Optimizing PC Sound

[darrellcraig]

Short version: Is there a decent PC sound card that will approach sound quality of Squeezebox analog outputs? I have an old Turtle Beach Santa Cruz that doesn't come close.

Longer version: I upgraded my computer speakers to NAD320BEE and EPOS ESL-3s on stands in my home office (work from home, ears couldn't take my computer speakers anymore). I currently have an old Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card and use Softsqueeze to stream uncompressed wma/flac music from my slimserver (and the occassional streaming music from my Urge subscription). Problem is that the Squeezebox sound quality is infinitely better than the sound card and glaringly revealed on this little system. But I don't want to bother switching inputs between Squeezebox and the PC sound card. Will any of the Echo cards or M-Audio 2496 come close to Squeezebox? Any other solution others have come up with?

[Deaf Cat]

I have an M-Audio Audiophile USB card (somewhere), which I'd say is not too far behind my SB2.......personal choice though.

[mkozlows]

Short version: Is there a decent PC sound card that will approach sound quality of Squeezebox analog outputs? I have an old Turtle Beach Santa Cruz that doesn't come close.

HeadRoom's MicroDAC ($300) is a DAC, but because it has a USB input, it's also effectively an external soundcard. Running digital out from your sound card, or hooking it up via USB, is almost guaranteed to sound better than just about any internal sound card.

Note, though, that if you're playing music in Windows, you already have the Windows mixer mucking about with the signal (applying volume control and whatever else), so no output directly from the computer is going to be as clean as what you can get from the Squeezebox (unless you start mucking about with ASIO, which I've never successfully gotten working). That said, it'll be light years better than your Santa Cruz, so.

[cliveb]

HeadRoom's MicroDAC ($300) is a DAC, but because it has a USB input, it's also effectively an external soundcard.

By the same reasoning, a Squeezebox is an external DAC with an Ethernet input, and it costs no more than the MicroDAC. Perhaps just buying another Squeezebox (and a $10 Ethernet hub if necessary) would be the simplest way of achieving equal sound quality.

Running digital out from your sound card, or hooking it up via USB, is almost guaranteed to sound better than just about any internal sound card.

There are plenty of internal PCI bus soundcards that can be expected to outperform the MicroDAC and even the Squeezebox, such as the Lynx Two or the DAL Card Deluxe. But these soundcards cost considerably more than a Squeezebox.

I have an M-Audio Audiophile 2496, and it sounds good, but I don't think it's quite on a par with the Squeezebox.

[jeffluckett]

I have a SoundBlaster Extigy, which is an external version of thier Audigy card. It's been highly reviewed by most of the tech publishers.

It connects via USB and also comes with a remote. It's got lots of digital and analog inputs and outputs, and even will operate in "stand alone" mode if you want to play a source with the computer off ... or put it to some other imaginative use. I used to use it as my computer-to-stereo interface device before I got my SqueezeBox. Now I use it for ripping LP's to digital (phonograph -> pre-amp -> extigy -> computer), and as my 'regular' sound card. Another nice benefit is that you can sit it on your desk ... so you don't have to crawl behind your computer every time you want to connect a different source to it.

It's probably not an "Audiophile" device, but I think it sounds better than any installed card I've ever heard.

I don't know if they're still in production, but it looks like they're fairly available on Ebay for short money.

[ackcheng]

I have RME 9632 and using it as a transport, is much much better than SB2 as a transport.

[mkozlows]

By the same reasoning, a Squeezebox is an external DAC with an Ethernet input, and it costs no more than the MicroDAC. Perhaps just buying another Squeezebox (and a $10 Ethernet hub if necessary) would be the simplest way of achieving equal sound quality.

But it doesn't have the same functionality. A sound card (whether USB or internal) can be used for listening to games, DRMed audio, movies, or whatever other incidental sounds you might have. The Squeezebox can't do that.

[cliveb]

But it doesn't have the same functionality. A sound card (whether USB or internal) can be used for listening to games, DRMed audio, movies, or whatever other incidental sounds you might have. The Squeezebox can't do that.

Ah, right. I missed the point you're making - that the MicroDAC is a DAC, but it's *also* a soundcard. Mea culpa.