Blue Smoke Entertainment Systems

So The Black Box is basically just a PC?

Yes. The Black Box™ is basically a PC at heart running Windows Vista. However, it is not an off-the-shelf PC, nor one you could simply build yourself at home. The Black Box was designed from the ground up to be the best possible PC for audio. Everything which could affect the audio has been taken into account. There are no hard-drives in order to eliminate the noise-pollution of the drives stepper motor (an SSD is used solely for OS and software storage). The power supply is extremely efficient and external to the system, providing only low-voltage, clean DC power to the system. There are no displays on the system as these are generally very high-voltage (VFD) displays which output a great deal of noise – even when shielded.

The audio system of The Black Box™ uses extremely high-quality DSPs. In fact, these are the same DSPs used in many professional audio editing systems and digital audio workstations. The features and capabilities of our audio system are not available from a standard off-the-shelf sound card.

In the end, while you can build a very good audio server using standard components, in order to realize the true potential of the hybrid design requires a significant investment in hardware, software and system design not available to the DIY system builder. In fact, our best customers are those who have already tried building their own systems only to truly appreciate all of the benefits of what The Black Box™ has to offer.

Why couldn't I just build my own PC?

You could.

Building your own PC audio server is an excellent first step. In fact, many of our best and most ardent customers have done this, some several times. The question is this: How far can you get using standard computer components, power supplies, chasses, audio cards, etc. and how far is enough for you.

The Black Box™ is not for everyone. It is for the audiophile looking for the best possible sound from their entire system. Our customers have compared the sound of The Black Box™ with $65k plus digital audio front-ends and have chosen The Black Box™. These customers report that they based their choice not only on the convenience and (relative) cost benefit, but also on the superior audio quality of The Black Box™.

While you can indeed build a very good audio system using a basic PC, if you are looking to go to the next level, we encourage you to audition The Black Box™.

Why Windows Vista?

So you've heard that Windows Vista is inferior to XP of other versions? If you are interested in running an Excel spreadsheet, this may indeed be true, but it is not true for audio. Windows XP’s audio system is not particularly good, forcing systems to use something called “Kernel Mode” which basically bypasses the operating system. While this improves audio quality, it is not optimal and leaves behind many of the benefits of the operating system. Windows Vista’s audio system is vastly superior to that in Windows XP and allows us to provide truly “bit-perfect” audio and still follow all of the Windows standards – thus allowing for full support of Windows Media Player and Media Center

What about Windows 7?

Today we are currently actively investigating Windows 7. As of this time, there are still a few “rough spots” with Windows 7 which we hope to address through both updates to our drivers and software. As with all of our systems, we will not release it until it is 100% ready.

Updates existing Black Box™ units (running Windows Vista) will be available.

Why not use the Macintosh?

While the Macintosh is an excellent computer for many things, it is not the ideal computer for high-end audio. This is primarily due to the closed architecture of the Macintosh and its reliance on external USB or Firewire output devices. Additionally, the internal Macintosh audio system (CoreAudio) has been known to be of poorer quality, resulting in programs such as Amarra to overcome its limitations.

In our testing we have found Amarra to be a noticeable upgrade to the basic Macintosh audio processing, just not enough to equal the audio improvements we have been able to achieve using Windows Vista and our own proprietary audio system.

What are the Specifications of The Black Box™?