Jimmy2Shoe

Now more than ever computers are being considered as the stepping stone towards digital entertainment. Often however many individuals new to this multimedia revolution are intimidated by the vast ammounts products, media, services that flood consumer markets.

The question of digital entertainment is very broad; explaining all the diffrent possibilites and solutions offered to todays' consumers could take dozens of FAQs just like this one.

In the following paragraphs I'm going to cover the basics of digital audio and computers. The subjects that I'll be touching on are as follows:

1. What you need
2. Limits of digitally encoded audio
3. Commentary on DRM-Based subscription services
4. Final Thoughts

What you need

In order to start enjoying digital audio, there are certain components required to get you started:

• Computer
• Sound Card
• Speakers or Headphones
• Receiver, Stereo Amplifier (optional)

Sound Cards

There are various possibilities concerning sound cards; external, internal, low-end, high-end... all of which can be very confusing to the first-time buyer. For basic, 2 channel audio, even the most basic sound cards will suffice, all you'll really need is something with a line-out, and maybe a mic-in should you wish to record audio or participate in voice chat over the internet.

However, more and more companies are comming out with digital sound solutions including Digital Coaxial or Optical outputs. The benefit of these digital connections are improved sound quality and the possibility of surround sound audio, that it be a DVD soundtrack or next-gen DVD-Audio and SACD formats. Most soundcards will include hardware based processing of Dolby Digital and DTS. Simply put, the soundcard will take the raw data, process it and send the signal to the various speakers, which will then be audible by the listener.

However, I find that these built in hardware decoders are often usless, depending on the application. Higher end speaker packages include these hardware decoders, thus eliminating the need for a soundcard with those capabilities. Furthermore, anybody planning on intergrating a home theater Receiver or Surround sound processor might actually experience A DEGRADATION OF QUALITY, as the hardware processors built in to these components are vastly superior to those used in even higher end sound cards. If you are planning on using any of the aforementioned home theater products, something that will simply "passthrough" the signal will suffice; and this is often quite inexpensive :)

Speakers

Once you've determined which type of sound card meets your needs, you can now think about selecting speakers. Again, these come in all sorts of flavours; 2.0, 2.1, 5.1, 7.1... and any other possible combination. By the way, the ".1" refers to the inclusion of a subwoofer in the package or not.

Depending on what you listen to (music, movies, gaming) there will be a speaker solution taillored to your needs. Music fans will opt for a quality 2 channel setup, with the possible (but not necessairy) addition of a subwoofer. For movies and gaming though, 5.1 will truly immerse the listener in a field of sound.

CAUTION: Sometimes its better to buy a quality 2 channel setup than a full blown 5.1 setup if your budget is tight.

Fact of the matter is, you get what you pay for. Imagine receving 6 speakers, cables, software, various accessories for the low price of 150 dollars. Amazing deal, right? Not always. After all, you're getting a whole lot of stuff for your 150 dollars, and the manufacturer is turning a profit too.

What i've come to find is that some less expensive surround sound packages (digital or not) often have a very impersonal, tinny (an adjective used to described the unpleasant, overly-emphasised higher frequencies like thimbals), uninspiring sound.

If you were to take that same 150 dollars and spend it on a 2channel setup, you might be rewarded with a much more enticing experience... which could make up for the lack of surround sound altogether.

Finally, a comment regarding subwoofers packaged with 5.1 computer systems. These subwoofers are generally made to produce high SPL (sound pressure level, or volume if you will) without necessairly being accurate; some subwoofers are very "lazy" and don't have the punch or attack of a higher quality sub. For movie explosions this is great, but when listening to music it can be the diffrence between toe-tapping fun and total musical confusion. How often have we heard poor sound systems with bass overwhelming the vocals? This can be the speakers fault, but can also be the users fault too; by setting the subwoofer volume to high, you're artificially pumping up lower end frequencies.

Headphones

I don't have much to say about headphones, mainly because I don't use them all that often. Generally speaking your typicall headphone will have a 1/8" jack, which is compatible with most Mp3 players and of course, computer soundcards. Headphones do have one advantage though: you'll often get more sound for your $$$. 100 dollar speakers won't sound as nice as carefully selected headphones. There are inherant flaws to headphones though; as they are placed close to / inside the ear canal, it can be difficult to for the listener to locate the various instruments and vocals of music or movies. The concept I'm refering to is "Soundstage", and the basic idea is that sombody with a good ear will be able to listen to music and virtually "position" the location of the various sounds in front of him. Give it a try: listen to some of your favorite music and close your eyes.... you'll most often hear the vocalist as if she/he was right in front of you, percussions to the right (for example), maybe a piano just left to the center...

