Am I getting the best quality from my Computer Audio system?

[randymyers]

100% of my music collection is on two hard drives that are connected to my computer which is dedicated as my home theater system. My computer is connected to my AV receiver via a HDMI cable. The receiver drives a Stereo to 7.1 full range speaker systems. I am using AIMP software package to "play" and manage the files. I would say that 90% of my music files are either in 320 kbps or FLAC or some other lossless format. My question is, is this the best setup for listening to computer audio? How can I improve the sound quality of my system? Would using a dedicated DAC help? Are there any other software applications that can be recommended for file playback and management? I can use a dedicated computer, four core and 8 gig of RAM, for music files, would that improve the sound quality?

Thanks in advance

 

[ien2222]

Without knowing the specifics of your setup and room, the three biggest things are most likely: Better speakers/sub, room treatments, and speaker placement...probably in that order. Not really anything more you can do with your transport setup other than to have everything lossless, even then there's not really that much difference between a good 320 rip and lossless.

 

[americanaudiophile]

You can check out
www.computeraudiophile.com
for info on what playback software and PC configurations are best.

 

[randymyers]

I have found the attached Youtube videos, to be of help in answering my questions.

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEztALnHhQg&t=4565s

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIdDSyg0xUw&t=160s