thu Dec 24, 2009 9:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
gds
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 10:26 pm

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by gds »

quesnelam wrote:What are some legal music site where I can pay monthly for unlimited music dowloads? I'm looking for legal legit sites that I can pay a monthly fee and download all the music I want and be able to put those songs on CD's or on to my MP3 Player / iPod. Anyone know of such Services??? Thanks in advance!
Since this is an 'audiophile' thread I will let you know that I do not believe there are any 'monthly fee' sites that let you download lossless music files. I use a Russian site that charges you according to the quantity of data you download. I don't know how legal this is here in the states, but I'm not paying money for lossy music.
Eyal
Posts: 3116
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 9:27 am
Location: Québec

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by Eyal »

Magnatune.com, an excellent independent music site (Artists Direct) offers this download membership:

Pay-what-you-want - Starting at $10/month
Unlimited album downloads
(MP3s, CD-quality WAVs and full artwork)
Skins for MediaMonkey: Cafe, Carbon, Helium, Spotify, Zekton. [ Wiki Zone ].
GMGJ
Posts: 120
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 3:17 pm
Contact:

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by GMGJ »

I agree with Sirandar 898 on putting the PC in another room. Or build a box with sound proofing around around it. Maybe some do and don'ts would be helpful. for this list.


Do put the PC in another room or build a box around it. This solves all the sound problems
Do use Windows 7, you get better pass thru of signals without kmixer type processing. Else use Kernal Streaming Plugin.
Do use Lossless like flac. Else Amazon quality MP3.
Sirandar888

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by Sirandar888 »

danhackley wrote:Hi, my hope for this thread is to collect thoughts on how to set up the ideal audiophile digital music setup.
Apart from the quality of the components, my main problems with the existing system are that the PC makes a bit of noise, and also that it uses too much electricity to justify having it on just to stream the music.

I'm planning to upgrade the system, and would welcome thoughts on the best way to get the FLAC files to the speakers. Budget no more than £10,000. I'm considering things like an external DAC connected to the PC, a standalone system like the Linn digital stream player, or any other alternatives. Obviously I'll be upgrading the amp and speakers. Ability to browse the album artwork is important.

Thanks for any ideas!
I am a bit of a Quiet PC fetishist so I can give you some good advice BUT FIRST

Unless you have soooooo much money you feel the need to give it away, there is no need to spend 10,000 pounds unless you have a huge listening area. Spend your money on speakers and a good amp and digital TOSLink out from your computer. For a normal living area there is no need to spend over 1000 pounds. The beauty of TOSlink or COAX is that you can have your PC far away from your listening area.

Reducing PC Noise (in order of effectiveness):

1) It is very difficult to get a PC inaudible. To do this you need a fanless power supply, graphics card, CPU and a large very slow turning fan on the top or side of the case to vent heat AND a solid state hard drive. It can be done but it isn't worth the money and SS hard drives have a low capacity

SO the most effective way to reduce PC noise is to move the PC part into another room, buy a long DVI or HDMI cable, a TOSLink cable and a 2.4Ghz keyboard and mouse combo. Only have the keyboard, mouse and monitor in your listening area. Note that some CRT monitors make a high pitched whine that makes them unsuitable. Total Cost: 60-150 USD and a small hole in your wall.

Most 2.4GHz keyboard mouse combos will work through 1 or 2 walls. Long DVI cables exist but they can be hard to find.

2) If 1 isn't your cup of tea, there are ways to reduce PC noise.

a) Don't buy the latest most powerful of anything ..... they make too much heat especially the graphics card. Having a PC for both gaming and quiet PC is almost impossible. Buy middle of the road and fanless if practical. Under clocking the CPU usually isn't necessary if you buy one with low power consumption.
b) Lap your CPU if necessary and install a heat pipe cooler with a big slow moving fan or no fan.
c) Buy a power supply with a large fan with built in speed control or fanless
d) Mount your hard drives on foam or suspended. (Don't mount directly onto the foam or it will overheat) Suspended is risky because if you forget and move your PC with the disk spinning you may crash it). Mounting on rubber grommets may also work
e) Be prepared to buy and return a few hard drives until you get a quiet one. Even drives with the same lot number can have huge differences in noise output.
f) Buy fan speed controllers or use SPEEDFAN to set your fan speeds at an optimal level
g) Laptops can be quiet if they are specifically built for that, but most are not, especially when the weather is hot.

