PC for audio storage/digital o/p

**OldCoder** · January 05, 2004, 12:47 AM

Re: PC for audio storage/digital o/p

Have you got any ideas or recommendations:

a) Fitting a hell of alot of storage, possible 4 to 6, ide 7500rpm 120gig hdd's in a pc?

You only need this for lossless formats, like wav or Monkeys Audio, or if you are a hardware nut. MP3 is a LOT smaller, and a single 120 might do, but with less sound quality.

Lossless takes about 1/2 gig per cd, so count your album goals up and do the math. Maybe up your drive size to 200 to 250 gig - if you are going to need a lot of space, you might as well minimize the drive count a little bit. Easier on the power supply and heat issues.

b) Control it over a secure wireless network from laptop?

Is this going to be a NAS audio device??? I suspect that wireless might be a little low for ripping and storing, probably ok just for playback.

c) Are there different qualities of cd drives for ripping?

Yes, I have tried NEC, Philips, Samsung, and all are blown away by Plextor. Clearly better sound and fewer errors.

d) Are there different qualities of digital o/p signal from pc?

You might want to look at high grade analog output - that allows a hookup to a good stereo with bigger better speakers than what you can get on a PC.

Good luck on your adventure!

Look forward to reading any thoughts.

**RossRoy** · January 05, 2004, 01:57 AM

Re: PC for audio storage/digital o/p

a) you are much better off using 1 or 2 very large drive than 4 to 6 smaller. But, in case you absolutely need 4 to 6 drives, there are PCI cards that can add more IDE ports to your computer.

b) I personally think wireless does the job wonderfully, especially with the new standards. We're still far from the 1Gb attained with wired, but heck a 1Gb HUB/Switch is still very expensive last time I checked.

c) Definitely Plextor. I heard Lite-On is good too though.

d) Someone should correct me on this but isn't a digital signal the same no matter what? So if you have a nice digital receiver and hook up your PC/Laptop to it, the quality will be the same, no matter if you have a low end or high end soundcard. I may be mistaken on that one though. I know for a fact that on analog it applies, get a very good soundcard, but for digital? The soundcard has very little to do with the signal if anything at all. The soundcard ends up acting like a repeater, just repeating the digital signal over the digital wire.

**Taff** · January 05, 2004, 03:18 PM

Re: PC for audio storage/digital o/p

I am using lossless hence the silly amount of space I would love to have.

I also thought it would be so much easier to use fewer hdds in a pc but I heard that the larger sizes were not quite as reliable as the more tested smaller sizes such as the 120gig…?

Thinking of heat & power and the option of the IDE PCI card, larger hdds seems the best option, any thoughts on the Maxtor Diamond drives?

Sorry I am miles behind,
NAS audio device?
1Gb hub/switch? Ideas were to have the pc as a box with music, software, internet connection, etc with a nice –(Plextor)- cd drive for ripping/playing and use the laptop as a remote control for the music software etc – possibly pc anywhere control.

Wireless should be secure and simple enough for me to sort, should it not…...I hope?

I have been using 24bit 96kHz to give good analogue i/p to 5.1 amp which feeds nice size speakers, sounded pretty good I thought. I actually tried the “digital pass through” option a couple of days ago, improvement only slight but noticeable. This is why I was wondering if there were different qualities of digital coax signal, I am sure I read somewhere there were two frequencies or something and soon a third will becoming more common which is of course an improvement on the other two – may be talking cobblers but thought I would see if any one else knew.

Thanks for your advice.

PC for audio storage/digital o/p

PC for audio storage/digital o/p

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