Couple of things you may not be clear on.
The MP3 or any other compressed format that you have collected has lost some of the musical magic. However... you may not have the equipment (receiver and speakers... or pre amp, power amp and speakers) to hear it. (some will tell you that the high bit rate rips sound the same as the wav file... but disk space is cheap these days so... why compress) The higher the resolution of these pieces down the chain.... the worse your mp3 will sound. Try comparing the same music ripped lossless (FLAC is a good soln) to your mp3 or whatever rip you currently listen to now. If you hear the difference... you get to decide on the digital format. If you don't hear the difference you can upgrade the digital to analog conversion hardware in the system. (The software music player can also make a big difference as well... beyond just making the sound come out of the speakers).
In general, moving the conversion of bits to analog signal outside of the PC is a cost effective and more musical solution and so it would be better... (higher musical resolution then what you have now). But you have an extra box and power supply plus cables to deal with. Alternatively, a better sound card will keep the electronics in the PC and allow you to use headphones or output to your receiver when you want. At some price point the outboard DAC and amplifier surpasses the sound card with dac and amplifier solution in musicality.
You probably upgrade the PC sooner then your music system so an outboard DAC and amplifier makes a lot of sense relative to a audio card. Converting the digital signal to analog in the PC happens in an electrically noisy environment and you can only do so much.
Your AV receiver (not a stereo reciever) has built in DACS... so you could use a USB converter (Hagerman or many others) to drive the Receiver DAC or any number of non USB DACS on the market, new or used. (Make sure your current player software does this)
You could also get a USB DAC with built in amplifier which will give you two channels for input into your receivers Analog section (ditto about the player software).
How the DAC handles jitter and the amplification stage make a difference in musicality at these two stages. (eg some DACs use tubes and not transistors to amplify the sound for the receiver.
Keep in mind that musical resolution, once lost does not come back... So, you hear the weakest link in your chain. Coming up with a strategy that builds a system to your budget in time is part of the hobby.
But.... having my niece who is also in college listen to all of the differences on my good rig... does not change her preference for quick and easy low res mp3's on her PC and a pair of cheap headphones. Ah well!
The MP3 or any other compressed format that you have collected has lost some of the musical magic. However... you may not have the equipment (receiver and speakers... or pre amp, power amp and speakers) to hear it. (some will tell you that the high bit rate rips sound the same as the wav file... but disk space is cheap these days so... why compress) The higher the resolution of these pieces down the chain.... the worse your mp3 will sound. Try comparing the same music ripped lossless (FLAC is a good soln) to your mp3 or whatever rip you currently listen to now. If you hear the difference... you get to decide on the digital format. If you don't hear the difference you can upgrade the digital to analog conversion hardware in the system. (The software music player can also make a big difference as well... beyond just making the sound come out of the speakers).
In general, moving the conversion of bits to analog signal outside of the PC is a cost effective and more musical solution and so it would be better... (higher musical resolution then what you have now). But you have an extra box and power supply plus cables to deal with. Alternatively, a better sound card will keep the electronics in the PC and allow you to use headphones or output to your receiver when you want. At some price point the outboard DAC and amplifier surpasses the sound card with dac and amplifier solution in musicality.
You probably upgrade the PC sooner then your music system so an outboard DAC and amplifier makes a lot of sense relative to a audio card. Converting the digital signal to analog in the PC happens in an electrically noisy environment and you can only do so much.
Your AV receiver (not a stereo reciever) has built in DACS... so you could use a USB converter (Hagerman or many others) to drive the Receiver DAC or any number of non USB DACS on the market, new or used. (Make sure your current player software does this)
You could also get a USB DAC with built in amplifier which will give you two channels for input into your receivers Analog section (ditto about the player software).
How the DAC handles jitter and the amplification stage make a difference in musicality at these two stages. (eg some DACs use tubes and not transistors to amplify the sound for the receiver.
Keep in mind that musical resolution, once lost does not come back... So, you hear the weakest link in your chain. Coming up with a strategy that builds a system to your budget in time is part of the hobby.
But.... having my niece who is also in college listen to all of the differences on my good rig... does not change her preference for quick and easy low res mp3's on her PC and a pair of cheap headphones. Ah well!