I upgraded my computer CPU and other components. Now it sounds better. Why?

[MRC01]

Audible differences are sometimes psychosomatic, placebo effect, or expectation bias; but not always, as my example above shows.
Put differently: our ears aren't right often enough to trust, but they aren't wrong often enough to ignore.

 

[Redadair97]

Maybe in your old computer windows was upsampling and you didn’t know it?

 

[Deleted member 28849]

In my opinion you did the right thing going with an i7 computer. Vinyl being a PIA the convenience of having a computer as your source is a no brainer.
Now I have a digital player, an expensive cd player, Yamaha Universal player. Now the expensive cd player is my best source but I use it sparingly cause I don't want to wear it out unnecessarily since I have other sources. My Yamaha was my next best source using it as a digital player with a usb stick. Using Leawo Blu ray Player was not quite as good as my Yamaha until I changed the usb output to DVD quality 48k. Now it surpasses the Yamaha, sounding marginally better and a little more live like, though the Yamaha with the Burr Brown chip has a pleasing tone to it. My Digital Player comes in last, though that has a very good refined sound as well.

The drawback of using a computer of coarse is Viruses and or Hard Drive breakdown. So you know you have to back thing up for just such an event. Which I learned the hard way since my Hard Drive crashed recently, and I use what I believe to be the best Firewall.

In the early years 2000+ I was using computer as a source with Creative Sound Blaster card, which was good. But now with a usb external dac and an i7 that easily surpasses the early days of using a computer as a source in audio quality.

 

[escksu]

This is not to be taken seriously.

I finally hit the limit with my old computer built in 2014, so I did a massive upgrade. Went from an AMD A10-7700 to an Intel I7-10700 (with new RAM and new motherboard). All the audio gear stayed the same: external DAC (Behringer UMC404HD), same speakers (JBL 306mk2), cables (USB to DAC, XLR from DAC to everywhere else).

I use equalizer APO for room correction. No settings changed there.

I was not expecting the sound to change at all, so I was quite surprised when I played back some projects and heard what I perceived as clearer treble. I particularly noted this in vocals which seemed to stick out of the mix better than before. Again, I was not expecting this or even hoping for it.

Tell me why you think this would be so ...

Common problems like power noise, grounding, interference/shielding and jitter etc all affects signal transmission.

You can check out various sources (esp. component manufacturers datasheet/design guide) on how issues like jitter can affect digital signals. They have guides on how to design circuits around their components/controllers to miminise these issues.

Ok, regarding mainboards/usb/power supply. They are designed to comply with standards/regulations. However, these standards are mostly minimum requirements, not the best (cost a major concern). So, if you connect the usb to oscilloscope, you will see some mores jitter, some more noise, etc. Even quality/tolerance of components plays a part.

Btw, this "same but different" affect cars even more. Esp. Racing engines, something racing fans (esp. F1 engines) will know. Eg. Mercedes build identical engines for their own cars and a few other teams. The engines are the same but they all produce different power. So mercedes select the best for their own cars.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

This is not to be taken seriously.

I finally hit the limit with my old computer built in 2014, so I did a massive upgrade. Went from an AMD A10-7700 to an Intel I7-10700 (with new RAM and new motherboard). All the audio gear stayed the same: external DAC (Behringer UMC404HD), same speakers (JBL 306mk2), cables (USB to DAC, XLR from DAC to everywhere else).

I use equalizer APO for room correction. No settings changed there.

I was not expecting the sound to change at all, so I was quite surprised when I played back some projects and heard what I perceived as clearer treble. I particularly noted this in vocals which seemed to stick out of the mix better than before. Again, I was not expecting this or even hoping for it.

Tell me why you think this would be so ...

How about this. The new computer ran cooler, so it didn't trigger the fan, and it's the lack of fan noise interfering with you high frequency output you're (not) hearing.

 

[Weeb Labs]

I am inclined to vote "placebo" but you did mention the use of Equaliser Apo, which introduces a certain degree of uncertainty. There is always the possibility that unbeknownst to you, a value has changed.