Vote

With all the money we've invested in amps and signal processing equipment in the name of better sound, the idea of throwing it all away for a sound card is loathsome.

Listen to streaming audio and video on my desktop. Still listen to vinyl and CDs with a tube intrgreated amp for serious listening

Only for music that I'm trying out or really don't like enough to own the album. Computer audio formats such as mp3 are nothing that you would want to listen to if you didn't have to.

My Stereo system sounds much better than the computer setup, thus have no interest listening music via the computer. However a sound system on the computer is necessary for computer games.

I use a StereoLink outboard USB DAC, a JOB amplifier, and two Dali Royal Menuet loudspeakers with my iMac. It makes it nice to work at home.

NO! NO! and well, NO! I only use my computer for streaming audio excerpts to hear a bit of an SACD I am interested in buying.

Yes, because I am a computer programmer.

Only on the office PC of course.

I have no LP-spinner in my computer!

Except from sampling new music on available the net for possible investment in a new CD or even LP, I can really see no point in playing music on the computer. Off course in the future world of total home entertainment, networking and automation integration the answer will be different, but then I will still not be using my computer in the sense of a PC, but some sort of network terminal. However i can't actually forsee how my record player is going to connect with such a system.

Yes very often, BUT DONT EVER USE COMPUTER SPEAKERS. OUTPUT THE SIGNAL TO A GOOD DAC! The most important sound card innovations are compatible SPDIF and optical Digital outputs for home audio compenents.

I have a wonderful 2-channel system, why would I spend money on soundcards and speakers for the PC, just to end up with still far inferior sound quality ?

I can listen to CDs at work when I'm not on the phone or in meetings. The sound quality is very disappointing because the CD-ROM drive produces less than 1/3 of the music that I can hear on my stereo at home. I listen to www.airos.org and www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/ for the excellent and enlightening programming, but the sound quality isn't much better than the piped-in broadcast in the men's washroom at a local sports arena. So what's a sound card? If it cuts into my budget for stereo equipment or new recordings, then I really can't be bothered.

I know that many audiophiles don

Sound acceptable with Soundblaster 64 awe, but will upgrade to better sound card

Yes, but even though I have an output to my stereo, it is hard to find a well recorded MP3 to sit and listen too....thus, that is only when the poor neighbors, who can only afford a boom boom car, piss me off...then it is off with the gloves and on with the hard core...they hate it and my stereo is REALLY LOUD.....

For background listening only. I use Apple's Soundsticks speakers connected to laptop's USB jack running on Windows 2000. No soundcard is needed. It sounds *half* as good as it costs. For the Windows ME desktop, it's Monsoon's MM-1000 multimedia speakers. I have to use an external equalizer to *un-flatten* the dull sound.

I appreciate the access to new music the Internet gives, but I have no plans to invest in the additional hardware and faster service needed to make it worthwhile. I would rather just spend the money on recordings favorably reviewed by people I trust.

Only at work, certainly not for audio pleasure.

I spend so much time using my computer, and I find that listening to music makes it more palatable.

Laptops are very portable, and when full of mp3s, a great source of music.

Wide definition for the term 'music' exists . . . isn't it?

I did when it was new, but not in the last year or so.

HELL NO!

I have use my computer to listen to music, watch movies, and create content. Yes, I do have a hi-fi and a home theater, but the computer is just so convient. I run a Marantz reciever with a PSB Alpha Surround Package. It sounds great. Long live MP3!

I sample music on-line to help me decide whether I want to make a specific purchase. Listening to music is an activity best performed with a higher level of equipment in more suitable surroundings . Just how much of your life do you want to spend in front of the computer?

I use my PC at work to sometimes listen to music. It has a Klipsch Promedia 4.1 speaker system connected. At home I always use my dedicated stereo system.

Yeah, but it's still a novelty.

It would be helpful if Stereophile published some tips on using your computer as a tuner. There is some great music on BBC 3 {as JA well knows} What say, JA ?

Sure, I use computer music to listen to music, but only when I am at work. At home? Forget about it . . .. No bloody computer will play my music! I guess I am an old timer!