How to get the most out of asus 797 motherboard for audiophile quality music?

[wyckedscepter]

Hey All,

Build my system with asus z97-a-USB31 mobo, partly for getting best quality audiophile sound possible out of it for listening to music (not for gaming). Can anyone give me some concrete advice on how to configure components software to get most out of?

I listen to both my desktop speakers as well as headphones that plug into headphone port. I have desktop speakers with both RCA and TRS 1/4" inputs.

Mobo has crystal sound, DAC, amp, etc.

(https/www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z97AUSB_31/overview/)

What connection is the best way to connect speakers to computer? Is it worth buying a higher quality cable?

Software:

What software and codec do I want to use to manage sound, I think asus has software package for it, but can't find it.

What configuration / settings on iTunes / musicbee do I want to use? On itunes preferences on playback, do I want to play audio using "windows audio session" or "direct sound"

I am using flac, mp3 with 320 kbps sound, and flac converted to alac (itunes's flac version), want to get to 192kHz/ 24-bit True BD Lossless Sound.

Running windows 10 home.

Thanks!!

 

[americanaudiophile]

The quality of the speakers is the first thing to address. RCA and TRS will probably sound the same on yours. A better cable will only help if the speakers are good enough for you to hear the difference,
JRiver Media Center is generally preferred over iTunes. Foobar2000 will also work fine for a simple player.
Try the forum on computeraudiophile,com for details on setting up your playback software. I would suggest that you don't need to convert flac to alac on a PC.
24bit 192 sample rate files are not related to blueray directly and have to be in that format natively, not upconverted to offer any advantage.

 

[wyckedscepter]

The quality of the speakers is the first thing to address. RCA and TRS will probably sound the same on yours. A better cable will only help if the speakers are good enough for you to hear the difference,
JRiver Media Center is generally preferred over iTunes. Foobar2000 will also work fine for a simple player.
Try the forum on computeraudiophile,com for details on setting up your playback software. I would suggest that you don't need to convert flac to alac on a PC.
24bit 192 sample rate files are not related to blueray directly and have to be in that format natively, not upconverted to offer any advantage.

Thanks so much, playing around with foobar that is awesome.