PC Hifi
PC Hi-Fi is about how you treat the music and movies that reside on your computer. If you’re like most people, you’re guilty of “media-neglect”. We’re talking about the music you’ve purchased from the iTunesTM store, music from CD’s you’ve ripped, the music you’ve made in your garage, videos you’ve made while making music in your garage or downloaded from YouTubeTM. Whatever. The good news is, because a few of us care and bandwidth has more “width”, the quality level of our “media” is getting better, every day, all the time.
It’s true. Video on the web is now going HD. iTunesTM has iTunes PlusTM – high resolution copies of your music and now you can rent HD movies! There’s Music GiantsTM and others who now offer high-rez music downloads. Fox and other allow you to view and download HD TV Shows, Sports and movies. You’re making movies with your $599 HD stereo hi-fi camcorder of your friends and kids. Hey, you’ve just learned you can rip your CD’s lossless! It’s a brave new world and most people are playing this “New World” not so bravely back through wimpy laptop speakers or the free plastic paperweights you got with your DellTM. Sorry Apple heads, even your beloved MacTM speakers fall short of short. You call yourself an audiophile?
Knowledge is power as they say, so here is a conceptual lightening bolt! Buy powered NHT speakers and subwoofers for your computer or your iThingy! It’s the same NHT powered stuff the professionals use. When you do this, you’ll just freak out. Really. The difference is big... like Mt. Rushmore big. Get a PVC too while you’re at it. That makes the big, really easy.
OK, here’s your call to action -- go to the garage and eBayTM all that crap lying around that somehow you couldn’t live without and get yourself some new crap that’s smaller and more expensive... NHT PC Hi-Fi speakers, subwoofers and PVC and get ready to hear it all over again.
Your CD collection,
your record collection (yes – your beloved vinyl collection too), iTunes
or from other Internet sites that sell downloadable music.
On
your computers hard drive or your portable
music player like an iPod.
Either
on a portable music device like a Rio
Zen or iPod, your computer or on some
media server client/player thing like
a Sonos.
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Hardware Needed:
A computer – PC or Mac –
ideally this computer is dedicated
to this task – call this
your music server. This is hooked
to the Internet and ideally networked
in your home so you can purchase
songs at will and fly the music
anywhere in your home. This is
your new audio component, just
like a DVD player. |
A USB or
Firewire external hard drive
with at least 250 gig of space.
This is to backup your music
library from your computers
hard drive. The bigger, the
better.
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A portable music player
like an iRiver, Rio, or iPod.
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A stereo system or good powered
speakers if you will be listening
mostly from your desk, or both. |
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An external volume control –
like
the NHT PVC
PC or PVC-pro .
Avoid cheap mixers.
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