How to get good sound quality audio from your computer….
This is literally the question that was asked me several times.
In this last video of 2018 I will try to give you answers…
The harddisk is the ideal storage medium for digital information.
That is why it is used in almost all computers.
OK, today often SSD's are used as system drive and sometimes even as storage medium.
Therefore, in this video, let's consider harddisks and SSD's as being functionally
identical, for they are that for music.
Far more important is that both are far superior to the optical media like cd, dvd and blu-ray
that are also used for audio storage.
Unfortunately normal computers - especially the powerful ones - generate a lot of electronic
noise, noise you can't hear but can - and normally will - have great impact on the sound
quality.
The focus of this video is to see what that impact is and how to minimise it.
So the goal is not to prove it wouldn't work, for any computer can reproduce music.
Neither will I cover what software to use or how to prevent the operating system from
ruining the the sound by DSP actions.
Those will have to wait for other videos.
This video about hardware choices.
Computers basically work the same as a cuckoo clock: a mechanism called escapement that
is driven by a mechanical force like a coiled spring or weight lets a cog step forward one
tooth at a time.
See escapement in Wikipedia for details.
The mechanism is designed so it lets the second hand go around 360 degrees in 60 steps.
The cog that moves the big hand is 'programmed' so that it moves 360 degrees in one hour and
the cog that moves the small hand is 'programmed' so that it goes around in 12 hours.
The programming is done by choosing relative ratios of a number of cogs.
Another set of cogs move the Cuckoo every 15 minutes and operates the bellow that blows
the whistle for the cuckoo sound.
The ticking of the clock, caused by the escapement getting caught between teeth, is a byproduct
and was no design goal.
If the clock is not carefully designed it might be slowed down by the mechanism that
moves the cuckoo and operates the bellow.
A computer works basically the same, only at lightning speed and it contains numerous
clocks.
For instance for the processor, for the video card, for the USB ports, for the Thunderbolt
port, for the audio card and so on.
And these clocks usually influence each other to some degree, like the cuckoo mechanism
influences the time mechanism in the cuckoo clock.
Where the ticking sounds of the clock might be experienced as relaxing, the electronic
noises the computer generates can't even be heard by us.
We do hear the mechanical noise of the the harddisk and the wind noise of the van but
not the noise that is passed on over cables to our precious audio equipment.
And we are not aware that the audio clock that sends out the audio data - supposedly
at very precise intervals - is not as precise as good sound quality requires.
Please do understand that you still hear uninterrupted audio in most cases and this makes people
say that it's OK.
But if audio quality is your goal, the noise should be as low as possible as where the
clock should have extremely high precision.
Placing a sound card in the computer, close to all the other clocks that radiate high
frequency noise will never lead to good sound.
So the least you can do is use an external sound card.
In the audio technique an external sound card is called a digital-to-analog converter, abbreviated
to DAC.
There are several ways to connect a DAC to the computer: SPDIF - the RCA digital connection,
TOSlink - the optical connector or USB.
SPDIF and TOSlink are in fact both the same signal but one is transported using voltage
while the other uses light.
In both cases the signal is sent at the speed the computer dictates, which is the nominal
speed including the variations due to the noises inside the computer.
Therefore connecting a DAC to a computer over SPDIF or TOSlink isn't preferred.
Using USB 2 is far better, especially if both the operating system of the computer and the
DAC support Audio Class 2.
This is the protocol that supports sampling rates higher than 96 kHz.
Macintosh and Linux computer support this already for years, for Windows a special driver
needs to be installed.
Often the manufacturer of the DAC offers the driver for download or on a cd-rom.
The advantage of USB2 Audio Class 2 is that the signal is sent as packets to the DAC and
are then clocked inside the DAC.
Still there are things that can go wrong.
If the electrical noise from the computer travels over the USB cable to the DAC, that
can distort the digital audio signal to some degree, again leading tot timing variations,
by audio technicians called jitter.
See my video "Connecting your DAC #2: how digital can go wrong", link in the video
description.
Now, if you do have your computer connected to your DAC and are not completely happy with
the result, there are all kinds of boxes that can - or say they can - improve the digital
signal.
