Perhaps you more experienced folks can help...
Posted: February 18, 2013 - 3:14pm
Hi, I new here and new to the idea of using digital media to replace my cd collection.
I have a luxman cd player, Cambrige Audio DACmagicplus, and NAD amp, I have been unable so far to get my computer or Sony Google Media box to sound as good as the Luxman (they of course go through the same channels, just one is a CD in a CD player, the other is an digital file through the box.
Some questions (please be gentle as some may be stupid - I am new to using computers to generate high end audio)
- Is the Vaio laptop I have sufficient, or do I need a specific computer or soundcard?
-Same for the Sony Google media box - is it just too low end? (I am hoping that the box would be sufficient with a few tweaks because that way I could just have one device for video streaming and my music collection. I have a digital optical going from the box to the DACmagic.
-Would I be better off to buy a device specifically made to stream music at high quality?
-Do the files have to be lossless? ***I know its a dangerous question! *** But from much of what I have read human ears can't tell the difference between lossless and 320kbs compression. To that end I have done some comparisons for myself:
I used the Vaio laptop connected to the DAC and listened on my pair of Sennheiser HD595 headphones to do the comparison.
I used a CD in windows media player, and a couple tracks each ripped at WMApro 256kbs, MP3 320kbs, WMA Lossless, and .WAV I compared each of them to the CD and to each other and found the CD sounded better than even the lossless, and the lossless and MP3 320kbs were pretty well identical.
Similar result when I listen to my main system (mentioned above using either headphones or my towers) and found a similar result - the CD just sounded better. If lossless is identical to my ears (and scientific waveform studies) as MP3 32kbs, then I should be able to stream a 320kbs MP3 from my media device and have it sound the same as the CD, but it doesn't. CD is noticeably better. This leads me to the conclusion that the CD player is just a better device than my laptop or the Sony box and that I need a better media device (or sound card)
Thoughts or opinions? I appreciate any advice!
Perhaps you more experienced folks can help...
Posted: February 18, 2013 - 3:14pm
Hi, I new here and new to the idea of using digital media to replace my cd collection.
I have a luxman cd player, Cambrige Audio DACmagicplus, and NAD amp, I have been unable so far to get my computer or Sony Google Media box to sound as good as the Luxman (they of course go through the same channels, just one is a CD in a CD player, the other is an digital file through the box.
Some questions (please be gentle as some may be stupid - I am new to using computers to generate high end audio)
- Is the Vaio laptop I have sufficient, or do I need a specific computer or soundcard?
-Same for the Sony Google media box - is it just too low end? (I am hoping that the box would be sufficient with a few tweaks because that way I could just have one device for video streaming and my music collection. I have a digital optical going from the box to the DACmagic.
-Would I be better off to buy a device specifically made to stream music at high quality?
-Do the files have to be lossless? ***I know its a dangerous question! *** But from much of what I have read human ears can't tell the difference between lossless and 320kbs compression. To that end I have done some comparisons for myself:
I used the Vaio laptop connected to the DAC and listened on my pair of Sennheiser HD595 headphones to do the comparison.
I used a CD in windows media player, and a couple tracks each ripped at WMApro 256kbs, MP3 320kbs, WMA Lossless, and .WAV I compared each of them to the CD and to each other and found the CD sounded better than even the lossless, and the lossless and MP3 320kbs were pretty well identical.
Similar result when I listen to my main system (mentioned above using either headphones or my towers) and found a similar result - the CD just sounded better. If lossless is identical to my ears (and scientific waveform studies) as MP3 32kbs, then I should be able to stream a 320kbs MP3 from my media device and have it sound the same as the CD, but it doesn't. CD is noticeably better. This leads me to the conclusion that the CD player is just a better device than my laptop or the Sony box and that I need a better media device (or sound card)
Thoughts or opinions? I appreciate any advice!