Generally speaking, quality headphones will sound better than quality earbuds, which are limited by their size. For music on the go, I always prefer earbuds, but if you're listening to music @ home, good quality headphones are best.

I wish I could talk about "virtual surround headphones" which claim to simulate surround sound with only 2 speakers, but my knowledge of such products is extremely limited. From a technical standpoint, these will never be as efficient as a 5.1 setup, and should only be used if one must be discrete about their surround sound listening (neighbours, parents, etc.)

Limits of digitally encoded audio

As some of you are already aware, Mp3s' have really helped the computer in becomming a central part of many peoples audio experience. Why did they gain such popularity? The idea is that you could take a 40MB WAV file (or audio CD track) and turn it into a 5MB Mp3 file, without substantially degrading sound quality. How does this technology acheive such a feat? Though I'm no expert on encoding algorhytms, the "encoder" will remove some of the original audio data that is less audible to the human ear.

Truth is, I NEVER listen to music that's encoded @ a bitrate of less than 192kbps. For those who are not familiar with the term "bitrate" it's essentially a way of measuring how much of the original audio has been kept from the inital recording. The bitrate for Mp3s generally varies between 64kbps and 320 kpbs, the latter being of higher quality. There is also the issue of CBR (constant bit rate) versus VBR (variable bit rate), but I won't be discussing this in my FAQ. Google it and you'll find a wealth of information.

On the topic of digital music formats, since Mp3s have been released there are many new formats that have came out, like OOG, AAC, MP4, FLAC, WMA all of which claim to be the very best in sound quality, ease of use, size compression, etc. Even though some of these new formats are superior to MP3, the latter still dominates the digital music market, with the addition of two other formats that I've already mentionned; WMA and AAC. AAC is the format widely used by IPOD and Mac users, while WMA has gained tremenous mommentum from it's DRM (digital rights management) technology, encouraging producers and artists alike to publish their creations online.


Commentary on DRM-Based subscription services

Companies around the world have taken note of the amazing growth digital media has had over the recent years. Using special copy protection technology, major record labels are able to exploit a new market of technologically inclined individuals.

I myself have had the oppertunity to try 2 music services offered by Yahoo! and Napster. Frankly, with the ease of use of these 2 services I'm suprised that some people still buy CDs.

Often these services will come in a variatey of flavours: download tracks for a fixed price, download an unlimited number of tracks for a monthly fee and even download an unlimited number of tracks with the possibility of transfering them to a digital music device.

I LOVE the subscription based services. It allows me to sample entire albums of music and selectively download the tracks that I'm interested in. However, these subscription based services will often have "buy only" songs, most often new releases.

From an SQ (sound quality) perspective, these services are top-notch. They both offer 192 kbps CBR recordings, and these companies have standardized procedures.

One of the major pitfalls of such services is that the customer will not always find what they want. More obscure songs/pre-releases are NOT in their libraries, so for the aspiring DJs or just the casual, up to date listener these services have limited appeal.


Final Thoughts

You might have noticed that I've not made any recommendations regarding specific hardware/software. That's because everbody will have diffrent needs and desires that my recommendations simply won't satisfy.

If you're mainly into music though... here are my thoughts:

• The best way to go is a Soundcard/Amplifier/Speaker combination
• Even on a limited budget, you can get a very decent micro system with actual speakers
• If you're an "audiophile" computer speakers just don't cut it for 2 channel audio. Frequency gaps, inconsistent frequency response, etc.

I welcome any request/comments/additons/corrections/constructive feedback.

Regards,

Jimmy

P.S. The first photo is my personal setup... Roksan Kandy MkIII Integrated Amp, Focal-JMLabs 707S bookshelves and Xitel HiFi Link Pro. The 2nd photo is my old man's setup, Quad 22L/12L/LCenter/LSub speaker package, Infocus Screenplay 7205 HD DLP projector, Denon 2910 DVD player, Quad CD-P and Quad 909 2 Channel Power amp, Yamaha RX-V2500 Surround Amp. The 360 is mine though :-)

Le_Loup

very detailed, thorough, and so on, however, I must point out one flaw, get yourself an x-fi series sound card, and the min qual u'll want to go is 320kbps, no lower, thus napster and similar are outdatedly limited in quality to compare to the worth of an x-fi investment. If your going to buy music online like that, don't ever try anthing higher then an AUDIGY 1 series sound card with it, otherwise your wasting your money. Get the actual cd, enjoy the higher quality right off the cd, etc.

