2. pc-audio
  3. 1204665054

Wireless for the Keyboard, Not the Computer?


I use a wireless router to access the internet on my Sony VAIO laptop which I can then move around the house. This Sony laptop usually lives on my desktop, where it is hooked up to an external video monitor, and has USB out to connect it to a desktop audio system which consists of Behringer amps, an EQ and ATC monitors.

My desk is also in my listening room with my main 2 channel system.

I spend a lot of time sitting at my desk - where I can work, surf the web, watch the news etc - AND listen to the ATCs which sound very good.

But sometimes I am really tempted to DISconnect the laptop, move across the room to the sofa, and connect the USB output directly to my main rig through an Audio Research DAC, in order to listen through the main speakers. In theory, this is easy to do, but in practice, it is a bit of a pain, and I miss the larger video monitor when working directly from the laptop.

This dilemma has me thinking.....

* What if all of my audio files were ripped and stored not to my Sony laptop, but to a larger desktop computer?
* Where the larger, desktop computer could be a) optimized for audio and b) hard wired to both the desktop and the main system's DACs at all times?
* This way, to move across the room and sit on the sofa while listening to my big rig, I could use a wireless KEYBOARD?
* And a VGA splitter box to hard wire a second, full size video monitor?


This way, it seems I could get rid of the laptop, but still move around the room by simply picking up the wireless keyboard? Use a bigger video monitor...and also improve the audio quality?

A smaller point, but I would also like to ditch the laptops as they are always breaking.

Advice on this or any other PC configurations greatly appreciated and thank you.

But please please please, dont say: "just get a Mac"?!



cwlondon

Showing 6 responses by cwlondon

cwlondon OP
1,210 posts
 
Hi5Harry

Dreaming up these configurations is not my strength, so I am glad to hear you thought it was a good idea, too. Yes, the "sweet spot" is a key issue, particularly with Magneplanars. Thank you!

Rdc2000

Ha - my disclaimer should have contained Mac, Airport Express, Sonos and/or Squeezebox.

If you have been around this forum for any time at all, you should know that audiophiles prefer the path of the greatest, most torturous resistance, even if the benefits are not discernible in blind tests.

Which is why I am leaning towards lossloss WAV files only, and hard wired DACs to the most audio capable PC only.
cwlondon OP
1,210 posts
 
Rdc2000

Thank you for the compliment and glad you enjoyed my system link - I have put a lot of time and thought into the room, but of course, there always remains a long way to go....

Network drives in another room - now you are speaking my language!

I am increasingly realizing that most of the PC work I do involves email or other sites. More and more I am therefore thinking that all of my files and work should be outsourced to a more robust system than my usual laptops. Perhaps a home network that is otherwise hard wired to external DACs is the ticket...

Obviously, ease of ripping and/or my ability to fit 17,000 songs on an iPod nano is not my highest priority....
cwlondon OP
1,210 posts
 
Re Quiet PCs

Could anyone suggest any particular manufacturers whose PCs might be "quieter" or better suited to audio?

Any used bargains - a Mac G tower, perhaps?

In general I would prefer a windows machine, but I mainly use this PC for music and internet activity.
cwlondon OP
1,210 posts
 
Sarcher30

I am very intrigued to see your comment:

"I personally dont like macs at all"

as it seems over 50% of replies to any PC audio related thread end in:

"GET A MAC".

Why dont you like Macs? I have resisted switching to a Mac, but I suppose if a Mac Mini could handle:

EAC
Foobar and
Internet Explorer

it would handle most of my needs for this particular machine.

But still wish there was a reasonably priced Windows machine that was similarly quiet.
Thank you.
cwlondon OP
1,210 posts
 
Re Dells are pretty darn quiet

I understand that the physical noise of the computer - like a fan in a power amp - would be an irritating distraction from any high end device.

However, I thought the PC audio geeks argued that normal PCs were electrically noisy devices, and therefore no where near dedicated transports which is why you needed to spend thousands on their tweaks etc etc.

So of course a physically quiet device is a good thing which products like the Sweetwater Creation Stations seem to address.

But I am also hoping to get the "quietest" least jittery audio signal from my USB port to an external DAC.
cwlondon OP
1,210 posts
 
Sarcher30 and others, thank you.

Sean, as we continue to unravel this mystery, one of my key questions would be why it is necessary to spend a thousand bucks on the tweaky Offramp device.

Would the Benchmark and/or any number of other DACs which now have a direct, USB input not also convert to I2S somewhere along the way?
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