Where can I learn about computer audio?

MMas

New Member
Dec 13, 2014
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Space Coast, FL
I’ve been doing audio for over 40 years, but took a break about 8 yrs ago after adopting 4 kids. :eek:

During that time, computer audio seems to have taken off and seems by many to be preferred over using CDP, etc. Where can I learn about how all this works? Is there a website, YouTube, etc., with a decent tutorial?

Thanks,
Mike
 

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
6,455
29
405
You can look at the Computer Audio forum, or read up on Vincent's website; The Well-Tempered Computer

Go with the Vincent Kars's excellent website first. A lot of debunking and straight to the point info.
Be warned that in Computer Audio (actually in most things audiophile) there is a learning curve . Its steepness will depend on your Computer Skills. It is worth the effort though.
 

microstrip

VIP/Donor
May 30, 2010
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Get a knowledgeable person to help you - it will save you a lot of time and effort. Computer audio should not be a single person affair - a good talk will save you long nights reading. ;)

Vincent excellent site is a reference site - after you know the basics you can find everything there. IMHO it is not ideal to new comers, and it is not a quick start guide. YMMV as always in WBF.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
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Seattle, WA
Take a CD. Get a computer of your choice. Put it in the tray and let the default app in the operating system rip the CD for you. Once there, play it from the library. OK to use a laptop and listen to the built-in speaker for now. Do that for a few more CDs. Make a playlist of your favorite tracks and play that. What you just built is a "music server."

Get a headphone jack to RCA cable and hook up the analog output of the computer to your current audio system. The fidelity likely won't be great but you get better sound than the one in the computer.

Your next step is to figure out a digital solution to get the bits out of the computer. If you already have an external DAC, then a USB to S/PDIF converter will get you started. Get an "asynchronous" one with "galvanic isolation." I suggest getting a cheap unit for now per above, just to get familiar with the ins and outs.

All of this will build "muscle memory" for digital music server :). It will give you a baseline you can use to then optimize.
 

DSkip

Industry Expert
Aug 26, 2013
442
194
350
Arlington, TX
www.audiothesis.com
One other option, if you already have a DAC/receiver, is to get something like a WDTV or Amazon Fire TV to stream from a computer, either via ethernet or wireless connection, directly to your system. This eliminates the ability to play hi-rez files natively, but you can still do CD quality FLAC without issue.

I now use an Amazon Fire TV to stream FLAC and the quality is every bit as good as USB > DAC.
 

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