Lastly, if you are outputting digital to an Amp you don't need a expensive sound card, just one that can maintain stable, popless clickless communication with your amp. Digital is digital and as long as it isn't corrupted it is perfect. Also for TOSLink, as long as it works it is OK, consider the lowest bidder that works.
jopagi
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:21 pm

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by jopagi »

I'll put in another plug for the Squeezebox as well. We have two of them, and we like the fact that it's easy to synchronize them so for example I can walk between the living room and kitchen and both (completely independent) systems are playing the same music. There are upgrade paths, too; the Transporter is very well regarded, and many highly-regarded modders (Modwright, RAM, etc.) take it even further.

Another option -- more expensive but still within your price range -- is PS Audio PerfectWave, which has been getting excellent reviews both for its useability and for its sonic performance.

The audiocircle forum has a discless circle that has a lot of discussion on this topic.
E.Baba
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:51 pm
Location: Bega Valley, Australia

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by E.Baba »

hi all

I am no 'audiophile' but i'm just trying to hook up my PC to my old stereo amp to get the MM library out through the better stereo speakers.

I plugged in to the PC Line Out and used RCA plugs on the other end into the Amp. Nothing. Tried the different Amp inputs. Nothing.

I was running Logitech 2.1 from the Line Out so i know it can output.
I know the cable is OK because i was using it to Input to the PC when ripping vinyl.

From reading this thread i see much comment of 'DAC'. Am I right thinking this is 'Digital Audio Converter' ? and that it's a 'trick bit' that i need between PC and Amp ?

Is there an effective difference between using Line Out compared to USB ?

thanks for any help
MM 4.1.8.1751. Windows 7.
moonglow
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat May 09, 2009 12:36 am

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by moonglow »

You only need a DAC if you're taking a digital signal directly from your PC - your line out is already analogue. I''d check your amp and setup at that end, its possible that your lineout signal level is too low to drive the amp, although I'd have thought it'd be ok. Try connecting an ipod or cd player to your amp through the same cable. If that's fine maybe recheck your settings on the pc end then try and borrow a preamp - to get the signal strong enough for your amp to work with...
E.Baba
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:51 pm
Location: Bega Valley, Australia

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by E.Baba »

whoops ...... :oops:

I labelled the sockets to help myself.....

and got it arse about.

Works now but and the Monkey is unleashed !
MM 4.1.8.1751. Windows 7.
KenH

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by KenH »

Can I buy a USB device that gives me a RCA Coax for digital output? If I do, how do I configure MM to not convert the signal to Analog first? My goal is to play 24/96 FLAC songs through MM, getting the digital output to my amp and it's DAC (very high end).
jan9

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by jan9 »

I am using a laptop with mm and a Nas for storage in wav format. To achieve good quality sound I want to pass the signal throug the laptop and into a cd player with digital input (harmon kardon hd990). You have to be sure the signal is passed through your laptop 1:1. You shouldn't even be able to adjust volume.
Is this a valid statement and if so, what settings are there to be made?
martin_in_sf

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by martin_in_sf »

How many people here are playing digital audio from their computer into an external DAC?
I ask because I am not doing this, I currently pipe from a Mac G5 into a Mackie mixer, then out to Event Monitor Speakers (with built in amps).
It sounds really good, but then I have not tried a hi end DAC to compare the differences.

Any thoughts or experiences would be welcome.
Cheers.
Eyal
Posts: 3116
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 9:27 am
Location: Québec

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by Eyal »

Maybe here (Show your sound system): http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... 11&t=18402

:~)
Skins for MediaMonkey: Cafe, Carbon, Helium, Spotify, Zekton. [ Wiki Zone ].
TeDdY

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by TeDdY »

I have a cheap PC with optical output to a 7.1 sony receiver. I controll the MM database with my ANDROID tablet

no noise since the PC is in a closet and the controll is wireless !

works ok for me
bryan2112

Re: Audiophile digital music setup

Post by bryan2112 »

Your budget of 10,000 quids is definitely a lot more than you would require to setup a decent audiophile setup.

I suggest you need not require more than $2000 to setup a decent audiophile setup.

Here's my suggestion since I'm an audiophile; however I don't think spending 10,000 quids on a speaker setup justifies the marginal differences you're going to get from them.

Here's what I'd suggest going for:

Speaker: KEF R300 Bookshelf Speakers ($1,799)

DAC: Audioengine D1 ($169) or maybe Audioquest Dragonfly v1.2 ($169) if you want a portable and pendrive like DAC.

Options: I still believe spending 10.000 pounds for an audiophile setup isn't worth it. Just run FLAC files from your PC via the DAC into the speakers and you're done!
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