GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Didital Things
In the Thread: Why I hate computer playback.

Post Subject: For me, the pros outweigh the consPosted by manisandher on: 4/22/2012

Romy the Cat wrote:
Computer playback has no autobiographical value. CD, LP, tape etc have autobiographical value and sometime huge value. A location on HD has none of it.

Agreed.

Romy the Cat wrote:
... there are zillion valuables, there are no standards and there is huge opportunity for misuse computer playback.

Agreed. I try to minimize this by following a couple of 'schools of thought'. In each, there are a bunch of us using the same playback software and DAC hardware. There's even some convergence in terms of computer hardware. What's interesting is that there seems to be a lot of similarity between what we hear.
The downside is that there is a risk of group-think...

Romy the Cat wrote:
Computer playback is unfortunately very fuckable.

Yep.

Romy the Cat wrote:
The problems deriding from DSP processing are absolutely not know to most of the audio idiots...

So, do you include the digital filters in your DACs here also? And the decimation/interpolation that all ADCs/DACs do? E.g. are you aware that your PMII runs at 24/176.4 internally (according to Michael Ritter)? So when you're recording at 24/88.2, you're decimating down from 24/176.4. Sounds like DSP to me...
I've learned so much from software players that provide high quality filters. E.g. a player such as 'HQPlayer' allows you to apply a whole bunch of different filters and dithering schemes. You can hear the difference between simple IIR/FIR filters and more complex 'minimum-phase' filters. You can even hear the effects of 'pre-ringing' and such on the sound.

Romy the Cat wrote:
There is no source material for computer playback... the huge rise of computer playback did not bring arise of good downloadable music.

I had really high hopes for companies like HDTracks. But now regard them with almost as much distain as you do.

Romy the Cat wrote:
To copy file from CD to computer and to call it a “computer playback” is too retarded even to consider…

I've tried to understand what makes transports sound different, and it seems to me that most of, if not all, the mechanisms that might be at play could be overcome by extracting the data off the CD 'off-line' and then playing back from a HDD. But I've never owned a really good CD transport so don't know how far my current "computer playback" is from this.
Another potential advantage I can see of computer audio is in the interface between the transport and the DAC. Of course, if an integrated CD player is used, there is no issue as it would inevitably utilize an I2S connection. However connecting a CD transport to a separate DAC seems fraught with issues. I know of one RF engineer who absolutely deplores the spdif and AES interfaces, believing they are totally inadequate for the transmission of even stereo 16/44.1. With computer audio, you can use asynchronous firewire or USB connections. In my experience, these introduce a whole new can of worms, especially relating to the transmission of noise. But perhaps this is more easily dealt with than the issues that spdif/AES introduce.

Romy the Cat wrote:
... it is very pososble that if I were not involved in FM then I would not even have a computer playback as I truly do not see any need or use from it (with exception to my FM).

I would love to get rid of any computer from my audio system. However, right now, I have no other way to playback CDs (I don't have a CD player or transport) or the DSD files I've extracted from SACDs.

Mani.

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