With respects,

Le_Loup

Prop's to the faq overall

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Jimmy2Shoe

1- Soundblasters don't have RCA Stereo outputs. The VERY best choice would be some sort of high end DAC, but even then most of them are limited by the Windows USB Audio drivers, which are not made for optimal sound quality.

2- The Xitel card sounds better than the Soundblaster for music, as I've had the oppertunity to try both out on a high end system... even better than what I have.

3- This guide is for listening to audio from a PC, and it was written taking into consideration what was currently available on the market. No subsciption based services offer anything higher than 192kbps.

I don't mean to be abrupt, but I don't want potential readers to be confused about some of your statements... maybe you could clarify? In any case, if you're talking about serious hifi, well... you shouldn't be listening to music from a PC in the first place.

Le_Loup

Funny soundblasters have rca inputs & outputs plus with correct cables, can easily cross over to it as well, and you've then never experienced the soundblaster platinum series, think x-fi, but soundblaster, with "slightly older but similar front panel".

Xitel? I'm not speaking those at all, whatever those are, the X-fi Xtreme Music, Platinum, Fatality, Elite Pro, are top of the line creative, easily beat the soundblasters and then some, even the audigy's are beat.

No one can be confused with my simple statement...

And regarding listening to music from a pc, I have 640+ hr's of music on here, all 320kbps --- wma lossless 650-1150kbps ranges.

And for serious Hi-Fi, I should be listening to music from a pc, because the sound technology and speaker equipment, has recently in the past 2-3 years enhanced itself enough to be equal or partially better then say "Famous Players" or "Cineplex Odeon" speakers and their equivilant or better quality.

Even if you configure a "7.1" system, or 5.1, with the proper cabling, wireless or not, ceiling, wall, or floor mounted, close to you, or in a large room, the surround sound is very impressive, and i'm an audiophille.

How you think pc "sound" doesn't measure up to say, top of the line sony stereo system with dvd digital audio, etc, AND multi speaker functionality, and say a 60inch plasma lcd or similar? The Pc does, and can easily connect up to it with the new digital out function in the x-fi line of cards, some of the audigy's have it, but the x-fi's do now, and if you checked the specifications of say the Creative Lab's X-fi Elite Pro for a tasty 350-400$$$ (canadian) You may also note that it's spec's, no matter what website, match or excell "standards" that most people use on stereo systems anyways.

And I know the difference from direct from the cd "digital", or analog, I can hear the difference, most people don't take the time to notice, or don't notice at all, but the x-fi's i'll contest that they can seriously provide any media platform a challenge.

Go try the Xtreme Music or Fatality X-fi card's, and if you notice a difference, then great, if not, (no offence, but... go to an ear doctor, maybe your music has been to loud recently). No offence intended, i'm stating that in concern because you can't initially hear the difference (if you haven't tried yet).


With respects,

Le_Loup

*P.S. I hope that's more detailed and direct, because my first post was also...*

*** Side note, I never said that buying the music tracks from napster and similar, can get higher then 192kbps, never did, read it again.... ***


I'm using 2 sets of 2.0 speakers to run a 4.2 surround sound, (1 of the 2 speaker set, has 2x mini sub's in them, so it's unique). Anyhoo, and they're set, the front from each other are just about 2 meters apart, and the rear are at least 5 meters behind, and 4 meters apart at the back wall. I'm usually sitting in the middle with a table for my mouse, and keyboard on my lap, and usb/ps2 extensions for both, (usb for mouse). And I have surround sound, or my sennheiser hd500's which seriously challenge the quality of the x-fi series of music. Alot of people think paying the extra cash for "serious headphones" of $150+++ cash... is like a waste, I say it isn't because if your serious about sound, believe me when I say, dolby, and similar have nothing on the sennheisers, especially if you get a chance to try the HD 650 series...O_O If you really want to try this out, get the x-fi Xtreme music or better, and hook it up (platinum for a bit more, and it has a front panel with rca in/out function, and more!)

