Thanx......So what would be the best method of getting digital signal out of a PC to an Audio system? I've been lurking here a few days now trying to gather as much info as possible as i'd like to build a high quality audio server that i can rip all of my discs to and playback on my 2 channel system.
Would i be overthinking this using all modular components such as an external DVD Drive, Mini-PC with external power supply and an external eSata enclosure/drive?....or is USB2 fast enough?
Optical is actually one of the better ways because of its total immunity to common-mode noise. But it does require more than the usual attention to jitter to fix up the issues introduced by having a low bandwidth link in the chain. A secondary PLL or FIFO reclocking would be promising approaches.
If you have hi-res content then it'll pay you to investigate whether the optical link supports the bit depths and the sample rates you have.
USB2.0 high speed is certainly fast enough for the disk interface to any 2 channel audio data. Indeed, at least up to 8 channels. But since disks these days start out as SATA perhaps eSATA has fewer controllers/buffers in the link.
No high res.....Just all Apple Lossless. The few SACDs i do have i use a dedicated SonyES unit for.
Now is a direct Optical connection better than wired network streamed content to media players/interfaces with Optical outputs? If i don't have to relocate this to my listening room, i'd rather leave it in my office/network hub if possible.
Now is a direct Optical connection better than wired network streamed content to media players/interfaces with Optical outputs? If i don't have to relocate this to my listening room, i'd rather leave it in my office/network hub if possible.
No, the isolation doesn't have to be to the server direct. Media players are generally lower noise than PCs (slower clocks, lower power) so the isolation from them is less critical than from a hot sweaty server. Ethernet contains isolation transformers (normally containing CM chokes) so the media players will be moderately well isolated from the main server.
Thanx for all of your help!...you've cleared up a lot of points for me but since i have soooo many more, instead of hijacking this thread, i'll start a build help thread after i outline all of my needs and questions. An all modular system would fit easily where my current Full ATX tower is now and i like the idea of simple DC external power supplies for everything from the HDD to the proccessor and the DVD drive. I am completely iliterate when it comes to the effects of OS and the processing of audio files in the PC but hopefully i can keep my all Apple/iOS system as i use iPads/Touches as user interfaces and would not want to replace any of it.
How can I improve my system with an external power supply when I can rip FLAC using EAC 100% error free with a noisy stock power supply?
Would the linear PSU offer 110% error free rips
How can I improve my system with an external power supply when I can rip FLAC using EAC 100% error free with a noisy stock power supply?
Would the linear PSU offer 110% error free rips
You probably can't.
Sorry,
TerryO
What would be a sufficiently low noise level? Many PSUs nowadays have quite good ripple figures.
I would have to agree with that. PC soundcards are not as bad as the press they get IMO.
I expect that a CPU has pretty stringent requirements on noise in the rails in order for it to process 0s and 1s at the speed it does. I have never looked but it may be worth getting the scope out some time and comparing it to the noise in my dac.
Can anyone here confirm that modern PC supplies are in fact very noisy?
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I'll take the easy way out and just say it depends on how well you can (or think you can) hear. What's good enough for someone (me?) wouldn't nescessarily be acceptable for others. The guys in our audio club (Pacific Northwest Audio Society) that are really into this are looking for the absolute, SOTA sound and are using some pretty hi-end gear in their systems.
I might add that they have gotten excellent results.
Best Regards,
TerryO
Don't be sorry, that is what I was implying
I know what you were implying, but it didn't have anything to do with what I originally stated.
The problem is that 'very noisy' is entirely context dependent. If the context is digital signals, which have noise margins of (say) 100's of mV, then no, they're not. In another context, high resolution audio where the margin for error is measured in uV, then yes, they are very noisy.
Maybe but I would be surprised if we are talking about 100s of mV here. I guess Im not that fussed about the last bit in my system, but I can get a pretty good sound out of a PC.
I expect this pollution will affect USB powered usb --> spdif convertors too. These are pretty easy to power alternately I guess.
Hi,
Well under 1mV for normal logic, as low as feasible for clock circuitry, I would say below 1uV is certainly desirable.
Any audio circuitry (including the analogue supplies of the DAC) should also be well below 1mV noise.
That is for medium resolution 16...18 Bit Audio incidentally.
Ciao T
Well under 1mV for normal logic, as low as feasible for clock circuitry, I would say below 1uV is certainly desirable.
Any audio circuitry (including the analogue supplies of the DAC) should also be well below 1mV noise.
That is for medium resolution 16...18 Bit Audio incidentally.
Ciao T
Onboard sound can be lousy with clearly audible tones but even cheap internal cards can achieve -100dB SFDR which is much better than CD audio's -96dB theoretical quantization noise (a best case figure for a full scale sine wave). At least in my personal case the noise floor of my amplifiers is much worse than my computer, admittedly my amps suck compared to the state of the art but it's something to keep in mind.
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