sdutta

OK folks, I am stumped. Hopefully someone can help. I've been happily ripping with dbpoweramp and inserting album art from files pulled off the web. The files are kept in a folder on my desktop. For some reason today, I can import the album art files (jpg) into the folder, and see it in a finder window, but dbpoweramp does not show them in its folder when I use the "Load from file" command in the album art drop down menu...I guess it is a problem with the software... I do see all the jpg files from previous days... sanj

i stumbled across the Cullen Sonos mod. It sounds like an interesting addition to my system. Anyone have any experience with this? What about the Sonos controller? SD

Does anyone have the links for ASIO and Kernel at heir fingertips? I will set everything up this weekend, and try to do some testing. SD

OK, so i did some testing and I was a bit surprised by what I found. The testing was not blinded - I am so intrigued by this that I plan to do blinded testing with a number of people with rating sheets to see what people like the most. I did a simple sound comparison of: 1. MM using wav and out_wave.dll (files ripped with dbpoweramp) 2. iTunes using AIFF (files ripped with iTunes), equalizer. etc. turned off 3. iTunes with Apple Lossless... This is on a PC running Vista. Through a digital coax out from the soundcard, into a Chord DAC64. The test music was Friday Night in San Francisco by di Meola, McLaughin, and de Lucia. And the results.... Hands down, iTunes playing AIFF sounded better than MM with wav !! I was very surprised, but I checked over and over again and came up with the same conclusion It was much harder to tell between AIFF and Apple Lossless - AIFF had a subtle lead, I think I started ripping my collection in wav, but I am going to switch to AIFF. I sort of regret not getting a Mac Pro now, as I am an Apple guy at heart. There was little science in this comparison, so I am going to do the tests again, with a variety of friends/family/pets/plants who will be blinded to the origin of the music...and who will be asked to rate the sound (globally, as most of them won't know what is meant by "sound stage" or musicality or other such terms. I may even include my Rotel CD player through the same DAC for further comparison. I was worried about al the I have been reading regarding itunes on PC not playing bit perfect. I'm not sure what this amounts to, or means, but my fears a little allayed. SD

thanks, blueixus!

Newbie setup in the home stretch: Windows Vista dppoweramp for ripping/tagging media monkey for file management/tagging cover art out_wave.dll volume control disabled in MM system sound disabled Xonar HDAV 1.3 using SPDIF dig coax out --> Chord DAC64 using RCA to BNC adapter --> Integra DTC 9.8 Pre/Pro --> Rotel Amplifier --> B&W CM7s Questions: 1. I chose wav because of the issue I keep reading about regarding lack of "bit perfect" output using AIFF+iTunes - is this still an issue - I understand that AIFF is better for tagging support. 2. Not sure what settings to put the dppweramp at when ripping audio cd (should I set wave encoder to "as source" or "push" the bits and the frequence (eg. to 192 KHz). 3. Anything else I should be doing to get the best sound possible? Thank you. Sdutta

I will experiment! Thanks...extremely helpful : - )

Thanks to everyone for their responses. BTW, the DAC will be connected to an Integra DTC 9.8 pre/pro, using RCA connections (ie. bypass the Burr Brown DAC in the processor). My concern (based on absolutely no data) was that the sound card might denigrate the single somehow, compared to the motherboard. Also, how will the computer "know" to pipe the audio through the SPDIF for digital music, but the HD AV content through the HDMI? Thanks again!

I am having a PC media server built. Specs are i7 2.66 processor, 8 GB RAM, Super Micro motherboard, Xonar HDAV 1.3 Sound Card, NVIDIA GTX275 video card, 6TB HDD on 4 drives in RAID 5 config, Lian Li case with acoustic foam, BluRay/DVD/CD drive. Running Vista Home Premium I plan to use sound and video cards for HD video content playback via HDMI. But, I also want to stream bit perfect lossless digital music - My plan is to connect optical cable from motherboard to Chord DAC64 external DAC (then Integra receiver/Rotel Amp/B&W speakers). My question is, will I get the best possible digital signal from the motherboard? Or should I try something else? Thanks!