PC for audio juke-box

[doan]

I'm building a small m-atx system that will be used only to play mp3's through my stereo. My stereo does not have surround sound or digital, just plain old left & right RCA inputs.

Will there be a noticeable difference in sound quality between on-board audio and a dedicated sound card? If so what's good sound card for this application? Something that's available in a low profile format would be great.

 

[bob4432]

depends on the quality of stereo equipment, how the mp3s are encoode and how good your ears are.

 

[DaveSimmons]

On-board is worth trying, I used it for awhile for my music server and I didn't notice any difference when I switched to a Hercules Game Theater XP. My speakers are Polk RT28i's.

 

[doan]

It's a pair of polk satalites and a sub driven by an ancient Technics receiver. Due the wife's constraints on speaker placement (invisible), nothing is positioned for optimum sound.

Most of the music is my own CD collection ripped to mp3 at 192kps.

I'm building a custom case...if I don't have to allow room for a full height PCI sound card, I can make it a lot smaller.

 

[DBSX]

My personal opinion is that onboard audio using most modern motherboards will be just fine for music. But then, this also goes back to waht was said above, largely it depends on your hearing. Some people seem to be bothered by MP3 audio in general, others can't tell the difference between the highest and lowest bitrates.

\Dan