Getting High-Quality Audio From a PC

audiophile writes "Just because it's a PC doesn't mean it can't output good-sounding audio. In the same vein as specialty A/V products, you can find PC-based A/V systems with extensive audio processing and step-up performance specifications, including Signal-to-Noise ratio, which can make a significant difference when using the analog outputs. Media center manufacturer Niveus shares tips for getting high-quality audio from a PC."

Age considerations?

[svendsen]

I wonder if they have taken into consideration the age of the audience when doing stuff like this. What I mean as we get older our ability to clearly hear certain sounds diminishes. A sad fact of life.

So I wonder when they take specs like this to build systems they go well our target audience is X years old so 90% of them don't need as good of quality in the sound so we can build something still good but cheaper because we don't need to use the 80% of the time to get the final 5% of sound?

Lynx Studio: 200K samples/sec @ 24/bits per sample

[mosel-saar-ruwer]

This is some serious sampling hardware [no affiliation]:

http://www.lynxstudio.com/products.html [lynxstudio.com]

Just buy an old SGI

[coredog64]

Just buy an old SGI O2 (if you're going to do analog only) or Octane (if you want SPDIF in). They're practically free (there was a Craigslist post with 6 Octanes for $120 in SoCal within the last two weeks), they're made for audio, and to be honest, Irix is light years ahead of Linux when it comes to a rational and sane interface for configuring the audio hardware. Plus, the mixer (called 'audiopanel' in Irix) goes to 11 [eeggs.com]

Re:public service announcement

[karnal]

* stay away from loud concerts, parties, dance halls

I play drums (with myself, I'm so lonely) - it gets amazingly loud in a short period of time if you have no earplugs in. In addition, I've been to concerts where my ears physically start hurting. I end up going home at that point.

I've got a new solution though:

Etymotic Research ER20BP [jr.com]

I just bought 2 more sets of these since I lost my first set. Me and the wife are going to a concert in a few weeks and I want to be prepared. These plugs help you hear the full frequency range of hearing, just 20db less. In contrast, most ear plugs really squash the highs out....