I've Become a Computer Audio Wacko!

[jp11801]

Ok it all started with the desire to get away from browsing 2000 plus cds and the desire to have it all computer browsable and searchable.

Then came the transporter, cosecant (god the margin on that thing), various dacs with usb>spidf convertors (do they all suck)

Then the software

Now it's back to the hardware and dang if an SSD isn't a freaking huge improvement, please call the cult extraction team now. Compared the the steaming pile of shit otherwise know as my DROBO, moving my 24 bit Beatles and 24/96 HD tracks stuff to the SSD was a fairly impressive improvement (or I am ready for me meds)

Anyone else take the leap to an SSD and hear a difference

[swt61]

Numbs, can you better explain what an SSD is and does for me?

I've toyed with the idea of computer as source, and have most of my CD collection ripped, but beyond that I have no idea about the journey.

[jp11801]

to my ears it has increased separation and detail over the drobo. I really want to get another set of ears on this as it sounds very impressive. I have no logical way to explain this as a platter drive either internal or external should provide more than enough throughput to play even a 24/96 file without breaking a sweat. My DROBO always seems to lock up and sounds like a mid 90s diesel jetta. The SSD is also wicked fast (as my Boston friends would say) and makes editing and processing LP rips a breeze. It will not grow hair much to my dismay

[K3cT]

I have no idea about SSD being an improvement sonically but I do set my Foobar to cache everything into the RAM for playback which seem to be the same thing theoretically.

[aardvark baguette]

I can see computer equipment being loud and/or slow, but I can't see it passing that info down the chain to the dac. Ambient room noise yeah, but its all 1s and 0s.

I guess you could get another macbook (or whatever computer you have) outfitted w/ a standard hard drive and have a double blind test at a meet. Keep both computers on at the same time so ambient noise in the room is unchanged.

I'll quote Icarium here: "shrug".

[tyrion]

I'm going back to cd's.

[morphsci]

I can certainly entertain the possibility that there could be timing issues that the SSD and or caching could affect. That also seems more likely with Hi-Rez music. It also seems likely that there would be individual differences in sensitivity to timing artifacts.

[jpelg]

I've become increasingly interested in a computer-base library, as late to the game as it is, for all of the advantages of convenience.

At the last NY meet, I sat down to listen to the Ayre QB-9 dac that was attached to a Mac laptop. Unfortunately, I could not evaluate the DAC because I was so distracted by the strange sputters that came thru my headphones every time I moused thru the iTunes library while listening to a song. Dunno if that is a common issue or what, as I have so little computer-base audio listening experience. And the system owner wasn't nearby for me to ask.

I imagine anything that increases speed (processor power, more memory, increased caches, faster hard-drive access, & such) would improve things a lot. But that sputtering was quite off-putting, and something that would piss me off if I planned on using such a system as my primary delivery method.

[aardvark baguette]

I'm going back to cd's.

I can't tell if you're joking, but this is pretty much what I've done.

Its encouraged me to get more repeat listens rather than just jumping from one thing to another, and has ultimately been a more rewarding experience.

[Beefy]

I can certainly entertain the possibility that there could be timing issues that the SSD and or caching could affect. That also seems more likely with Hi-Rez music. It also seems likely that there would be individual differences in sensitivity to timing artifacts.

Even when you have a couple of seconds of buffering to RAM? Hell, even 50ms of buffering would would cover all hard drive seek times.

[Dreadhead]

Even when you have a couple of seconds of buffering to RAM? Hell, even 50ms of buffering would would cover all hard drive seek times.

Yup. I totally agree. The chances of you hearing what device read the data into the ram buffer is pretty damn unlikely other than maybe the SSD puts less noise into the ground channel and if you are using USB or another conductive medium then you can hear it on the DAC. This is why I used TOSLINK as it made my whole system a bunch quieter but there are ways to remove it otherwise as well with couplers.

[tyrion]

I can't tell if you're joking, but this is pretty much what I've done.

Its encouraged me to get more repeat listens rather than just jumping from one thing to another, and has ultimately been a more rewarding experience.

