Turn Your Computer Into A Music Machine

(From MSNBC.com -- By Gary Krakow)

These days it's a given -- buying and listening to CDs is passe.

Portable music means an IPOD or other MP3 player.
If most of what you like to listen to now isn't already stored on your computer, it will be soon.

But what if you want to listen to those computer-stored tunes on your big stereo system? You could just plug your computer directly into your stereo system, but the sound quality will be questionable, running as it will off your PC's 10-cent audio chip.

A much better option -- attach a digital-to-audio converter (DAC) box, sort of an outboard sound card for your computer that then connects to your stereo, and prepare to be amazed. Under some circumstances it can sound better than a $10,000 hi-fi component.

I've been testing one such device from WAVELENGTH AUDIO. Its creator, GORDON RANKIN, is not only an audiophile, but he's also a designer of computer equipment. So, it was only natural that he put his two loves together and came up with THE BRICK, which converts the digital output from the computer to analog and filters it through a 12AU7 tube.

Turn Your Computer Into A Music Machine

Scott O'Leary, thanks for the post.