Paul's Posts — 11 February 2012
By Paul McGowan
A community member asked an interesting question. ”Why go to all the expense of purchasing dedicated high-end hardware to stream music when you could do the same thing with a computer?”
In fact, isn’t a dedicated piece of streaming music hardware really just a computer in a pretty high-end box?
I think the simple answer is yes, if you’re already a computer expert. Let’s face it, most of us are not.
Dedicated hardware and software have a valuable place in our technological world: ease of use. In fact, most of us are more comfortable investing in a dedicated tool or application than achieving the same thing through complex and knowledge-required alternatives.
Certainly anyone with a gallon of cream can make her own butter, but it’s certainly easier to go to the market and just buy it.
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audiofilodigital.com
The comparison is pretty good, Paul. However, I think it is based on the ignorance of the purchaser + the lack of his will to manage his/her computer. The main group of these belong to people from 45 y.o… as new generations are much more used to manage Mac/pc than baby-boomers (Not to mention that Macs are making things pretty easy to be done by ourselves).
However, I think that when
a) Downloading free-programs (legal software) becomes into a interesting activity (“what happens if I try this? It is free so…).
b) Customizing the software at your own “taste” is an interesting activity (…hobby, digital bricolage???)
c) You think about the difference in the cost of making those things easier (easier, initially) is so high with so many people in the middle (if the finished products make things easier… the role of some intermediaries start to be a little bit unknown, more and more… at the end, isn’t it the product “easier” to manage by the end-user directly?).
d) How many audiophiles we know they like to “inter-act” with their products that way, improving them (or thinking of an improvement after substituting some parts inside) ?
Put all those ingredients in the pot and you can find that making butter at home can really compensate the little time spent on it, as it includes some basic elements that are also ver attractive:
- Different Free softwares,
- Time spent on that turns this into a funny Hobby (and you don’t need to spend too long to make it work from the beginning. Then you can test/try some advices to hear differences),
- Customization (all of us are different right?),
- The amount of saved money is really huge… veeeeery huge.
- You don’t need to dedicate time going to a show-room to sit down and listen what product the dealer has there. You can experiment your own experiments at home: it is your baby, you have been part of the final results, you feel useful (and “smart”, and proud of yourself).
- The economic situation doesn’t help too much on spending money as in the past times: now, you care about it.
So, at the end, all of these make computer audio into a digital hobby that (except DAC hardware) has its own niche and may make them wonder if it’s worth the money spend on some expensive digital Hi-End gear when you can have something unique on your own while saving a lot of money.
Just my 2 cents…
Paul McGowan
And I think you hit it square on the money – it’s a niche all to its own.
I remain convinced that the vast majority of Audiophiles (including myself) want a dedicated hardware/software solution. There will always be those willing to experiment and cobble things together – but they will never be sure it’s working correctly.
When we put together a high-end dedicated piece of hardware – dedicated to bringing the best SQ possible to people without having to mess with it – then you can be sure it’s right.
There’s a lot of value to that – I am sure of it.
audiofilodigital.com
” they will never be sure it’s working correctly.”… well, isn´t it the “core” of the audiophile business/market ? …the eternal unsatisfaction or “wishtoimprovethings” ? LOL…
Paul McGowan
Ummmm, I don’t think so. I know that’s a nice myth and certainly it applies in some cases but I wouldn’t agree it’s the norm.
audiofilodigital.com
Right. It is mandatory to segment the little audiophile niche…
MountainSufi
Dedicated equipment?
I’ve got it. A Macbook Pro (used for nothing but home entertainment) tweaked to be as fast as possible with Wavelength DAC. Network Attached Storage via Bufalo Terrastation. Hooked to a TV.
I can play cd’s and dvd’s, stream Vudu & YouTube, and check out music on Spotify to see if a cd is interesting enuff to buy. Using my Mac Air to share screens gives me the coolest remote control on planet earth. Another bonus: If I forget to bring the Air home from work I’ve got a backup.
Is this complicated? Naw… I’m 59 YO and a non-geek.
Happy Trails!
Love my P10!
Bassman23
Happily, there will always be room for both. If a company (and it’s engineers) come up with an elegant, great-sounding and easy-to-use system, I’ll give it a look (and I have!).
But more and more software is available every day to turn a computer (dedicated or not) into a real solution.
However, as The Absolute Sound established in its just-completed four-part series, everything matters (software, cables, etc) to get the most out of your system. I recommend the series to anyone considering this path.
straylight
I think Paul may be right:
” they will never be sure it’s working correctly.”… When we put together a high-end dedicated piece of hardware – dedicated to bringing the best SQ possible to people without having to mess with it – then you can be sure it’s right. There’s a lot of value to that – I am sure of it.
As a computer professional and an audiophile hobbiest i have spent many hours with tricky ASIO driver set-up, broken or buggy program plugins, poor open-source documentation for programs like foobar2000 and also Windows ‘mixer’ issues to try to get the most from my computer-based-audio system. The truth is that many, many perople don’t really know what is coming out of their computers without the proper test equipment. I recently discovered that after all my efforts to achieve bit-perfect audio output from an ASUS Essence 24-bit sound card, the DAC was performing SRC (sample rate converstion) and changing all the bits before D to A conversion. WOW this was an eye opener! It caused me to look for a non-src DAC and to look for a manufacturrer with a reliable design so that my efforts could be realized..
Obtaining bit-perfect audio is a mine-field and labryinth for even the most savvy of computer users and I can only imagine others in the same boat with little on no computer skills. In this world of instant gratification there is no free lunch, and many users will benefit from leaving most of the bit-stream up to the professional designers. Having said that I have been fortuante enough to have achieved the goal of DSD and FLAC 24/192 kHz bit-perfect playback, but I still need he right DAC to make it all happen.