[JLM]

You guys are miles above me, so I'd like to ask what is needed to get a reasonably good sound for casual listening while not spending a ton or getting complicated.

I'm looking at a DAC that has coax and toslink inputs.  The coax input would be used for the CDP. 

The PC is a year old HP running Windows XP and is in the same room as the "big rig".

I'd need 25 feet of cabling.  We already have wireless phones and network in the house, so wireless interference is a concern.  BTW already have a 25 foot ethernet cable. 

Not looking for full PC audio capabilities, just audio streaming.

What hardware/any additional software beyond Windows Media Player would be needed?

I've found just 1/8 inch pin to RCA cables, but would that transmit/create hum?

TIA

[lcrim]

Jeff:
Actually this was the very first method I used for PC playback.  You need software to rip the CD's, I used Exact Audio Copy, free but there are many others.  You need player software, I used Foobar but you could use a lot of different ones.  You need a device to transfer the music from the PC to the DAC, I used M-Audio Transit USB.   You plug it into the PC w/ a USB cable then plug a Toslink cable into it and then into the DAC,  The Transit comes w/ drivers that are pretty good but takes its power from the USB bus, not so good a practice.  Steve Nugent @ Empirical makes self powered versions that will cost you a bit but they are much more refined.
This method requires a lot more computer resources than using Slimserver and a Squeeze Box and the PC does tend to add pops and such because Windoze tends to use the processor to do other things at times but I optimized the PC because it was dedicated to the task of playing music only.
The Transit is dirt cheap, I still have mine , and the software is free.
Good luck

[JLM]

Thanks for the reply Larry,

I had a modded SB3 using EAC and FLAC, but had too many various ongoing problems for me to deal with, so I'm back to spinning CDs.

So I only want to do internet audio streaming, no ripping, no CDs via PC.

The M-Audio Transit seems to be more along the lines of what I'm looking for, but the site says that it doesn't support Windows Media Center Edition. 

I don't want pops and can't/won't "optimize" a PC.

So where would that leave a computer klutz like me?

[lcrim]

PM me your address and I'll send it to you.  The drivers will probably work w/ Media Center.  Check the Empirical site, Steve may have a driver for it. 
I just opened the box and I must have used the USB cable from it for something else.  Buy a USB cable for $5 from Walmart.  Windoze may load a driver but there is a driver CD in the box.
If all you want is Internet radio you could use Winamp as a player.  Its very simple and sounds good enough for low bitrate MP3. 

Edit: I just found a USB cable on the floor, so everything is there.

[opaqueice]

Have you considered the USB version of this?

http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/dac1/

[JoshK]

Couple of quick points... using toslink from computer to DAC is actually a smart thing because it breaks ground connection and could very feasibly circumvent noise problems from the computer into your system.  Without spending a ton of effort and money on the issue to come up with another solution, it is the easiest way to a good solution.

EAC is a great program, I use it but it isn't the easiest to set up right.  Someone on this forum suggested some others that are much easier and they had good results from.  Winamp and foobar both work quite well for playback, you might find winamp easier, install both and play with the two and go with the easier one, as winamp can easiely be optimized to sound just as good, so I'm told. 

The Dac 60 has both toslink and coax inputs.

[JLM]

Larry,

Thanks for the kind offer   , but I don't have a separate DAC (yet) so I can't use the M-Audio Transit right now. 


opaqueice,

Thansk for the heads up, the new Benchmark DAC does push many of the right buttons for me (allows for simplicity, relative low cost, flexible, and of course great sound).  Since comparisons have been written for their previous DAC, I wonder how it compares to the new one.     Too bad the price has been bumped up to $1275.   


JoshK

Thanks for the input.  I used EAC with my SB and just downloaded Winamp, but can't stand to listen via my PC speakers.  Please be aware that anything I came up with thats "smart" in this regard is purely accidently.