Hi,

Please lend your opinions/observations...

The question is--is it really possible to get the same digital audio integrity out of a properly set up PC or Mac DAW as out of a stand alone unit, like a Tascam DA-88?

I set up a DAW at home, assuming that it would at least be good enough for working on material that had been recorded on Adat/DA-88, and now I'm not so sure.

I recently started doing a bunch of A/B tests, and it seems that anything that is played from the computer is slightly degraded--a slight loss of detail and apparent space and depth.
Doesn't sound as good as the DA88s I've worked with--and those don't have fancy converters...

So, working with playback to begin with, I've imported files from finished CDs directly into wavelab, and playback from wavelab or Logic doesn't sound as good as playback from my Marantz home CD player. And, direct playback from the computer's internal CD player doesn't sound as good as the playback from the Marantz. Sounds like the kind of degradation you get from poor clocking. So I'm wondering is it possible to clock computers tight enough for "good" audio.

When doing these comparisons, no processing, mixing or level changing was done in logic, wavelab or the RME output mixer. The RME is supposed to be bit perfect when set at unity gain.

I'm NOT asking for anyone to troubleshoot my system, just let me know if you've actually tested out any PC or Mac based DAW that you KNOW sounds as good as a standalone digital device. If you have, tell me what worked for you. If there's a light at the end of the tunnel I'll keep working on this and put off getting a standalone recorder to go along with my computer.

The kind of music I've been recording is primarily steel string guitar and vocal--folk, simple, but it sounds better when it sounds better...

FYI my system is:
PC, Win ME, Intel 1 gig P3, 512ram
Asus cusl2-c w/ intel 815e chipset
Tekram 160 SCSI controller
Scsi drive IBM 10Krpm (for audio)
40 gig seagate IDE drive for all else
PLEXTOR CDR 40X and Plex CD/RW 12x10x32
Matrox G-450 Video card

RME digiface audio interface
Apogee PSX-100 AD/DA
Lucid GenX6-96 as word master--75 ohm canare cables, 75 ohm terminators

Logic Plat 4.7
Wavelab 3.0

Thanks for your input,

Dave Cook