Computer CD quality

  • Thread starter Thread starter Paul881
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Paul881

Paul881

Look Mom, I can play!
Having just got my first pair of "decent" nearfield monitors (MAudio SP5b's), the clarity and detail that I can hear has improved enormously. So much so that what has surprised me is the crappy CD playback sound I get from my Creative CD/DVD player and my Ricoh CDR/RW devices installed in my computer. I can even tell the difference between the two devices; the Ricoh is far better but still a long way off what I would call acceptable. Bearing in mind that in my house I have a brand new stereo hifi system with the very latest NAD CD player that really is stunning, so the comparison is stark.
Anyone else noticed this as much as me? Looks like an external dedicated CDR/RW is the way to go. I feel anoither upgrade coming on....:)
 
How does the audio get from those drives to your amp/speakers?

On my system the audio comes straight through the SCSI bus off the drive (no audio connector) and only goes through 1 D/A conversion.

If your drives are sending the audio through a separate connector to the mobo then your going through 2 D/A and 1 A/D conversion.

That would seriously degrade your sound quality.
 
M.Brane, thanks for the quick reply. I have a delta66+omni and I also have a s/blaster Live! for midi connectivity. In my DAW I have a CD and CD RW. The CD is connected internally to my S/blaster card. I am currently connecting my CD to the omni via the headphone socket from the front panel of the Live! Is there a better way you can recommend to connect up the CD's?
 
What M.Brane said is the best possible way.
It doesn't necessarily have to be a scsi bus. It should work on IDE devices as well.
The most degrading factor is most likely the D/A converter of the cd-drive. You want to keep that out of the chain.
 
Sorry Guys, I posted incorrectly before. My chain goes from the back of the CD internally to the s/blaster card via a screened cable. I don't seem to be able to connect from any line out of the s/blaster card to the input of the omni. The only way that works appears to be from the headphone socket in the CD front panel to the omni input.

Can you explain the possible CD IDE connection to my Delta 66+omni in more detail, I don't quite understand how I can make this work.
 
It really depends on teh software your using, but I think windows media, or any other software your using can be set up to pull the audio in it's digital form through the standard CD read interface - just as if it was data like an mp3 or word file.

This digital version of the audio can then be converted in your maudio soundcard (which will have a better quality than the analogue cable going to your soundcard)


cheers

R
 
Okay, my system can play MP3 from the CD-RW player/recorder fine, and my Sonar software and Fruity Loops can play direct through the IDE bus, no problem. My only problem is when I wish to play an audio CD, then the only way seems to be via the headphone socket on the front of my CD-RW into an input on my omni. There is no internal audio connection from the CD-RW to the delta 66 soundcard. So without the headphone connection, it will not play. Unless you can advise me otherwise how this can be done....?
 
It's like ripping a cd (also known as Digital Audio Extraction or DAE) to convert the audio tracks to wav files. That is done through the IDE bus. Now imagine ripping a cd at single speed and simultaneous playing back the wav.

Does that make sense?
 
christiaan said:
It's like ripping a cd (also known as Digital Audio Extraction or DAE) to convert the audio tracks to wav files. That is done through the IDE bus. Now imagine ripping a cd at single speed and simultaneous playing back the wav.

Does that make sense?
Click to expand...

All you need to do is rip the audio from the disc only instead of making an mp3 make a 16/44.1 .wav file. Then import that into your session.
 
Sorry, but I am missing something very elementary and basic here, I just can't get it into my head.

I can import an MP3 into my session, I can convert (rip) and audio CD to wav and import it into my session. All this I do regularly. But what I want to do is simply listen to an audio cd play from my computer CD-RW/CDR in realtime via my omni and delta 66 soundcard, without opening Sonar without connecting my headphone outs in the computer CD players to an omni input.
Maybe you guys are telling me how to do this but I am more than a little slow on the uptake.:rolleyes:
Can you be more specific, like step by step take me through it again please?
Sorry and thanks at the same time:)
 
You should be able to do it through winamp. Although you may have to select which output of the omni you want to use.

You may have to look in the control panel "sounds and audio devices" if you using XP.

If your running anything else, then there should be an equivelent.

cheers

r
 
Thanks guys and sorry for the thick head:(

When I play back the cd, winamp auto starts and I can see the tracks being played back - but I cannot hear them, unless I connect the headphone out on the CD front panel to an omni input.

At the rear of both my computer CD's are an analogue connector output and an audio connector. Neither are currently connected.

I believe either of these connectors need to be connected up to a soundcard for me to hear audio. Yes?
 
Paul881 said:
Thanks guys and sorry for the thick head:(
Click to expand...

No worries, dude. I think we just didn't grasp what you were trying to do at first.

At the rear of both my computer CD's are an analogue connector output and an audio connector. Neither are currently connected.

I believe either of these connectors need to be connected up to a soundcard for me to hear audio. Yes?
Click to expand...

I have 2 CD drives: a Pioneer CD-ROM and a Plextor CDR/RW. Neither of them have any connection other than the SCSI cable. Mac OS9 takes the audio directly from the SCSI bus for playback. I'm sure you must be able to do the same with IDE/Windows. The problem may lie in getting Windows to recognize the Delta as a valid output device for CD playback, especially when the SB is present. Someone who knows Windows better would know for sure.
 
Getting there....nearly! Problem is getting windows to enable the cd device as being able to read the data digitally. In Control Panel>multimedia, there is a check box to enable digital playback. Unfortunately, this is greyed out. It may be a driver problem or a win 98 issue.
 
Cracked it! Simply downloaded a new version of winamp and set it up properly to read my cd player digitally. Thanks for the help:D
 
good news!

thats good to hear..I was going to say that win98 natively does not support listening to audio cd's through the ide bus so you MUST use the cd audio cable. Hooking it in through a headphone jack is a BIG part of why it sounded so awful, it was a preamplified source. Win2k and XP both support the ide feature.
I know it's too little too late :).

dlv
 
Thanks for that muskgrave, and no problem, better late than never:)
 
Good to see you got it handled!

So now the question is: how does it sound?:D
 
Thanks, dude.

The VFR is one of several bikes I'm looking at to replace my old Ninja 600. I want a bike that can handle the twisties and occasional two-up touring.
 
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