How to listen to audio from a computer 25" away

S

Seated

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 16, 2005
Messages
116
Hey guys. Question: how can I listen to audio on my computer 25' away? I'm going to put my computer in the basement and my office is on the second floor. I'm running cables through the way and wonder how to handle the audio.

One way would be to take my Pronus Firebox, plug that into the computer in the basement (firewire), run a ¼" cable to the 2nd floor to another Firebox, plug that headphones in and listen.

Seems like there should be a better (and cheaper) way to pull this off. Any ideas?

Thanks.
 
If the machines are on the same network, just share the music folder on the one in the basement. That way, you'll be able to access the music from any other computer on the network.
 
There is only one machine, and that's in the basement. I need to get the audio out of the computer (digital or analog) and run it 25 feet to my desk upstairs, and then listen to it.
 
I looked at "Is this an option", which I'm assuming you're referring to a portable digital music player. No, it isn't because of the amount of audio. Nice idea though, thanks.

Honestly, it would be nice to run the digital audio the 25 feet, THEN convert it to analog for listening. I wonder if such a think exists.......
 
Seated said:
I looked at "Is this an option", which I'm assuming you're referring to a portable digital music player. No, it isn't because of the amount of audio. Nice idea though, thanks.

Honestly, it would be nice to run the digital audio the 25 feet, THEN convert it to analog for listening. I wonder if such a think exists.......
Click to expand...

How about a squeezebox?
 
You could get a wireless audio transmitter. But running an audio cable is definitely the cheapest way. An audio cable 25 feet long is only $20 or so.
 
Seated said:
I looked at "Is this an option", which I'm assuming you're referring to a portable digital music player. No, it isn't because of the amount of audio. Nice idea though, thanks.

Honestly, it would be nice to run the digital audio the 25 feet, THEN convert it to analog for listening. I wonder if such a think exists.......
Click to expand...


25ft usb or toslink cable to an external DAC - usb 0404(highly recommended), alien dac, headroom total bithead, monica dac, etc...
 
Well, regarding USB...
Q1: How long of a cable can I use to connect my device?
A1: In practice, the USB specification limits the length of a cable between full speed devices to 5 meters (a little under 16 feet 5 inches). For a low speed device the limit is 3 meters (9 feet 10 inches).
Click to expand...
USB would be a stretch. This is no problem for S/PDIF optical, nor is it a problem for line-level analog. I'd just go analog myself. Cheap and functional.
 
Another option is to get some nice wireless headphones. If your environment is not electrically noisy this would be a good option. Very low change of having an audible hiss and the range is quite well. I've sampled the Senn RS130s before in a Circuit City and for my day to day listening needs (mp3 and flac) they are more than adequate. They are pretty comfortable to boot.
 
Thanks for the input guys. As one poster mentioned, Digital audio over coax would cover the 25 feet without any problems. So I'm going to run 20' of coax from my motherboard (which has a coax digital out) to a faceplate upstairs (through the wall), then from the RCA connector on the faceplate with another 10' of cable to my Firebox which has coax digital in.

I was concerned about the length of this (30') but spdif will go 10-15 meters without an issue.
 
Not directly applicable to your question, but you might find it useful if you have a Pocket PC, iPod Touch, etc... Alloysoft's Signal gives you direct control over your audio player and playlists over wi-fi. I've used it and it works like a charm.
 
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