Best way to play music from computer to home stereo?

[Drummer]

Hi. I would like to play music from my computer and have it go to my home stereo system.
I have tried mp3s but the sound is pretty bad (even at the highest bit rate)
I have also tried copying my cds onto my computer as .wav files at it's highest bit rate of 1411 kbps and it's better but still has very noticeable distortions.
I am playing these out from a laptop with plenty of power out from usb port
to a device called "Hi-Fi Link" which connects my usb cable to a rca cable which then goes into my stereo.

(if I play a cd on my computer out to the stereo it sounds great, but not the music I copy from the cd to the hard drive)

Anyone have a set-up that gives great performance?

Thanks

Drummer

 

[Rÿche 1]

Hi. I would like to play music from my computer and have it go to my home stereo system.
I have tried mp3s but the sound is pretty bad (even at the highest bit rate)
I have also tried copying my cds onto my computer as .wav files at it's highest bit rate of 1411 kbps and it's better but still has very noticeable distortions.
I am playing these out from a laptop with plenty of power out from usb port
to a device called "Hi-Fi Link" which connects my usb cable to a rca cable which then goes into my stereo.

(if I play a cd on my computer out to the stereo it sounds great, but not the music I copy from the cd to the hard drive)

Anyone have a set-up that gives great performance?

Thanks

Drummer

My mp3's sound great. Not sure what encoder you're using. I run an optical cable out of my sound card to my receiver.

 

[JoeE SP9]

Playing music from the HDD is very drive intensive. Try closing all other programs. The ones in the start tray can sometimes use CPU cycles and HDD access. The software that comes with most sound cards give you options as to the encoding when converting CD audio to .wav files. Check the properties of your sound cards application for the conversion rate and adjust accordingly. My SB sound cards' software can do 48K. I find this to be especially good when converting LP's to CD. You might want to try Exact Audio Copy (EAC). This is a freeware program. Point your search engine to Exact Audio Copy. Some CD burning programs can not work with 48K .wav files.

 

[Unregistered]

All AC97 compliant soundcards upsample to 48kHZ for playback. When you rip a cd, you are not playing the cd and no upsampling occurs. The tracks remain at 44.1kHZ.

No cd burning programs can work with 48kHZ nor for that matter any cd players. The cd spec requires 44.1kHZ/16 bit and that is exactly what you get when you rip a cd, regardless of what program you use to do it.

If the wav files sound distorted, it is likely the 'hi-fi link' device that was mentioned. Streaming 1.4Mbps off a hard drive is absolutely trivial for even a highly fragmented drive. Look to the playback chain for the cause of your problems, not the wav files on the hard disk.