Yeah but by that same argument why listen to MP3s through IE7s? I'm thinking about FLAC and CDs.

No matter how good the quality of your source/waveform is, if you're taking that digital data and converting it poorly into an analogue stream, that's a factor in achieving quality (or not so good) sound.

I'd never pay that kind of money just to listen to MP3s but I do listen to CDs and FLAC thru my PC/Mac and the headphone amps / monitor outs on my studio rackmount. For me that's a bonus - I spent £400 on my interface but I can record a drum kit. £80 for a decent external sound card isn't that much of a big deal if you're looking at upgrading your digital hi-fi, which effectively a computer these days is if you use it to listen to music. Just because your source is digital doesn't mean how you output it isn't important - that's why headphones matter. But sometimes more important is that actual conversion process - never wondered why MP3 players are considered to have varying quality audio output? That's the DAC they're talking about.

What I said is true - you get a lot of buzzy noise / EMI from a laptop sound chip, especially at higher volumes. Ever wondered what that hissing / mild oscillation / twittering sound is (even if it's intermittent)?. Well, it doesn't have to be and isn't supposed to be there.

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PM is your friend.

EMI doesnt have to be there, buy an £80 USB sound card to remedy it

derp

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New master race build guide | Budget HTPC build

Did I recommend a pos creative thx X-whateverthefuck for £80 just to avoid emi? No. I just mention that emi can be avoided and is especially audible thru many embedded sound chips.

If you act like the know it all and don't apparently understand or appreciate the hugely important dac process, I'm surprised.

Just putting in my experience from the audio production pov, where you learn that amps and dacs matter m'kay.

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PM is your friend.

And those things matter to Joe Public on his run of the mill laptop? (They dont.)

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New master race build guide | Budget HTPC build

Lock thread please.

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Taint

So what, it's still relevant to discussing digital audio quality. You seem to just be arguing with me for the sake of it. It's like saying "yes this is true but it doesn't matter, so it's not worth raising awareness of that".

I could easily argue there's very little transparent difference between 192kbps and higher bitrates, however I don't like extraneous noise. But that's not an argument, it's just my preference.

Take what you want of my observations but no need to discount them.

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PM is your friend.

Without any knowledge of his music taste, listening to his stuff at 320kbps won't hurt. If he's a big fan of classical music or jazz, he'd be better off listening to his music on CD or Vinyl on a good sound system. But if he wants to listen to his stuff whenever, wherever, sticking it in 320 is decent enough for anyone.

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Taint