computer playback versus ipod playback

[bikemig]

I have a Sangean WR 11 radio in the kitchen. Here is a review, http://herculodge.typepad.com/herculodge/2010/06/brian-pits-his-sangean-wr11-against-his-wr1-and-tivoli-model-one.html. It looks good and sounds great. It has a three inch mono speaker and looks very old school. I think it is a heck of a radio for under $100. It has a mini-jack input and I've been trying to figure out how to get quality playback with an external source. I tried my ipod classic both via the headphone out and the dock line out. The dock line out is better but the sound was still muddy. Then a light bulb went off and I dusted off an old acer netbook that I had lying around. The battery went dead and I had not been using it. It runs Windows XP. I plugged it, connected it to the Sangean WR 11 via a mini-jack cable and was very impressed with the SQ. It blew away the ipod. I have no idea why the SQ improved so dramatically but I know have a pretty darn good system for the kitchen without having to sink any (new) money into this project. Of course, now I'll be tempted to add a pair of good quality powered speakers down the road (perhaps the Audioengine A-2 speakers). . . I'm curious if anyone knows why the SQ using the computer is so much better than the ipod. Perhaps the internal dac is better but I would have guessed that in both cases, the manufacturer was not too concerned over the quality of the dac. Perhaps there is something else going on that I can't figure out.

 

[bikemig]

I just took the computer out of my set-up and added a logitech duet receiver to the Sangean radio. I'm really impressed with the sound and it takes up almost no space in my kitchen. I had forgotten how good mono can sound when done right. I may add the zvox mini because it has a small footprint and two inputs (one for the radio, the other for the logitech receiver) which will boost the SQ while allowing me to play any music I have in the house as well as the radio in the kitchen. This is a very cost effective solution since it lets me recycle equipment I already own. I have the receiver stacked on the radio and I can stack both on the zvox mini. I've owned other zvox units and I've been very pleasantly surprised by how musical they are.

 

[k_lewis]

I had a pair of the A2 speakers- they simply rock. Of course the A5's sound better but do take up more room. Amazing amount of bass out of the A2's.

 

[k_lewis]

In my HTPC I was running a DAL CardDeluxe sound card it it was quite phenominal. I also found that using J. River media player provided better sound quality vs Itunes or MC.