General help with pc audio quality

[lovinthehd]

I will pursue everything I can when I am able to. I suspect you are right about the DAC, I've had that suggested elsewhere as well, or a different "audio interface" as the person called it. He said the computer digital to analogue outputs were usually very low quality. I don't know about how DAC is priced but I will look into it as well. If it's a lot cheaper than an mp3 player it may be well worth it. I will explore different audio files to see how much of the problem is my music files. Good idea about the thumb drive. No friends with gear (yet) lol.

It's not so much the particular DAC chip but rather the interface, they're just called DACs for the simpler units that do that and not a lot else (altho having amplification for headphones seems to be something you want). I wouldn't bother with a dedicated player, your computer is fine for that. Could be your files, could be the computer's dac/audio output being compromised by being in the computer and subject to electronic noise or other issues. If you post your location you might find a neaby member may be willing to assist you....

 

[SAK]

This is not audiophile quality but it's worth what I paid for it. My old HK soundsticks crapped out so I bought this so I could watch Netflix or other youtube stuff, games etc and they work decently. They go on sale periodically. But trying to headphone or speaker out directly from the pc is abysmal at best.

I own this set. Something like this would be minimum IMO and for point blank listenng, although, it does go kind of loud before it sounds too crappy.
ttps://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/z533-multimedia-speaker-system?crid=47

I think for that price range I would want to try to get a decent mp3 player if one exists for that price range. I say decent but I mean I would like better than what I had in the past. I liked my creative zen at the time I had it, though I didn't listen to it very much, so maybe it wasn't as good as I thought it was. I might make a wishlist.

 

[lovinthehd]

Do you have a phone? They make excellent players (but again you may need the ability to export the files digitally as the dac/headphone interface may not be the best).

 

[SAK]

It's not so much the particular DAC chip but rather the interface, they're just called DACs for the simpler units that do that and not a lot else (altho having amplification for headphones seems to be something you want). I wouldn't bother with a dedicated player, your computer is fine for that. Could be your files, could be the computer's dac/audio output being compromised by being in the computer and subject to electronic noise or other issues. If you post your location you might find a neaby member may be willing to assist you....

I don't really care about amplification except in that my native amplifier (in my computer) may not be very good and could potentially interfere with the sound quality. My current headphones, and probably any I would get would be widely compatible. I heard something about certain headphones needing more power but I think that's unrelated to my problem and unrelated to the function of an amplifier though I don't know. Thanks for the tip about the DAC chips not being very variable in quality.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

That's worth thinking about definitely. I have a cop computer. Not really mainstream like Dell. Maybe it was not designed with sound in mind at all.

I am somewhat familiar with pana toughbooks. What model exactly do you have?
I hope that you're not using your work laptop while sitting in departments car during your shifts

 

[SAK]

Do you have a phone? They make excellent players (but again you may need the ability to export the files digitally as the dac/headphone interface may not be the best).

I do but I don't have music files on my phone and I'm not familiar with streaming services over the phone. I'm looking to listen to my personal music files. Thanks for mentioning that though I wasn't thinking about phones as very viable music players.

 

[lovinthehd]

I don't really care about amplification except in that my native amplifier (in my computer) may not be very good and could potentially interfere with the sound quality. My current headphones, and probably any I would get would be widely compatible. I heard something about certain headphones needing more power but I think that's unrelated to my problem and unrelated to the function of an amplifier though I don't know. Thanks for the tip about the DAC chips not being very variable in quality.

More about impedance matching with headphones, try this article http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/headphone-amp-impedance.html (this guy also designed a dac/headphone amp that's available for reasonable $ from a couple manufacturers....or you could put it together yourself as it's a free design).

 

[SAK]

I am somewhat familiar with pana toughbooks. What model exactly do you have?
I hope that you're not using your work laptop while sitting in departments car during your shifts

I have a cop computer but I'm not a cop. A friend of mine asked me if I was when I told him the make and model of my computer. A used computer salesman told me it was a great computer so I bought it. I have the CF-F8.

 

[lovinthehd]

I do but I don't have music files on my phone and I'm not familiar with streaming services over the phone. I'm looking to listen to my personal music files. Thanks for mentioning that though I wasn't thinking about phones as very viable music players.

I carry about 50 gigs on my phone. A computer or a phone is about as good as it gets in handling such files. I use Bubbleupnp on my android phone to cast to devices over wifi, works very well with foobar2000 (which I also use).

 

[SAK]

More about impedance matching with headphones, try this article http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/headphone-amp-impedance.html (this guy also designed a dac/headphone amp that's available for reasonable $ from a couple manufacturers....or you could put it together yourself as it's a free design).

I guess I meant the purpose of an amplifier, not the function. Thanks for the link.

 

[SAK]

I carry about 50 gigs on my phone. A computer or a phone is about as good as it gets in handling such files. I use Bubbleupnp on my android phone to cast to devices over wifi, works very well with foobar2000 (which I also use).

