On Mon, 19 Jul 1999, Steve Ridley wrote:
> I would like to use a PC to play MP3. Is there a sound card that is better
> suited for this purpose. I am aware that MP3 is 16 bit and sub-CD quality. I
> just wondered if there are sound cards and sound cards. Even at this
> distance from professional quality.

Hi Steve,

I may be in the minority, but I like the Soundblaster Vibra 16. It is
their cheapest card. If all you are doing is playing mp3, you don't want
all the other stuff adding mixer noise and being an antenna for bus
sounds. I have one in my car and it gets a lot of high volume use. The
signal-to-noise ratio is excellent.

Of course, I also like the Xing 1.0 compressor best, because of the
cutoff. I've never felt that 20khz was an acceptable cutoff for 44ksps
audio, and the 16khz cutoff of the Xing compressor works well. Note that
the current Xing compressor(with VBR) does not have this cutoff.

If you want a test of your compressor, try encoding the Beatles "Nowhere
Man". It shows up flaws in most compressors. This test only works if you
have the Beatles collection on CD :-)

For playing mp3 on Linux I recommend mpg123. It is the best sounding.
Under Windows the 2.04 version of Winamp is the best(not the new one).

These opinions are just my .02

Regards,
Bob