I was kidding but I think the listening experience is improved for some reason when you have to get up, pick out what you want to hear, listen to the cd and move on. It's kind of like the experience from vinyl. It gets a little crazy when you start having to deal with your computers components, DAC's, usb v. optical v. coaxial. Sometimes I wish I just bought one of these: Ayre C5xe MP For Sale | AudiogoN

[morphsci]

Even when you have a couple of seconds of buffering to RAM? Hell, even 50ms of buffering would would cover all hard drive seek times.

Yup. I totally agree. The chances of you hearing what device read the data into the ram buffer is pretty damn unlikely other than maybe the SSD puts less noise into the ground channel and if you are using USB or another conductive medium then you can hear it on the DAC. This is why I used TOSLINK as it made my whole system a bunch quieter but there are ways to remove it otherwise as well with couplers.

Being open to the possibility of a phenomenon is just that. Nothing more or less. You are of course free to infer anything I did not specifically say.

[jp11801]

the only way the SSD could possibly sound better is by a reduction in ambient sound. in order for SSDs to be compatible with existing systems, everything at the bus controller and after is exactly the same.

I proposed a MBP duel at dawn

[Dreadhead]

Being open to the possibility of a phenomenon is just that. Nothing more or less. You are of course free to infer anything I did not specifically say.

I was talking about what beefy said not about what you said.

[morphsci]

My mistake. Carry on.

[Voltron]

Tim Marutani would be so proud of you JP!

[blubliss]

I have an SSD for my OS. The sonic studio guys believe this makes a difference, and they use simple cables, mogami, don't believe in the cable hype. So, i gave it a try. No difference to my ears. Now that all the software players are using memory playback i think it may be even more of a moot point.

But, who knows. The wack jobs at CA believe all sorts of tweaks make a difference. I think I just got tired of the tweak merry-go-round, been fooling with computer audio since 2004.

[tyrion]

<snip>The wack jobs at CA believe all sorts of tweaks make a difference. I think I just got tired of the tweak merry-go-round, been fooling with computer audio since 2004.

Way to much time in effort to listen to music.

[blubliss]

That, and I don't believe there are differences any more and in the past I was just convincing myself of perceived changes.

[zippy2001]

I do love the convenience of computer audio and I don't think it's that complicated, but you can get as crazy as you want with all the different converters and cables and dacs, etc.

I use Foobar2000 and at home I just have a USB to Lavry DA11 to my amp / headphones. At work, I have USB to musiland monitor 01 us to toslink to music fidelity dac to my receiver.

They both sound good, but if I'm in the mood for analog goodness I'll spin some vinyl )

[K3cT]

Speaking on this issue, do you guys with laptops without optical output use USB or one of those fancy USB-to-S/PDIF converters? Converters especially have become so varied and loaded with different technologies that choosing one may not look as simple as it seems!

[Augsburger]

I was kidding but I think the listening experience is improved for some reason when you have to get up, pick out what you want to hear, listen to the cd and move on. It's kind of like the experience from vinyl. It gets a little crazy when you start having to deal with your computers components, DAC's, usb v. optical v. coaxial. Sometimes I wish I just bought one of these: Ayre C5xe MP For Sale | AudiogoN

Mike the seller is 20 minutes from my office so when you buy the Ayre I can make sure the seller is on the up and up and arrange HC shipping for you.

[zippy2001]

Speaking on this issue, do you guys with laptops without optical output use USB or one of those fancy USB-to-S/PDIF converters? Converters especially have become so varied and loaded with different technologies that choosing one may not look as simple as it seems!

I don't have a fancy PC with optical output. At home I go straight from USB to Lavry DA11 because it supports 24/96 high def files. The MF V-DAC only supports 16 /44, that is why I added the musiland Monitor01 USB to SPDIF converter. So I can enjoy the 24/96 files that I buy from HDTracks. I haven't tried the more expensive converters.

[tyrion]

Mike the seller is 20 minutes from my office so when you buy the Ayre I can make sure the seller is on the up and up and arrange HC shipping for you.

I don't know, I got a threatening phone call from Jp after I posted my interest.