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Two things I know about myself: I love listening to music, and I spend a ridiculously large amount of time in front of my PC. And yet it recently occurred to me that when I combine the two--listening to music while in front of my PC--I don't do it particularly well. In fact, I use the integrated sound chip on my motherboard to funnel audio through a set of ancient, cheap, beige speakers.

I decided it was time to change all that.

So I did what any self-respecting geek with delusions of audiophile grandeur would do: I went on an obsessive online search for ways to make my PC sing in high fidelity. Let me tell you, there's plenty to read out there (a few sites worth visiting include HeadFi.org, AudioReview.com, and Headwize.com).

My search led me back to a site called HeadRoom, which I'd visited a few years back when buying headphones. Eventually, I was lucky enough to talk to Tyll Hertsens, the president of HeadRoom and an audio enthusiast of the highest order. He helped fill my head (no pun intended) with good (but often pricey) ways to get the best sound out of my PC.

The Fundamentals

To get high-quality audio from a PC you need three things: a good piece of source material, a good digital-to-analog converter, and a good set of headphones.

Why headphones instead of speakers? This is where some audio purists will cringe, but I'll keep it simple: Money and space. Headphone advocates will tell you that a good set of cans will provide you with a level of audio quality and resolution that you can only get from floor standing speakers that cost thousands of dollars. Plus, those giant speakers would look damned silly sitting on either side of your PC monitor.

Are headphones perfect? No way. They can't image as well as a basic set of speakers (after all, they're strapped to your head). But when it comes to serious listening at the desktop, they're a great option. That said, after a while it became abundantly clear to me that headphones as your only audio source can be problematic (for example, when showing somebody a funny YouTube clip). I recommend that you always keep a set of speakers handy, too.

Get a Good Source

For a truly good listening experience, you absolutely must have good source material. I hope to write a future column about audio software and encoding, and why it's worth trying apps besides iTunes. But for now I'm going to keep it short and sweet: Hard drive space is cheap and sound quality is priceless, so use a lossless codec like FLAC or Apple Lossless if you can. And if you're going to compress, do it at a high bit rate like 320 kilobits per second, or at least don't go below 192 kbps.

Can I tell the differences between a noncompressed file and an MP3 file ripped at 160 kbps? Not always (it really depends on the material). But as a friend once said to me, if you go lossless, then you just know it sounds better.

Mind you, that doesn't mean I've stopped listening to my favorite low-fidelity podcasts. And I still have my subscription to Rhapsody, the best way to try new music before I spend the money on a CD. But when I sit down to listen--really listen--to music, it has to be a high-quality rip.

Nice DAC!

Once a high-quality audio file resides on your hard drive, you need a piece of hardware called a DAC (digital to analog converter) to process it so that you can listen to it. In a typical PC or notebook, the DAC is part of the integrated audio chip on the motherboard. When you upgrade to a stand-alone sound card, you get a better DAC, and better sound.

However, serious music listeners suggest that to get the best sound out of a PC, you have to take the sound card out of the PC itself. That's because the interior of any desktop or notebook is brimming with electrical noise that can impact even the best stand-alone audio cards. These listeners suggest that USB audio, in which the audio hardware resides outside the box and connects via a USB cable, is the best way to go. A secondary benefit of using a USB-based DAC is that you can place the unit where you want it, which makes it easier to plug in your headphones.

I tried out two different USB audio products from HeadRoom: the $200 Total BitHead (which is actually a DAC and a headphone amp in one) and the $300 Micro DAC (in concert with the company's $300 Micro Amp).

What's a headphone amp? Serious headphone listening requires a headphone amp because just like speakers (but on a much smaller scale), headphones require power to move air and create sound. A good headphone amp isn't about making your music louder (though it does that, too); rather, it is about providing enough juice to drive your headphones well. Incidentally, both the Total BitHead (and its less-expensive amp-only sibling, the Total Airhead) and the Micro Amp run off batteries, which means you can use them to improve audio quality from your portable music player, too.

HeadRoom's Hertsens says his company builds its products specifically for listening to music, spending its money on parts designed for that task. He freely admits that PC sound cards are better at many digital-signal-processing tasks (such as PC games) than his company's products. So if you're looking for good gaming sound, you'll be better off with a good card from Creative. HeadRoom isn't the only company that makes USB-based DACs; a few of the other products I found intriguing include the Fubar II from Firestone Audio and a tube-based DAC/amp called the MP-5 from Dared.

Easy As USB

You can't really find an easier upgrade than USB-based audio: Basically, you plug it in, the driver loads, and you're ready to roll. Both of the HeadRoom products I tested included the company's proprietary Crossfeed technology. Crossfeed is HeadRoom's attempt to address a long-known problem with headphones, which is that they actually offer too much separation between left and right channels, which can lead to listening fatigue. When listening to live music you never hear a sound in only one ear (eventually it gets to the other one, too). Crossfeed take a little bit of the left channel and mixes it in with the right, and vice versa.

For me, the Total BitHead created a fairly subtle improvement in sound over that produced by my integrated audio. Well-recorded music sounded crisper, and while I can't say I could "hear" the difference with Crossfeed on, I do know I was able to listen for a long time without experiencing fatigue.

One thing the less-expensive BitHead has over its more expensive sibling is two headphone jacks, one of which you can use for your speakers (with the Micro DAC you have to swap using the single jack). On the other hand, the BitHead is less powerful, and had some difficulty driving some headphones to high volumes.

The Micro DAC (along with the Micro Amp) improved sound more dramatically than the BitHead. And here's where my audiophile writing chops fail me, in that I can't quite explain what made it sound so good. There's just more detail, more feeling, more "something." After weeks of listening to the unit, my best description remains "buttery smooth."

Finally, the Headphones

Happily, you don't have to spend a fortune to get good headphones, though you certainly can. I had the pleasure of trying out four different sets of cans from HeadRoom: the Sennheiser PX100 ($50), the Grado SR60 ($69), the Sennheiser HD555 ($170), and the Sennheiser HD650 ($500). Incidentally, those are HeadRoom's prices, and while you can get the products for less elsewhere, one of the benefits to buying from HeadRoom is its 30-day trial period. The company lets you audition your new headphones for up to 30 days (from the day you receive them); if you don't like them you can return them as long as they're still in pristine condition. In the end, that's really the only way to decide what works for you, because what sounds good to me may not sound good to you.

Surprisingly, my favorite set of the bunch ended up being the Grado SR60 headphones, the ugly but venerable product of a small Brooklyn, New York, company. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed listening to the pricey HD650s, but I kept finding myself going back to the SR60 headphones. Maybe it's because they felt more my speed (like headphones for an audiophile in training). Maybe I just felt like I hadn't worked my way up to being able to really appreciate a set of HD650s? The PX100s, by the way, would make a fantastic upgrade to the earbuds that came with your portable music player.

So how do you know when you've made a measurable improvement to your audio setup? For starters, you find yourself listening to your favorite old songs and hearing new stuff in them. Second, you find yourself listening more carefully, and more often. The downside: Such a fancy setup isn't really conducive to working while you listen.

Well, I knew this new hobby would require some sacrifices.

Tom Mainelli keeps hearing new things in old Smiths albums he's listened to a million times. Frankly, it's starting to freak him out. You can drop him a line.