[neyloj2]

I love my vinyl, however, I want to start a digital system and don't know where to begin. Mac Mini, Squeeze Box, Ipod, Laptop?

Do you seasoned audiophiles think my itunes that are on my pc will be quality music. They sound ok through my ipod with cheap cable from head phone port. But no where near as good as my vinyl.

So whats a good avenue to get started, and will a dac be necessary?

[Ethan Winer]

I use a laptop because it does everything a "music streaming" device does, plus everything else that a computer does. So I can stream music from the lap top's hard drive, or from the server in my basement, and I can also watch YouTube on my TV and even mix original surround audio projects.

As for the quality of MP3 type music, it depends entirely on the bit-rate. Low bit rates have audible artifacts; high bit rates can sound excellent. It's that simple. Most audio experts consider bits rates of 192 kbps or higher to be capable of "high fidelity."

--Ethan

[eclein]

My first foray into computer based music was with a Squeezebox DUET, the latest version-Squeezebox Touch would be the most up to date and sound the best for relatively small cash outlay. They have an internal DAC but can also be used with an external one if you so choose to go that route. If you already have music ripped to a computer somewhere and at $299 US dollars that would be where I'd try first but others will have more suggestions. It really comes down to file type you prefer to hear, I buy used CD's and rip wav files to my PC and playback through Squeezebox DUET through my tube DAC/Pre and I get very good sound quality. Whats your budget??

[wywires]

I use a laptop running iTunes and a PS Audio DAC with a USB input with excellent results that comes close to my much more expensive CD player. I also have a Wadia iPod/iPhone dock connected to the same DAC via coax. This way friends can play their music on my system. The DAC actually improves MP3 files significantly but of course higher bit rates do sound much better. The content on my hard drive is all Apple Lossless format.

Alex

[chlorofille]

I am using a Mede8er MED500X full HD media player. It plays flac, wav, mp3, mkv, blue ray rips and most formats. Most of the music/videos I get is downloaded online. The music is then sent wirelessly to the Mede8er player's internal harddisk. Am using 1TB atm. Very convenient, lovely sound and picture quality. My parents and siblings use my audio gear very frequently so this is a very convenient way they can all send their media to the dedicated player. Volume is digitally controlled - thus my power amp and preamps have no volume pots. The DAC is inbuilt but you can connect a DAC to the HDMI outs if need be.

[neyloj2]

Thank you all, I'll research Squeeze Touch a little more as it sounds fairly simple and my computer skills are about as good as the Red Sox play baseball. So heres my next question. Is there anything within itunes I need to adjust to improve the quality of the music I that I download.

[Letitroll98]

Perhaps you should try posting your question in the Hi Rez circle.  I haven't made a leap into it yet, but reading the threads a bit has me intrigued.  I wouldn't consider MP3 as anything close to high fidelity at any bit rate, but those guys are ripping some very high fidelity samples though their computers and music servers.

[werd]

Vinyl is hi def. All hi def is a bit rate that gives you a closer picture of what a true analogue signal looks like. The output of a dac isnt considered true analogue. It still resembles digital. Dacs will smooth out the the raw output to make it look more sinewave.  The higher the bitrate the more full analogue the out put is.

When comparing bit rates, higher bits  will give your more dynamics and lower noise floor.  But this can be had with a well though out tt setup too. But what a hi rez 24 bit signal can not do is still give you a full analogue sinewave like a TT does naturally.  Thats what hi rez hype is all about is full analogue signal at the output for pure analogue from a digital playback.  32 bit dacs are probably more in the range of a pure analogue signal.

Anybody who tells you that a 192 kb mp3 signal is hi rez doesnt understand what hirez is unless clarifying the output upsampled output of the dac.

[werd]

Oh yes and i guess what i am trying to say is stick will vinyl, there are great many more titles than you can get with digital hirez. I left vinyl for HT in early 2000 and i regret it big time. So all you really need to answer your question is a good 16 or 24 bit dac to play your itunes and redbook cds. Try and find one with a usb input for a laptop. Many great suggestions here so far.