Jimmy2Shoe

Ok, that's pretty clear... thanks for writting back. I truly couldn't find on Creatives website mention of dedicated RCA outputs, and back when I was shopping for sound cards they only had the Audigy 2s.

I still maintain my point that if you're listening to CDs all the time, money will be very well invested in a good CD player. Cambridge Audio and Rotel make quality CD players for relatively low cost (300-500$), but other hi-end brands (Krell, Naim, Meridian, Moon...) sell CD players over 3000$++

I think I will try the X-Fi sometime soon, to compare to my current sound card.

Anyway, thanks for the input. The above guide only touches upon a few basics, but when I bought my system this inforation was some of the most important info at the time... just for fun, what kind of speakers/amplification do you have?

Le_Loup

For the speakers, they're just there to put together a basic surround sound, heck I can't even find the spec's. My front 2.0 are the gateway pair that came with the pc that sound decently good for their "starter" worth. And the rear 2 speakers, lets just say they came from the p1/pentium2 era....O_O

And regarding the X-fi, Believe me when I say it, you'll be thoroughly impressed, however, you should have, a decent seriously good pair of headphones, or speakers to work with them. Custom your own rig, or similar, this series of sound cards will just blow you away. Even I was stunned, I didn't think there was much more to music then the sound blaster live series, and i've heard some minor differences on the audigy series, but the x-fi beats it 10times and then some! O_O

Le_Loup

Re: The cd player, and higher end ones, etc. I can understand that, but if people want to invest in an affordable equiviliant to a $3000 system, an x-fi elite pro, and I believe the logitech z5500's (digital) if I understand the proper model series right. And you'd be set, and still under $1,000! :D

*Side note, regarding the sound stage positional audio, it's not mainly the headphones that have the issue of not determinging it so well, (read up the rest of the tutorial), it's the sound card's apu (audio processor unit) and it's command structure to give you the proper sound. The X-fi Series seriously handles that well, and I mean I have a wide range of music and some very nice concerto's, etc. Plus some soft rock, techno, trance, etc, country, contemporary christian, and some hiphop/rap as well. 640+ hr's now! O_O

Jimmy2Shoe

I did some research and Creatives' top of the line card DOES NOT have RCA Stereo outputs... it has a 3.5mm jack but that's it.

http://www.creative.com/products/pro...ct=14064&nav=1

Honestly, for music and stuff, this card (and others in that range) are overkill. Even for movies, if you're using a Home Theater Receiver, you'll have a redundant Dolby Digital or DTS decoder, as the HT Receivers already do the decoding.... unless you feel that the Creative Decoder is superior to the decoder in your A/V Receiver.

I simply cannot recommend these cards unless:

1) You like sound effects
2) You NEED a Dolby Digital/DTS decoder
3) You have a high-end set of PC speakers that works via 3.5mm jacks
4) You do some recording/editing.
5) You're a headphone user

IT'S NOT THAT THEY'RE BAD, BY ANY MEANS. It's my opinion that it's just overkill for the average user.

Le_Loup

lmao funny, Check the Soundblaster Live Platnium. It literally had, and Check the X-Fi Platinum also, you'll quickly see what I mean by having the rca out. lol! Thanks for researching it, but you've obviously mised it, lmao.

Jimmy2Shoe

I'm truly sorry, but all I see are RCA INPUTS. There are also digital coaxial input/output, which are like RCA outputs, but definately not of the stereo variety.
http://www.creative.com/products/pro...ct=14065&nav=1 (X-FI Platinum)

Le_Loup

I'm sorry you don't believe they are of or adequate to your perception of stereo quality. I've repeatedly tested it, and there's imput and output on mine, and I've noticed exceptional audio quality (stereo) for my game-cube, a friends xbox, running a dvd player through it, or vice versa, and it's amazing. Respectfully speaking, i'm doubting you have good hearing, (my appologies if this offends you). I can hear quite well, not 100% of course like most people believe they can, But at least 99% if not close to, I can hear all the human ranges easily, and I can definately witness to the fact that these are high quality stereo in/output options. No more, no less. Try one for yourself, and if you seriously don't like it, don't use it, otherwise truly stop denying fact's that have been proven by 100,000's of reviews i've read on the internet. (Mentioning PC Magazine, Maximum PC magazine, etc).

Le_Loup