I want an audiophile quality PC. Well shielded- Designed to screen out RF--with high end cards,etc. Any experience or suggestions? The ones I have been looking at still seem to run on Windows 7. Won't that be obsolete faster than the usual obsolete curve? Here are links to something like what I have in mind. http://www.sweetwater.com/c859--PC_Desktops----I am an old school audiophile, but no computer geek, so, assume I understand audio, but not how to coax the best audio out of computers. I am looking for quality listening experience, no hum or RF in the back. If it helps run a multi-media show in a intuitive way, even better. Also, I hate my Tascam interface, and this has no Firewire or similar ports so that is something else I need to take into consideration. Want something well shielded/low noise, and if it had a pre-amp in it that sounded halfway decent, that would be a plus. Need 8 channels to record drums. Or 6 plus a digital in for my 2 channel ART pre-amp. Thanks for any help in advance. may the new year bring you peace, love, and waffles.

 

I'm a sound designer and I build computers for audiophiles as my day job So you want a rack mount PC? PC I recommend a Asus Essences STX (https://www.asus.com/Sound_Cards_and_DigitaltoAnalog_Converters/Xonar_Essence_STX/)with a UAD DSP (http://www.uaudio.com/uad-plug-ins/uad-2-pcie.html) That is what I have in one of my desktops and I use it as a PC rack. Best thing ever!!! Then from there get a 6 channel PCI audio card. And you now have a great PC rack mount! Motherboard and other specs I recommend are: Asus Sabertooth motherboard, 16 GB Ram, and a PNY GT630 graphics card. I build these daily and usually comes out to $1400. But it lasts forever :P

 

Hard to argue with UA. Those people have been the best forever. I have used their gear in the studio many times. I would have to assume that expertise would carry over into modern stuff. And remember H.I.T.R.----"you better come into my kitchen, 'cause it's gonna be raining outside."

 

Screening out RF? wrap your internal cables around some toroids. A high quality power supply should have good RF filtering on the mains socket inlet as well. Any external audio coming in ideally needs to be (electrically) isolated from the PC also.

 

the noise comes from the audio outputs of the tower. I don't think HP spent a lot of effort to shield anywhere that the signal is analog.If I have the cables just hanging in the air or connected to something quiet, like my ART pre-amp, no problem. Can turn the KRK Rokit 10/3s up all the way and they are quiet.

 

Haha lol Yeah most definitely!

 

You need to (electrically)isolate the audio signals to stop the noise, it's being picked up from the pc circuits (- negative supply) ground, usually its around 50-60Hz which is the frequency of your electricity supply but the pc boards also have oscillators within the circuits which may also cause RF.


The Rokits probably have an isolation circuit built in to stop the hum coming through.

 

Prism Sound Orpheus.

 

The best "audiophile" you can do is have an all digital card in the PC so all the audio is isolated from interference, or a card with digital in/out aside from analog I/O, a WordClock is also a good addition, then connect it with AES/EBU. SPDIF or ADAT to an external AD/DA. That's the best sounding solution I know of. I even have separate AD and DA... TC Electronic BMC-2 is a great external DAC that I prefer to even Benchmark DAC-1 that is almost 3x the price of BMC-1. For AD you can use something like Presonus or Mackie Onyx, Focusrite preamp, connect it with your card with ADAT connectors and you have clean 8 channels into the PC. I use TC Electronic Konnekt 48 as AD connected to RME 9652 with ADAT cables and WordClock, even though it's got the same DA as BMC-1 so I could use it as both AD/DA no problem, it's just that I find BMC-1 more convenient with its nice VU-meter and controls. As far as internal audio card goes, I can recommend you RME 9652, RME RayDAT, RME 9632, Lynx L22, M-Audio Audiophile 192. RME and Lynx have the best performing and most stable drivers, plus they both have WordClock so you can use them as the master clock for AD/DA interfaces.

As for the PC, I would put it in a nice 3HE rack, use the quietest 500-600W Corsair HX power supply, use the biggest and quietest Scythe or Thermaltake cooler, use the average and not very power hungry CPU and GPU [some AMD 4 core with Radeon 8xxx should do], SSD, just one quiet WD Black 1TB hard disk [with just 1 platter] that I would put in a Scythe HDD silencer case. ;)

Cheers!

 

OK, here is what I went with, because I had a bunch of other stuff to get, and Sweetwater made me a deal. Creation Station 250 PC, PreSonus Audiobox 1818VSL, and an air travel ready rack. Will put my ART MPA-II and I got an RIAA phono pre-amp (also ART, for my old Harmon Kardon T45 turntable) in the rack with that and I should have a rolling juggernaut of VST.