This goes back to my earlier complaint that at some point, many audiophiles start owning the same 3-500 discs.

There are several "blessed" record companies and re-issue houses that record and/or remaster material to (near) perfection.

When it comes to "hi-def," I'm still sticking to vinyl. It's very established technology, people know how to master the recordings to the format, and it's smooth, non-fatiguing, and there's A LOT of music available for the format.

That said, I try not to be a hi-def digital snob. Just push the stuff as far as you can:

Downloads - try to get them in FLAC, barring that, as high a bit-rate as you can (also read what everybody else has mentioned)

SACD - is great, but as stated, there is a limited library of the stuff.

CD - CDs are evil, but can be made better by some bit-masking technologies (HDCD, XRCD), and upsampling. If you can find an upsampling CD player or DAC, get it.

If you want to get into some real audio voodoo, check this thing out:
http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_det...?Title_ID=38717
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equi...3/audiodesk.htm

 

I've tried some stupid stuff in the past 20 years but that looks like it takes the cake. I still have my green CD pen, edge dampeners, etc.

 

I've heard this one, and of all the voodoo, this one actually works.

However, at $300, I'll just rip it to a hard drive. . . .

 

I WAS an audiophile some time ago but gave it up. I used to spend the dough to get something with Nakamichi, Proton (when they existed), Marantz or McIntosh stamped on it, but I kind of realized I was just trying to be a mack daddy in front of my friends. They kept upgrading technology every couple years and I would shell out more money and buy more speakers to get the latest fad.

I still buy decent stuff but go for value. I have a decent Sony Es reciever which I like very much, I have some Klipsch, and a set of Pardigms, and some other stuff in the house. I can tell the difference between BB quality stuff, entry level high end and really high end, I just have got to the point where I am fine with the entry level good stuff at a fair price because the difference between truly top notch just is not worth it to me anymore. The quality of sound reproduction in sub $1000 gear has just to be so nice and clean over the years that $5000-$10,000 gear just is hard to justify. Lots of people will scoff at the SonyEs, but I think a lot of that is listener choice. I campared it to Yamaha, Denon and Onkyo in the same price range and liked what I heard from the Sony as much or more than the others.

I would like a B&O stereo just for the cool factor, but will never pull the trigger on one of those.

I spent big money on a Denon CD player several years ago and now I can't really tell much of a difference from playing source material from an I pod or god forbid an Xbox360.

There is something truly cool about vinyl though, you just hear and extra "something" and the fact that your medium and needle are fragile just makes it neat. Much cooler the abonimation that was 8 track.

 

no help?

back to searching the interweb

 

What problem exactly are you trying to solve?

Get a small outboard USB DAC, a decent pair of headphones, and be happy.

 

no particular problem, i would just like the output to be a little better then the onboard soundcard
just because im going to have this laptop hooked up to a lot of professional equipment

 

Two stages:

1. Clean it up with a USB DAC:
http://www.nuforce-icon.com/Product-Icon-Mobile.htm

2. These balance it out to a pro soundboard:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JPC/

 

that sounds like a good set up.
i was looking at the USB DAC but i was hoping it would be something that has both RCA and a 3.5mm outputs..
something that goes from the USB of my macbook to the product that has 3.5mm and RCA..
so i can use it casually too. while watching movies on the home Klipsche system, and Headphones..
because as it may not be a good idea i can always take the RCA directly to a Powered mixer.
if it comes to some major equipment i can always borrow something

sorry i wasnt clear, or i just plainly dont know what im talking about.
im still new to this whole thing

 

No worries.

I had forgotten about this one too:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UA1EX/

Mind you, this is all "good enough," not great.