I'm interested in getting the best sound from my hard drive to my DAC (currently inside my Emotiva DCM-1 pre-pro) and as I try different media players for ease of use I don't want to hurt the sound. I'm also trying to improve the sound. As a reference I have a Denon 2900 CD player. My PC-Audio needs to at least match the Denon.
Here are some questions:
1. Can Microsoft Zune player software match foodbar2000 in sound quality? I like the Zune sw and use Zune pass for my non-audiophile exploration (car, workstation, portable).
* With Foobar2000 I followed the k-mixer bypass instructions: ASIO plugin, m-Audio Revolution card r/l mapped, 24-bit depth, card sampling set to 44.1.
* Am I not bypassing k-mixer with Zune? I can't use FLAC with ZUNE either so I use wmalossless
* With Meedio I use ASIO plugin but I'm not sure if I'm setup correctly and bypassing kmixer or not. It has a winamp plugin.
2. Would streaming from PC to a Squeezebox (or PS3 or xbox360) over my LAN be an improvement over my REVO card connected witha digital coax card? Both would provide digital to my DAC in pre/pro. I steamed a wmaLossless file from my laptop to my xbox360 connected with optical cable to pre/pro and it sounded too much like a computer....not like a CD.
3. Is the digital cable quality a big factor if I'm just using a REVO card to Emotiva DCM-1 pre/pro or Denon 2900 to pre/pro? My digital cable is a cheap best buy AR cable...is this a notable source of harshness/less natural sound?
4. Is there something free to low price (<$300) that would make the PC sound better than the Denon that I could do now?
5. Where would you put ~$1k to get the most sound upgrade? I could see adding something like a Benchmark DAC or an Emperial Audio modified USB converter and eventually both but I'd like to get a notable improvement over my CD player with just one and then take the next step later.
I can control my music server from my HT display & wireless kb/ms or using my laptop with remote desktop.
