[kingdeezie]

So, I just pieced together a Windows 8.1 PC.

I have been using it for a lot of things, and it has excelled greatly. I am very pleased with it.

However, I have recently been collecting most of my music on vinyl, and have signed up for Spotify. It is great for use on the road, but I also want to be able to use it at home when I want to listen to music without the effort required for vinyl listening.

The problem is it sounds HORRIBLE! The bass is flubby and bloated. Sound staging is horrendous. Focus is a mess. I changed all the settings (enabling high quality streaming, turning off the option to make every song the same volume), but it still sounds horrible.

Is there any software I can DL or purchase and DL that makes the sound better.

I was using a MacBook pro for years with audirvana, and even the mp3s (few that I had) sounded way better than this.

Any suggestions or tips? Thanks.

[Gzerro]

Are you comparing apples to apples, i.e. a paid Spotify subscription streaming at highest qualify vs. a 320 MP3 of the same song using iTunes (or whatever software you use), both from your new PC from the same connections?

Assuming you are, the difference could be your internet connection. You could try marking the tracks in Spotify for offline use. That would cache them locally so you wouldn't have to stream real-time.

Good luck,

Tom

[srb]

I think what you may be experiencing is the resampling of the data stream by the Windows KMixer.  On the PC, programs such as JRiver Media Center bypass the Windows mixer by allowing use of the WASAPI or ASIO drivers.

To do the same for Spotify you can download the Fidelify High Fidelity Spotify Client which will also allow you to use a WASAPI or ASIO driver.  It requires a Spotify Premium account, which we're assuming you have.  The program is still in Beta, but seems to work well for the majority of users.

Steve

[geowak]

I listen to CDs on a higher quality transport feeding a high quality DAC. I also use a Pure I20 dock and play all my files STREAMING Spotify through my Iphone to my DAC. On 80% of the material I play, I cannot hear a difference between the CDs or Spotify. I find Spotify to be VERY good. I would not compare either to a high quality turntable, cartridge and tonearm playing albums via a high quality phono amp.

My two cents....