The ones I have tried varied in result from sometimes a slight improvement to a steady
and decent improvement.
The result can also depends on the combination of equipment.
But in general it's like fixing the dent in your fender as a result of failing brakes
without fixing the brakes.
Yes, the fender looks great again, but I would have gone for the brakes first.
If you systematically want to tackle the problem, you start by using asynchronous data transport,
so USB 2 Audio Class 2 or Ethernet.
These send data in packets that are clocked in the DAC.
SPDIF, TOSlink and AES/EBU are so called isochronous data transport, meaning that the sending device
dictates the clock and bit after bit is send regardless conditions at the receiving end.
Since in all three formats the data is encoded in the data stream, all things can go wrong
and you need really good designed equipment to achieve a very good sound quality.
The only other interfacing protocol I can advise is I squared S, written like this.
Here the data and the clock are sent separate from each other.
If all is done well, this is a safe and good sounding way too.
But it is found only on a limited number of devices and there is no standard connector.
It could be over two BNC cables, a UTP cable or an HDMI cable.
And the pin layout of the HDMI connector varies between brands.
There are all kinds of accessories for computers to make them audiophile, like special low
noise power supplies and output boards.
SOtM offers a card that outputs cleaner USB signals, especially if an extra external audiofile
power supply is used for that card.
And there will be others.
Since cables for digital audio can't be too long - I would stay within 1.5 meters
- 5 feet - the acoustical noise of the computer should be tackled too.
If you do all these things you often end up spending a few thousand euros on an audiophile
computer.
There just might be a better way…
I have said earlier that the more powerful a computer is, the more electrical - and also
often acoustical - noise it potentially will make.
Therefore a good solution would be to use a very simple, light computer for then there
is no need for forced cooling while the electrical noise will be far lower too.
An audiophile grade power supply that can power such a 'light' computer also will
be cheaper.
And just passing on audio bits is a very light application for computers.
The precision required is a matter of choosing the right audiophile add-ons.
The disadvantage is that the cataloguing will be rather limited.
So you end up with a slow and/or simple browsing experience.
Why don't we use a decently quick computer to do the cataloguing - and storing if you
like - and let a very simple computer that is powered from a small audiophile power supply
do the play-out to the DAC.
On the full blown computer you install bit-perfect audio playback software that is able to send
the audio over the home network to the light computer that only functions as play-out station.
The latter is - depending on the software - called network bridge, renderer, endpoint
and so on.
You can start with a Raspberry Pi with 5 volt DC iFi iPower power supply and a simple SPDIF
or USB output card.
Don't use the USB port of the Raspberry Pi for that performs extremely bad.
The audio output on the Pi is even worse.
Always use an audio grade add on board, they start at 25 euros.
From there you can go upwards as you can see in my Raspberry Pi for Audio playlist.
Links in the video description and at the end of this video.
If your demands are - or become - higher, you could go for network bridges, like those
by Auralic, Sonore, SOtM, Metrum Acoustics and others.
See my playlist 'Network Bridges'.
Even the most expensive network bridge plus a normal desktop or laptop computer is cheaper
than an audiophile computer that is silenced both acoustically and electricity.
If you already have a functioning setup and don't want to change that but still want
to improve the sound, check-out my playlist 'USB Conditioners'.
If you got interested in using a network bridge or DLNA renderer, you could start with a Raspberry
Pi if you are handy with computers.
Or go for the SOtM sMS-200 — the base model.
Just try it and if you want more, search more upmarket.
My playlist Network Bridges might be of help here.
Of course the software you have to use does matter too.
But I leave that for a later video.
In the mean time watch my series of Audio Hygiene for all these things matter to a certain
degree, depending on the other equipment you use and how critical you are as listener.
And keep following this channel by subscribing or following me on the social media.
I will let you know when new videos are released.
If you liked this video, give it a thumbs up and please consider supporting the channel
through Patreon or Paypal.
Many thanks to all that already support this channel financially, it keeps me independent
and thus trustworthy.
See the links in the comments below this video on Youtube if you want to join in.
Help me to help even more people enjoy music at home by telling your friends on the web
about this channel.
I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com.
And whatever you do, enjoy the music.
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