TandbergNut

I have been living with my server for a few months now. I've added a new audio card, and learned a couple of things. I am now using an Auzen X-Plosion 7.1 card. I chose it for a couple of reasons, first the op-amps can be upgraded in the future if I wish. Second, it offered both optical and coaxial outputs. I have been very happy with this card using the optical output.<br /> <br /> My player is now Media Monkey Gold. It actually works rather well, and with my system, sounds quite nice. I have also ripped all my CDs to FLAC files in my computer. Working on my collection, and making playlists with Media Monkey is dead easy.<br /> <br /> To answer your question about the M-Audio card, they have a very good reputation. However, I chose to get the audio signal out of the computer as quickly as possible. The level of electromagnetic noise inside most computers is quite high. As for an external DAC, you can pick up a used MSB for a couple of hundred bucks. Although not the newest technology anymore, they remain an exceptional value. As for a tube DAC, I am not planning to go that way for now. <br /> <br /> So, with the system somewhat finalized, I am now enjoying my music collection as I never have before. It is truly liberating not to have to fiddle with discs when I want to listen. I simply boot the computer, and go! The sound is quite musical, detailed, and involving. That I am hearing new levels of detail in music I have been listening to for decades is perhaps the most telling feature of this system.<br /> <br /> There is also a nice new outboard USB DAC from High Resolution Technologies, their Music Streamer. It has been getting a lot of press lately. I ended up purchasing one to play around with when I visit my friend's house.

After reading your article, I did some running around looking at older hardware and ended up with an IBM Thinkcentre refurb from a local store. Although a bit lean on extras, it does have a P4 3 GHz chip. There are also s 3 card slots, and room for at least one more hard drive. It came loaded with a new install of XP Pro. I had 2 GB of correct RAM sitting on my desk had been collecting dust for years. That was the first improvement.<br /> <br /> After some more reading, I settled on a SIIG Soundwave audio card for my first test. The card and software installed very cleanly, and it is now connected to my main stereo through my MSB DAC. For step one of my test, I did not want to lay out lots of money for an audio card only to find out that this format was not to my liking.<br /> <br /> I ripped a few CD's with Windows Media Audio Losless compression, and am playing them with WMP for the moment.<br /> <br /> The sound is quite listenable, parobbly a bit better than my dedicated CD player, an Onkyo Integra DPC 8.5 that also plays into the MSB DAC.<br /> <br /> Once the 1TB drive shows up, I will have spent some $320 and about two hours putting my server together. Now, I have to figure out where to fit it into my home theater.<br /> <br /> Thanks for planting the idea!