[davidrs]

Since you are already into vinyl, the digital appoaches you mention in your post are going to fall way short.

Best investment of your dollars, in my opinion, is towards the best DAC you can afford. Then, at the very least, use a good soundcard and go digital out via a high quality digital cable from the soundcard to the DAC, as a start.

There are any number of approaches, however only a few that are truly hi-fidelity. 

Good luck.

[lcrim]

My suggestion would be to start here: http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/

Learn as much as you can before getting involved in buying equipment.  The Audio Asylum Digital PC Audio board is a great source.  The Discless Circle here is sometimes helpful as well. 

PC based playback is constantly developing and improving.  The advances in the last 5 to 6 years are really astonishing. 

[neyloj2]

Don't misunderstand me here, I'm not giving up my vinyl, its just that I have thousands of songs in itunes that I want to hear through my Jolida and VR33's. I ordered a Squeeze Touch and did some research on HDtracks. It looks rather simple and the review in Stereophile seems reasonable. I'm also doing my own research. I d/l itunes at 256kbps onto my old ipod. I played Eva Cassidy field of Gold with ipod and then my 180 gram album. No comparison. Album is far superior in all aspects. So I need to improve these itunes to a listening level. I figure Squeeze Box for now and then a good dac in the near future.

[werd]

Don't misunderstand me here, I'm not giving up my vinyl, its just that I have thousands of songs in itunes that I want to hear through my Jolida and VR33's. I ordered a Squeeze Touch and did some research on HDtracks. It looks rather simple and the review in Stereophile seems reasonable. I'm also doing my own research. I d/l itunes at 256kbps onto my old ipod. I played Eva Cassidy field of Gold with ipod and then my 180 gram album. No comparison. Album is far superior in all aspects. So I need to improve these itunes to a listening level. I figure Squeeze Box for now and then a good dac in the near future.

I guess alll i was saying is you don't need to go all out on hirez since you got your vinyl. If funds are not an issue than i would say go spend tons of money on a good digital front end. But really you don't need to if you got a good handle of records in inventory. (Man i wish i had my records back) .  You might want to go over to apple board here and ask what apple player to get since itunes apparently blows bad.

[lcrim]

It would seem that you really only wanted to have your buying decision okayed by others.  Any decent analog front end will better the usual low bit rate music used on an Ipod.  Ipod's can play higher bitrate music in other formats such as AIFF.  The SqueezeBox Touch can play 24/96 files but I still think you should learn more before making any more choices. 

[turkey]

Vinyl is hi def. All hi def is a bit rate that gives you a closer picture of what a true analogue signal looks like. The output of a dac isnt considered true

But what a hi rez 24 bit signal can not do is still give you a full analogue sinewave like a TT does naturally.

You really need to read some more about the Nyquist-Shannon Sampling Theorem.

[turkey]

It would seem that you really only wanted to have your buying decision okayed by others. 

The SqueezeBox Touch can play 24/96 files but I still think you should learn more before making any more choices.

Agreed. The website you mentioned previously (thewelltemperedcomputer) has some good info. http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/ and http://www.audioholics.com/ also have some good info, although the discussions at Hydrogen Audio tend to be more technical than many people are looking for.

Another one that might be worth looking at is: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/ I've seen some good info there.

[werd]

You really need to read some more about the Nyquist-Shannon Sampling Theorem.

I have and those are just solutions for implementation barriers in digital.  The output of the dac dictates whether its hirez or not. The higher the bits especially in the recording will  give you a better analogue out signal. Better sinewave which comes with better dyanmics and lower noise floor...  It ends up being just a full analogue sinewave and we have that with vinyl.... 

[turkey]

I have and those are just solutions for implementation barriers in digital.  The output of the dac dictates whether its hirez or not. The higher the bits especially in the recording with give you a better analogue out signal. Better sinewave which comes with better dyanmics and lower noise floor...  It ends up being just a full analogue sinewave and we have that with vinyl.... 

I rest my case.