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How to set up a PC to be a Hi-Fi transport for your audio system

Introduction

According to most Hi-Fi pundits :

·        A hard disc being a better delivery system than any CD transport

·        With the advent of audio high definition file

·        A new generation of DACs which are computer aware

·        The convenience of searching files vs. finding the CD box

It makes more and more sense to digitalizes your CDs and play music from your computer. We will try to shed light on this interdisciplinary field full of legends and misconceptions.

DACs

The quality of the off the shelves sound cards found in PC today is not sufficient to be used as such (meaning to plug the analog output directly to your amplifier) unless you bought a very good sound card you are better off to by-pass all that and use the digital output of a PC and plug into a DAC (digital to analogue converter). This is the piece bridging the PC and the Hi-Fi world. Like any Hi-Fi equipment a wide price range, they can go  between 300 to more than 10.000 $.

How to connect your PC to your DAC

The answer is: it depends on your DAC, but the whole purpose here is to minimize the computer interaction.

a.      Network: some very expensive models (5000-+10000$) use the network (ETHERNET or WiFi) to send the audio files to the DAC, so these DACs are a bit computers themselves (for example LINN or La Rosita). In theory this is the best way but far too expensive for most people.

b.      Firewire: it is a much better way to interconnect because this bus was created with audio in mind, but very few DACs offer this feature (for example WEISS or Metric Halo) and are quite expensive as well.

c.       SPDFI vs. USB: this is the most controversial issue, some professional think USB is a dirty way to do it and prefer S/PDIF (the digital output that some sound cards offer whether coaxial or optical, but unless the sound card does not re-sample the bit stream  you will get some distortion to start with). Some others do prefer USB. Most of the new DACS do have a USB input and re-clock the bit stream so you do not get any jitter effect, although they might limit the sampling rate you can achieve, in this case playing some high definition files might be difficult or they will be down sampled.  Personally, I have a hard time thinking that all these new class A DACs (with an expensive price tag) would all come equipped with a USB port with high definition sampling (24bits/96Khz or 192Khz) if USB was a mediocre connecting medium.

d.      There are also small devices (fox example M2Tech or Halide Design) who provide the USB to S/PDFI conversion. So you can use the coaxial input of your DAC directly. But more electronics in the chain is not the greatest, however if your DAC does not offer a decent USB or FIREWIRE connection that is the way to go.

  The software issue

The windows mixer does distort the sound quality by re-sampling the audio stream. So you want to by-pass this mediocre link. With XP, there is a free software driver ASIO4ALL which allows you to avoid the OS sound mixer, provided your digital player can make use out of it. Starting with Vista all the way to Windows 8, Microsoft offers WASAPI a new sound module, which also gives you bit-perfect output. MusiCHI Suite, Foobar, JRiver have support for these 2 solutions: ASIO or WASAPI, the latter being the preferred option.

Conclusion

USB does the job and with some DACs starting around 250$ with very good specs there is no reason to start treating your PC as a Hi-FI source: the convenience, improved delivery, superior recordings (Studio Masters) are too obvious arguments not to go to computer digital music.

Solution A: USB + compatible DAC for high definition files.

Solution B: Firewire + Firewire DAC

Solution C: very good sound card not messing up the S/PDFI delivery (not cheap) + coaxial connection to the best DACs your pocket can afford. But with the new DACs, it is an overkill.

Solution D:  very good USB to S/PDFI converter+ coaxial connection to the best DACs your pocket can afford.

Solution E: budget is not an issue… go Streamers. But the setup is a pain and I am not sure you get such a better sound for the complexity and fragility, although in theory it is a very clean approch.

But in all cases your media player must offer some support (ASIO or WASAPI) to by-pass windows mixer to achieve bit perfect sound.

The MusiCHI Team