theob

I could not say it better than cics. As far as I'm concerned key things for sonics are cmp software (which gets rid of Process Explorer and suspends other security processes) and cplay which is designed for sonics. Cplay blows away j river. Key hardware is the mobo (recommended board allows flex to reset key parameters in bios to reduce latency and other goodies), same for ram, also intel processor allows sufficient cache size to run as if from memory. I am not an expert but cics is and all his stuff is explained in AA. Look, whether an expensive mac can sound better I have no doubt but someone with Cics smarts, work effort would have to put in 2 years of free r&d to get it. We are lucky cics did this then allowed others to share. I don't have a problem with $420 of expenditure sounding better than $8000 worth of scd1 (base price plus $3K of Kern mods). The juli sound card is inexpensive, allows one to dismantle the analogue stage and provides very good 24/192 digital output on it's break out cable. Getting back to the secret of cmp/cplay the real benefit IMO is having the hardware that allows you to set parameters for sonics and cmp which provides a grain free structure for background noise and running 800+ meg files from memory with zero interupt calls which produce those nasty tics,. Its a not a matter of buying more expensive so called better stuff. I would stick with the program because someone very very smart has done the selection process for you.

There is definitely a tradeoff: available time (to build a computer for audio) versus money (to pay for a 'plug and play audio system'. When I was working I had more money than time but here is the kicker I never was really satisfied. Now that I have more time than money I save the best for last because that's what I was able to achieve. Lets put it this way: one year from now do you want the best sounding ever system to listen to? Or do you want 2 or 3 big money iterations/transactions that may or may not get you what you want? This isn't always the case for all but it was for me. As one cplay/cmp grad has said on AA once you through this build process you have unbelievable knowledge that will forever be with you to (as he puts it) never be intimidated again by computers. But you are right it does take a big committment but if you have any local pc shops you can use the talents of the personell there to help you with things that befuddle you. I did. It's like using subcontractors for a home improvement project. Mistakes are made and are frustrating but they are the best teachers of lessons learned. I did this because I wanted to achieve the type of sound I was reading about in AA not because I wanted to learn about computers. Spending big $ is not always the right path to sonic satisfaction. I'll never forget a friend who bought a big name very expensive preamp that sounded terrible. But he never admitted it to me until he replaced it 5 years later with something better and less expensive. I'll never forget my foray into tube amplifiers. It lasted 20 years and I never had one that I didn't like or that also did not fail. One amp was in transit to/from manufacturer more than my audio room. I learned how to repair them myself but I always ultimately discovered new innovative ways for them to fail that ultimately I could not fix. Anyway this pc audio thing is the real deal. Maybe there are better front ends out there but I am very satisfied with mine. Also because there are almost infinite settings on a computer (in XP, in Windows, in Bios, in Registry) there are infinite tweaks to be implemented or discovered in computer audio. If you are a tweaker like me (always looking for that next iota of improved sonics) computer audio is for you.

I was listening via usb to the benchmark for several months and loved it. Originally using j river then I migrated to cplay which I absolutely loved. Could only get 24/96 out of usb so I was compelled to try new approaches to get 24/192. Well since I loved cplay I built a new computer per cmp (see Audio Asylum) which wasn't as hard as I thought. It is basically a gigabyte mother board, intel 7200 dual processor and kingston ram (all per cics specs). Then I got a juli sound card which is capable of 24/192 digital output (just what I needed). All this plus I loaded the cmp software of cics (again see Audio Asylum). This was significant because cmp software gets rid of much of the windows overhead to make for clean 800+ meg cue file playback. I hit the motherload--absolutely beautiful: dynamic, layered, transparent and very undigital. But over the last few days I tried to think what else could I do to identify bottlenecks in my system elsewhere. I had been running a dbx driverack pa electronic crossover into my martin logan monolith III speakers for ultra clean triamping. But it always concerned me that the pa took analogue in and converted it to 24/48 to perform all the crossover functions and then reconverted back to analogue. When I had a sony scd1 I tried bypassing the x-over for the highs by running the sony output directly to my high frequency amp (through the external ML passive crossover) but I didn't like it. For some reason the electronic x-over was better. But since I made so many changes I thought it was time to challenge this prior conclusion. Since I read a comment by Elias that the Benchie could drive xlr y connectors I had my enabler for running highs directly to the panels and bass through the dbx to my bass and subwoofer amps. What a revelation!!! I can honestly say this set up (Benchmark->QSC amp->Electrostatic panels of the martin logans) is so analogue like that it is scary. I know you all heard this before somebody tries a little tweak and all of a sudden instant kharma. But this pc audio is a whole different and unique (per cicplay/cmp hardware/software) approach. The results are stunning in the natural sense of transparency, non fatigue, dynamics and low level detail that I literally listen to music (rewardingly) for 5 - 7 hours a day (I am retired). Wanted to share with all here because this approach is very cost effective. The pc parts cost me $420 and all the hardware/software for cplay/cmp specs are free. I rebuilt an old computer so I saved $ on case, cd drive, dvd drive costs. You all know how value minded the Benchie is, but you should hear it at 24/192 going straight into a high powered amp into electrostats. Finally after 40 years as an audiophile I have the sound I have wanted. Sure I can get better but we all know the feeling when we 'breakthrough' to some new level of performance and wow did I breakthrough. Please don't take this as yet another guy bragging 'I have the best system'. I know I don't in an absolute sense but I do 'for me'. I wanted to share the unbelievable performance levels one can get for very little money (by historic high end standards) so that others who share my love of / need for music can also try this approach. Yes it is difficult if you are not a computer geek but I was not and now I reflash my motherboard bios with no fear. Guys this is the real deal. It took me 6 months to build this but I am slow because I was a newbie to computers. There are a whole bunch of cplay/cmp grads on AA that are willing to help you when you run into trouble. Look I didn't like computers and resisted for a long time but now I have the front end of front ends as well as the knowledge of computer hardware/software that I picked up along the way. Whats not to like?