I wonder if there's a similar app for computers. I have windows. One day I might figure out how to put music files on my phone. I don't really like how my phone sounds through the speakers though I could try talking to someone with headphones on to see if it seems better. There's so much I don't know right now, I'm feeling out of my element. As you said I could try a DAC, I'll look into that. I have no money to spend right now though.

 

[lovinthehd]

I guess I meant the purpose of an amplifier, not the function. Thanks for the link.

Not sure what you mean by this, purpose vs function?

 

[SAK]

Not sure what you mean by this, purpose vs function?

I thought the purpose of an amplifier was just to make music louder, though it may have other functions as well like being able to boost headphones or something. Nevermind.

 

[lovinthehd]

I wonder if there's a similar app for computers. I have windows. One day I might figure out how to put music files on my phone. I don't really like how my phone sounds through the speakers though I could try talking to someone with headphones on to see if it seems better. There's so much I don't know, I'm feeling out of my element.

Your foobar2000 has such capabilities built in (altho you may have to add the correct component, it's been a while). I use foobar2000 to stream over wifi to my receivers/devices. Bubbleupnp also has downloads for PCs. Your phone is just using the same dac/amp in your computer as your computer's speakers/headphones...

Keep reading, it'll come together, keep asking questions....

 

[lovinthehd]

I thought the purpose of an amplifier was just to make music louder, though it may have other functions as well like being able to boost headphones or something. Nevermind.

An audio amplifier indeed amplifies the audio signal, the power output of the amp would be different for computer speakers/headphones vs your typical audio loudspeakers, tho.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I have a cop computer but I'm not a cop. A friend of mine asked me if I was when I told him the make and model of my computer. A used computer salesman told me it was a great computer so I bought it. I have the CF-F8.

Ok, it's a 2008 computer. It was pretty decent, but now it's nothing to write home about. Curious of two things: a) do you care for it's tough physical specs or not and b) how much did you paid for it and when?

One day I might figure out how to put music files on my phone. I don't really like how my phone sounds through the speakers though I could try talking to someone with headphones on to see if it seems better.

Yes, phone audio will sound very good with headphones (unlike it's tiny built-in speaker) Look for headphones with low impedance (50 or less, preferably closer to 30 and high efficiency/sensitivity

Before you invest any money into DAC, get decent headphones first. As for getting music on your phone, it's shouldn't be hard. With Iphone you could use windows version of itunes (free) or with android - simply plug the device to your laptop, select file sharing over usb on the phone and simply drag and drop files into music folder

 

[MrBoat]

When I first joined audioholics a few months back, I was running my analog out from my old pc with Linux on it into an old 80's stereo amp and getting some pretty righteous sound out of some great used speakers. It was good enough. I had a total of about 75 bucks in the entire rig. My son is using the same amp and speakers now with just his cheap LG cell phone for the source.

Do you have a phone? They make excellent players (but again you may need the ability to export the files digitally as the dac/headphone interface may not be the best).

Sorry about the mish-mash edit. Apparently I had another page loaded and it combined the post I had not finished into this one as well.

 

[lovinthehd]

When I first joined audioholics a few months back, I was running my analog out from my old pc with Linux on it into an old 80's stereo amp and getting some pretty righteous sound out of some great used speakers. It was good enough. I had a total of about 75 bucks in the entire rig. My son is using the same amp and speakers now with just his cheap LG cell phone for the source.



Sorry about the mish-mash edit. Apparently I had another page loaded and it combined the post I had not finished into this one as well.

I've had various experiences with my last bunch of computers as far as the quality of the analog out, one actually had line outs (and used this with a portable rig a lot, was pretty good), some just the headphone jack but the last few have had hdmi so just use that generally if I'm going to hook my computer up to my audio systems. My phone's headphone out is okay quality-wise but weak, so prefer wifi.

 

[MrBoat]

I've had various experiences with my last bunch of computers as far as the quality of the analog out, one actually had line outs (and used this with a portable rig a lot, was pretty good), some just the headphone jack but the last few have had hdmi so just use that generally if I'm going to hook my computer up to my audio systems. My phone's headphone out is okay quality-wise but weak, so prefer wifi.

One phone he has is indeed weak with both the stereo and the headphones. But a slightly older one is a lot better with both.

 

[slipperybidness]

When I first joined audioholics a few months back, I was running my analog out from my old pc with Linux on it into an old 80's stereo amp and getting some pretty righteous sound out of some great used speakers. It was good enough. I had a total of about 75 bucks in the entire rig. My son is using the same amp and speakers now with just his cheap LG cell phone for the source.



Sorry about the mish-mash edit. Apparently I had another page loaded and it combined the post I had not finished into this one as well.

I never would have pegged you as a Linux user! How the heck did you get to that OS?

Maybe DOS, but not Linux

I've never even really used it much, other than it seems to be the shell for some electronics projects that I've done.