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AUDIO FORUMS >> Digital >> Bits ain't bits
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Message started by CAJames on 10/09/25 at 22:30:10

Title: Bits ain't bits
Post by CAJames on 10/09/25 at 22:30:10

I think a lot of us know that when it comes to playing digital music there is more to it than "bits is bits."

For years I've been playing digital files on an old, low end Windows laptop running foobar2000. I replaced the wallwart power supply with a LPS, I turned off a bunch of unnecessary Windows services and I bought a nice USB cable from Network Acoustics. Each of these steps resulted in improved sound and I thought I was set for file playback.

Then, long story short, I recently acquired an old Intel NUC and installed Volumio. And now my files significantly better than ever. I'll admit I was a little surprised how much better everything sounded, esp. since some years ago I tried several different music distros, including Volumio, and none of the were as good as foobar, for any number of reasons. The Volumio UI is fancier than I prefer, and it doesn't have a couple fringe features that foobar does but now I'm sold on Volumio. I don't know if it is the software or the hardware or some of both but my bits are sounding better than ever.

Title: Re: Bits ain't bits
Post by Bilyeaux on 10/10/25 at 13:37:00

James I’m not familiar with those components, but I am curious if my bits would sound better if I changed from my blue sound node 2.1 to something else. I keep telling myself the slight improvement wouldn’t be worth the money so I don’t spend any but that doesnt keep me from thinking about it …😎

Randall

Title: Re: Bits ain't bits
Post by CAJames on 10/10/25 at 15:27:30

Quote:

Posted by: Bilyeaux Posted on: Today at 05:37:00

...I keep telling myself the slight improvement wouldn’t be worth the money so I don’t spend any but that doesnt keep me from thinking about it …

Hey Randall,

That's the thousand dollar question, isn't it. I mean you can always do better, what matters is are you getting value.

Some people have woodworking skills and can build their own speakers and stuff. I'm fortunate that I have some computer skills and access to surplus computer parts so it is cheap and easy for me to play around with stuff. This particular project cost me nothing but time. And my time is pretty cheap these days.

I also made the decision early on that I wasn't going to do streaming. I've said before that managing the network at a mid-major research university was my day job for years and either because or in spite of that I wanted nothing to do with networking and my music. That is not a trade off many people would make, but it works for me and has removed a whole 'nother rabbit hole of audiophile nervosa (and expense).

None of that answers your question, which I expect was (mostly) rhetorical. One of the many great things about this forum is getting to know other listeners and being able to share their experience. For me that has been a great guide for allocating my audio budget.