Since posting last time I have purchased a ESI Juli card so that I can get higher than 24/96 to my Benchie. I use dell athlon dual 64 cplay --> juli--> asio 2.0 interface-->breakout cable with bnc connector--audio alchemy powered I2S cable with bnc connectors-->benchmark. I am currently running 24/176khz with -145 src in cplay. Cplay has also recently been updated to using the ssse features of either intel or athlon chips(look it up on google). I want tell you that this combo on my sys is just unbelievable. I never thought this type of clarity, high frequency extension, imaging and overall dynamics was possible out of any source let alone a pc. I'm reporting this because all this stuff is free (see cplay and cmp in Audio Asylum). I am not able to go -145 src and 192 rate because of limits on my current pc hardware but I have an old computer and have ordered a mobo, Intel 7200 chip and other hw to get me to 196. This cplay thing is the real deal but implementing is not for the faint of heart. Its a real bumpy road to get there. But if you have a Benchie you gotta try.

This combo of mine is as good if not better than anything I have heard in my 30+ years as an audiophile. Hi Elias nice to see you here. I have a question on asio4all. The control panel for asio4all says 24/96, it certainly passes a 24/96 signal and it sounds great. However some say that asio4all is only 24/48. Can you confirm that asio4all is either 24/96 or 24/48?

The Benchmark usb is a good dac at 24/96 but presents a thorny issue to get and process true 24/192. Maybe its not a big deal because, as you mentioned, it will d/s back to 110 khz anyway. But as an audiophile I am driven to hear it. Thanks for your perseverence in this.

The limiting factor is asio4all which won't pass 24/192 (neither will the usb). What I am trying to do is get 24/192 to the Benchmark through asio via a soundcard. I choose to use asio because it isrequired with cplay which is a superb player. So I was looking for some soundcard recommendations. What I was also asking is how does the mac do it?

I know that the Benchmark only does 24/96 through usb. I also know that asio4all (which is limited to either 24/48 or 24/96) is free and is required with cplay. Cplay is like wmp11 or foobar. It plays audio files. What is so great about it, among other things, is that it provides ram playback so its like playing files off a flash drive or a sshd -- no moving parts. There are tons of posts on AA pc audio about cplay. Bottom line is that for me it sounds better than jriver (my prior reference) by a long shot. Asio and asio4all are software/hardware interfaces (asfaik) and it provides a clearer path than direct sound in Windows xp. Since I would like to use cplay and my Benchmark at 24/192 I need to use a toslink or spdif input but I also need asio support for 24/192. Asio4all (free) only provides either 24/96 or 24/48 so I need asio capability better than asio4all. I thought the only place I could get that and interface with my Benchmark was a pci based sound card like juli or asus or emu. Some of these provide 24/192 out via spdif and have asio drivers that support 24/192. I would like to listen to hirez stuff from RR without downsampling. Make more sense on what my dilemma is?

Chris I know you have tried spdif vs usb and preferred usb on your Benchmark. I am on a mission to get real 24/96 and 24/192 out of my Benchmark. I use a dell xp sp2 and run cplay with asio4all (which is limited to 24/48). I use asio4all because it is the only asio I can find on the webb . Now I think that 24/192 capability asio is only available on soundcard packages. Reason I need an asio interface is that cplay requires it (cplay is by far the best playback software I have heard, I tried wmp11, foobar and jriver and cplay beats them handily in my system). So do you know of anywhere I can d/l a sample of asio w/o buying a soundcard? What's a good sound card to get? Many of those available are 7.1 with all kinds of other stuff on them I don't need. I have been recommended to try asus and juli. I know you are running a mac but can you say a little more about the program you use? Are you getting true 24/192 off the Benchmark etc etc? Appreciate your or anybody else's feedback on this.

I am only going to try to create a flac file of one of my dvda's so yes no problem. But I am clueless on the steps to take. Look I will understand if you can't elaborate you being the site host and all that. But while I have you since you have a usb Benchmark let me ask you about it. I have xp-> cplay-> asio4all-> Benchmark. Since asio4all is limited to 24/48 I really haven't been able to hear 24/96 off my Benchie. I know you have a mac but does it use some other version of asio? What player are you using. Interested in hearing about the rest of your front end and anything you can tell me about asio.

Mostly its tied into porn sites. Is there anywhere to get it w/o paying or is it going to cost?

chris you said you did this, what software did you use? I would like to try. I have a Benchmark as well. Are you interfacing with usb or spdif?

What is up with that?

It sounds great on my cicsplay/asio4all / benchmark set up. It makes me inspired to want to get 24/192 capability. Thinking of getting an es juli card to get asio 2.0 capability and spdif and toslink output for my benchmark. At $140 it seems like a good idea. Anbody have problems with juli on a dell xp sp2 set up?