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Using a laptop as a CD player

eisenach

pfm Member
I've just set up my daughter's old Dell laptop to run through the Young DAC as a way of playing the odd HD file I have, or a few bits that are on the hard disc. Just by chance, I put a CD in and let it play rather than rip. It sounded rather good, perhaps just a bit "fluffier" than the TAG DVD32R I usually use, but mayber even the better for it!
Is anybody else just using the DVD-ROM drive in a computer, or does everyone rip? I don't think I can be bothered doing that, and I like choosing a physical CD, but sticking it in the computer suddenly doesn't seem like such a daft idea!
 
I rip, but the media pc has a blu ray drive.. If friends bring cds over they get played and it sounds very good. Better than the 8200cdq I had before.
 
The only issue I have with a PC as a music player is the noise from the fan and drives. It bothers me a lot, but if it's not a concern, then I can't see any reason why a PC shouldn't make a perfectly decent CD player.

S.
 
I think op is using a laptop so not much noise , I have tried this myself and sounds ok , biggest surprise was blueray player which really was quite good
 
The only issue I have with a PC as a music player is the noise from the fan and drives. It bothers me a lot, but if it's not a concern, then I can't see any reason why a PC shouldn't make a perfectly decent CD player.

S.


No moving parts here.... Passive cooling and a solid state hard disk...
 
A home made solution, there is a thread about it in the diy forum, basically the smallest streacom case, amd fusion motherboard, 32gb ssd, windows 7 with xbmc as the interface (plays everything).
 
A home made solution, there is a thread about it in the diy forum, basically the smallest streacom case, amd fusion motherboard, 32gb ssd, windows 7 with xbmc as the interface (plays everything).

That would be great, but I need at least 500Gb of storage. All normal HDs I've tried are too noisy if used in the listening room.

S.
 
Erm cough I sold my DVD32R about 4 years ago because PC rips easily equalled it but with far greater convenience.

There is no real reason why a PC's DVD drive with some decent player software shouldn't be as good since its basically using the same system to extract the audio data in real time.
 
That would be great, but I need at least 500Gb of storage. All normal HDs I've tried are too noisy if used in the listening room.

S.

Nas library (network attached storage).. Put the slightly noisy spinning disks elsewhere, and have a small hdd in the computer. Or use another pc in the house as the server. :)
 
Erm cough I sold my DVD32R about 4 years ago

Yes, to me!
It's still going strong, but I must say, the laptop via Foobar and the Young sound very good, better than a Tag CDT20TL, and as good but different from the DVD32R.
I'm not sure I can be bothered booting up the laptop everytime I want to play a CD, though.
 
The only issue I have with a PC as a music player is the noise from the fan and drives. It bothers me a lot, but if it's not a concern, then I can't see any reason why a PC shouldn't make a perfectly decent CD player.

S.

Ditto: but there are simple solutions:
1. Buy a silent computer
2. Buy a noisy computer separated by fibre optic from the digital output and put the unsociable component in another room
3. Remove the HD and store your music on NAS (living out of earshot)

PC optical drives tend to be very noisy: it's hard to think of a single benefit of spinning the CD during playback when the ripped files can be played silently without interference from the mechanism.
 
Ditto: but there are simple solutions:
1. Buy a silent computer
2. Buy a noisy computer separated by fibre optic from the digital output and put the unsociable component in another room
3. Remove the HD and store your music on NAS (living out of earshot)

PC optical drives tend to be very noisy: it's hard to think of a single benefit of spinning the CD during playback when the ripped files can be played silently without interference from the mechanism.

Or alternatively, do as I currently do, with a SBT in the listening room, and the PC with the Music Library upstairs.

S.
 
Or alternatively, do as I currently do, with a SBT in the listening room, and the PC with the Music Library upstairs.

S.

Serg, I've built a silent music server with 512GB SSD. It's fanless too; a Shuttle XS36V. Total build cost including software is bellow £600.
Have a look at my Computer4 Audio thread :)
 


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