Computer Audio

[HiFiFan]

I have been talking to the dealers near me in relation to a preamp and/or cap upgrade. Both have very strongly stated that CD is dead and that I need to be looking at various computer audio options. I guess some of this is from their recent CES trips. I am curious to know if others are hearing the same thing or have recently moved or planned to move to computer audio?

[Claus]

Computer audio is all fake digital, cold and sterile. Vinyl is where it's at! ;-) Sorry i jest of course.

Easy to try it out. Get a jkdac and see for yourself. I use mine more than I thought I would.

What did they recommend re pre-amp etc.?

[tony]

See 'my devices on tour' thread. John Kenny has developed a number of computer audio devices. A few of us have jumped. The sound is fantastic. Your dealer is correct.CD will die over time. Johns dac is available on a trial basis. You need to buy Jplay(software) to get the best sound from it. Depending on where you live you are welcome to have a listen. If you are not afraid of using a pc or laptop it is the way to go. There are myriad variety of streaming devices and you can spend the earth. It would seem John's is delivery the best bang for buck in terms of music quality. If you are after convenience sonos, arcam cyrus multiple others provide solutions.

[Modest]

Computer audio is all fake digital, cold and sterile. Vinyl is where it's at! ;-)

You shod try to listen Linn Akurate DS ,and your opinion shod change.
Sad, we don't have authorised dealer in Ireland of that brand. But still Linn DS range are the best in his price range on sound if we talking about top PC based stuff
Only my two cents :)

[Fran]

The JKdac is a really good solution - check out the other threads on it here, have a look at some of the reviews/forum comments here and elsewhere. John is a member here (jkeny). Shoot him a PM to ask more details. I jumped for one myself and wouldn't be without it. Incredible piece of kit for very reasonable money.

Just make sure that you are happy using a laptop to play the music (and don't forget that you will have to rip the CDs, plus it would be wise to have a backup system in place). I know some people who simply do not like using a laptop for replay and would rather reach for a CD instead.

jplay really does make a difference - you don't actually "need" it - you can use pretty much any replay software you want. Its just that jplay seems to sound the best. Again I actually paid for this software!!

Fran

[HiFiFan]

I guess I am already doing this to a degree but hadn’t really thought of it as a real solution, I have been doing it for convenience (when I’m too lazy to sit down with CDs, people are over etc). Basically mac-mini /iTunes to Arcam AV8 DAC via Toslink and iPad remote control. Sound is OK, listenable to but does not match the CDP. Of course currently my ripped CDs are not lossless and the Arcam DAC while good is not great.

Looks like JPlay is Windows only, all my computers are MACs, but I am guessing there is a MAC equivalent. I am going to investigate.

Claus – re: your question on the pre-amp recommendation neither have given any firm suggestions yet though of course they have been mentioning the brands they carry. Basically it is “drop in and explore options” which I hope to be able to do in a few months. Just out of curiosity I did get a price on the Devialet from one of them and it is $19,000 here !!!

[Claus]

Yeah that is a real bargain! But I suppose if you are in that sort of price range, it would make sense to upgrade the whole system (as in pre and power) to something like this. ;)

I use Mac as well and I bought Audirvana Plus after trying out Decibel and Pure Music. I am not sure I can hear a lot of difference between the players. I just happen to like the way Audirvana works. I do get amazing sound using this with the JKDAC using a cheepo USB cable. My CD player produces a slightly warmer more lush sound, but no huge difference....

[Fran]

The jplay is windows only - it does its magic by grabbing the ram very early at startup and reserving it, and then loading each track into that ram before playback. Flac etc are decoded back to wav before playback too.

I don't know what the mac equivalent is, but I'd say a search about on the web would tell ya.

Fran

[Ken Moreland]

It's possible to use Jplay on Apple Macbook using something called Bootcamp see this link from the Jplay forum.

http://jplay.eu/forum/jplay/jplay-via-b ... 1&search=2

Personally I know nothing about it but I bet someone here does.

KM