2. pc-audio
  3. 126141-9146

Different PCs gives me very different results

Hi All,
I have been following some of the threads in this forum on various topics for a while now, and thank you all for the vast information fed out here, some with lots of "infighting" but makes a good read too. I am an OLD retiree with very little PC skills, thus had not gone into streaming or software like Media Monkey, JR and the likes My system is a basic Pearl Lite integrated amplifier, SA8005 sacd player and a pair of SH5Plus speakers, no fancy cables or power strips.
 
I'm a newbie as far as PC audio, digital and streaming is concerned. I had always been using what's in the software standard (Windows Media ripping my CDs and SACDs to WAV format) to rip and playback my music. If I'm lazy, to play my physical disc, I would use the Windows Media playback and seems to get a reasonable result going directly into my SA8005 player's usb B port using a reasonable cable.

My question here and hope some of you could enlighten me:
A little background:  I have been using different laptops for the playback with music ripped in external hard disk. Two of them are using Win XP, one XP Pro and one using Win 7 Pro.  The only one laptop that shows 44.1 on the SA8005 display during playback is this Netbook, (Also the best result in terms of clarity), while the other 3 all shows 44. Even my DELL Lat 6430s laptop with the latest Windows Media and XP Pro, shows 44 on the SA8005 display and the sound quality is so "muffed" as compared to the old netbook
Q1: Why do I get the best result with a Netbook using Win XP Home (8 years old)?
Q2: What or how could I improve on the current system? WAV is quite bad with media info and I constantly find some tracks from an album get missing on its own!
Q3: Is there a software that requires minimum PC skills to take over Win Media as it will be a paid program from Win 10 thereon?

Sorry for the long winded read and thank you all in advance for any feedback.
RayT
cusco69

Showing 2 responses by erik_squires

erik_squires
15,870 posts
 
First, Windows normal output is via a mixer, which pretty much means you won't get the right rate unless you set it, and even then your output won't be bit-perfect.

It can be done, but I find getting Windows to output bit-perfect in any version is a PITA if you ask me. :)  Even with Windows 10, you still have to go find an appropriate USB 2.0 driver.  It's far behind Linux and Mac in this respect.  Rather than suggest you upgrade your Windows to it's more advertising and spy-ware friendly version, check your music software's instructions. MediaMonkey and JRiver can output bit-perfect music, but it takes a little work.

If I were you, I'd repurpose one of those laptops to be a Linux box and run Logitech Media Server with Squeezelite, or build a new Linux music server.  I built a 2TB server for about $600. I probably could have done it cheaper too.


erik_squires
15,870 posts
 
If you can, please try JRiver first.  Truth is I loathe almost all music software. Somehow it always seems it was designed for people besides me. Of those, I hate JRiver the most, and can tolerate MediaMonkey.

I'm very much alone in this though, but both will output bit perfect audio. Jriver seems to have a more extensive ability to incorporate digital EQ, and has more plugins.

Best,


Erik
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