Welcome

This website covers the basic of computer audio.
When I started a couple of years ago, I was completely blank.

Yes I knew that you can download a MP3 and play it over a pair of fancy desktop speakers. But I didn't realize that a computer could be a source for high quality audio too.

 

I entered the world of ID3, FLAC, WAV, WASAPI, DS, ASIO, UPnP, DLNA, Freedb, AMG, Gracenotes, cover art, DAC, NAS, Router, adaptive USB, asynchronous USB, Toslink, AES/EBU, SPDIF, I2S, WMP, Foobar, JRiver, dbPoweramp, EAC, bit depth, SRC, ASRC, 24/96, CDtext, Transcoding, VST, DCP Lantency and a couple of other things you need to know.

A fascinating world but it takes some time to find your way.

 

Of course I didn't know this all when I started.

But I found out how to do it.

As I tend to forget these things, I make notes.

As I forget where I have left my notes, I put them all into this website.

This is simply my notebook and of course you are welcome to it too.

Enjoy.

 

Vincent Kars

Updates

• The portability of tags in WAV is a problem. So big some even believe it is impossible to tag WAV.
  dbPoweramp,,Foobar, JRiver Media Center, MusiCHI and MusicBee use the same convention and therefor can read each other’s tags. More...

• All JRiver's options

• Navigating in JRiver

• How to kill

• DSD over USB

• New audio blog by J. D. (JJ) Johnston: Audioskeptic's blog

• MusiCHI is a media player targeting classical music

• The best optical drive for ripping
• Measurements of USB cables.
• Android and DLNA
• Bluetooth - improved sound quality by using better codecs
• Acoustic materials
• Revamped the speaker section a little.
• Can your gear resolve Hires recordings?
• Display compilations/samplers as one album
• Tagging classical using JRiver

• USB audio trouble shooting

• The Digital Audio Blog
  

• Want to know the properties of your USB DAC?
  Is it really asynchronous?
  Try the Thesycon USB Descriptor Dumper

• A 500 Gb Linux music server for € 105
• Automatic sample rate switching in OSX for $5.49
• The impact of sample rate conversion on sound quality

• Digital volume control. No it doesn’t wear

• A bit more about SPDIF
• Resources; forums and blogs
• DSD, big bandwidth filled with big noise.
• Some vinyl ripping software
• Measuring the burn-in
• New introduction to USB audio

• Can your DAC play CD quality?

• Updated the measurement page
• Updated the Power Supply page
• Resonessence Labs Invicta DAC - asynchronous USB

• Jim Lesurf compares a simple adaptive mode USB with asynchronous USB

• Bridging the gap between the Squeezeboxes and DLNA: Whitebear

• A German forum dedicated to active speakers.

• Tweaking Win7 a bit
• WASAPI, Microsoft's own ASIO
• Can you play this from memory?
• How to listen

• The impact of power saving on sound quality

• Revamped the memory playback section

• What's Best Forum has an interesting audio section

  

• Replay Gain and Gapless Playback

• Getting started