Audiophile Sound

jameson_uk

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I am currently using the SPDIF out on my nForce2 mobo into my Denon 2803 receiver. This is working well however I am disappointed in sound quality.

I am using Meedio as the front end and I have experimented with the BASS and FMOD built in players but neither seem to sound as good as my old cheap CD player.

A new sound card is not going to help as I am passing the signal staight out via SPDIF anyway so that is going to be just money down the pan and as far as I know the nForce2 onboard sound support ASIO.

What can I do to improve sound quality ??
 
Are you actually using the NVidia ASIO in your media player?
 
Been talking on your thread over in the other place. :) Looking at Meedio's forums, Asio is only supported by Meedio using their FMOD engine on the analog left and right out. That would explain why it still sounds poor via spdif. That signal is still going through good old Kmixer. I would suggest enabling Asio on the NF2 then using a known Asio caapable player like Foobar2000 see if you have an audio improvement.
 
jameson_uk said:
but neither seem to sound as good as my old cheap CD player.
Is this comparison based on your old CD player plugged into the same AV amp?

If the methods above don't sort it, you could get a soundcard (£50 M-Audio 2496) and use it's analogue outs into the Denon (I assume it has analogue in for stereo). I would expect this to improve the quality a lot.
 
agreed there... the analogue output from a 2496 will shame many a CD player.. :thumbsup:
 
Triggaaar said:
Is this comparison based on your old CD player plugged into the same AV amp?
yes

If the methods above don't sort it, you could get a soundcard (£50 M-Audio 2496) and use it's analogue outs into the Denon (I assume it has analogue in for stereo). I would expect this to improve the quality a lot.
Not thought of that !! I suppose I only really need the digitial output for DVD playback and DD/DTS. Would this however not potentially reduce sound quality as the digital signal would be converted to analog and then back again to digital before being converted to analog output to the speakers ??
 
Cable Monkey said:
Been talking on your thread over in the other place. :)
Noticed there a few here from that place :)

Looking at Meedio's forums, Asio is only supported by Meedio using their FMOD engine on the analog left and right out. That would explain why it still sounds poor via spdif. That signal is still going through good old Kmixer.
So even though FMOD is set to output via ASIO it would still be going through KMixer ??
I would suggest enabling Asio on the NF2 then using a known Asio caapable player like Foobar2000 see if you have an audio improvement
I have been playing with J River Media Center and outputting via ASIO but I was so tired last night I was not really listening :) Will try again this weekend to compare WMP10 (I already have all the EQ and everything off), Foobar2000, JRMC, FMOD/BASS in Meedio and WinAmp.
 
jameson_uk said:
So even though FMOD is set to output via ASIO it would still be going through KMixer ??

Using the SPDIF, yes.

jameson_uk said:
I have been playing with J River Media Center and outputting via ASIO but I was so tired last night I was not really listening Will try again this weekend to compare WMP10 (I already have all the EQ and everything off), Foobar2000, JRMC, FMOD/BASS in Meedio and WinAmp.

Been through all of those, and despite its being very simple and understated I come back to Foobar! I spent much time launching the same piece of music in 2 players simultaneously. Foobar won for all round competence.
 
jameson_uk said:
Triggaaar said:
Is this comparison based on your old CD player plugged into the same AV amp?
yes
Ah, I see. You can't compare a CD player and stereo amp agaisnt a souncard's (or motherboard's) digital out, into an AV amp, and only think of the sorce making a difference. Stereo amps are much better at producing stereo than AV amps. You will have to experiment to see what you're happy with - maybe an analogue feed to your Denon will sort it out, but you may need a stereo amp to sit with it all.

I suppose I only really need the digitial output for DVD playback and DD/DTS. Would this however not potentially reduce sound quality as the digital signal would be converted to analog and then back again to digital before being converted to analog output to the speakers ??
Indeed, you only need digital for 5.1. Check the spec of your Denon to see if it can let a 2 channel sorce go straight through, without fiddling with it (converting to digital and back). If it does convert, you'd have to try both digital and analogue input to see which is best. One method gets 1 extra conversion, but may start off with a better signal. But ideally, you can bypass the conversion with an analogue input.
 

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