Anybody tried a pro multichannel DAC for HD audio?

this sounds quite feasible, but I still think a good receiver that supports HDMI would be superior to this solution for most cases.

I'm curious what you mean by HDMI jitter?

I was thinking the same thing, with those inexpensive Onkyo 885 prepros currently available.

The Asus HDAV 1.3 Deluxe has an analog daughtercard.

Before the current crop of audio cards you mention, Pro solutions were quite popular. The M-Audio, RME, Lynx were all popular with the audiophile crowd.

The problem with most of them are, the drivers are lame for HT type use, no Bass Management, no time alignment, etc.

The problem with using something like ffdshow for BM, is that not every app uses it.

I haven't tried that for 5.1, but I do use an EMU 0404 USB for my 2.0 setup. The 2.0 setup does sound better hands down for music. But it's not really a fair comparison as I also use a better amp and better speakers.

For movies, I'm using a Xonar D2X analog out into 2xAMC2445's (any poweramp will work) I think that if you get a phenomenal powersupply in the PC / line conditioner and buy a soundcard with swappable OPAMPS going directly into a good multich poweramp, with good short runs of analog cables with great shielding, you'd be hard pressed to get a better sound for 5.1 for that price range.

At that price point, I really don't know that the noise/jitter is going to be so much better than analog out into a poweramp. Not to mention the simplicity of having Bass Management for all apps, and Vista's builtin Room Correction (phenomenal).

Is it possible? Theoretically yes. Is it practical? Not really. Why not buy both, play around and then return 1.

The room correction feature is really something else and takes the 5.1 listening to the next level.

Highly recommend.

So break it

Obviously if you have the time and skill to set this up properly, then do it.

If you were doing 2.0, I'd recommend external - but for movies the latest offereings from ASUS and Auzentech are really taking soundcard quality to a very clean analog out SQ. The EMI shielding on the Asus cards is also a nice addition.

I'm holding out til I can get an AVM50v with ARC

You really should give LPCM over HDMI considering it's a <$100 solution which provides HD audio and DXVA video. It's not perfect but I think it's the best solution until bit-streaming is available without any nonsense. If you have a modern receiver that supports the new generation of room correction this setup really takes things to a whole new level.

Nice!

Alot of people use a high-quality consumer soundcard connecting the analog outputs directly to a power amp. This is the alternative to HDMI.

It works well given a soundcard with quality circuitry. The DACs on an ASUS Xonar D2X or HDAV are likely better than a sub-$1K receiver.

I read misinformation often repeated regarding this approach: "noise in the PC contaminates the analog signal", and "a digital connection to the receiver is always the best".

Neither of these statements is correct. A clean analog signal from an HTPC is easy to get with the right soundcard. It makes not one bit of difference if the DAC is in the PC or receiver. Now, if you want to use some DSP manipulation of the audio signal in the receiver, then you should use HDMI to avoid dual conversions. But DSP manipulation of the signal is also availabe in the PC.

Lastly, the digital volume control degradation of the signal is much exaggerated, and only comes into play at the very lowest volume levels.

Very much agreed, but also need the mention that even in $1 receivers the amplification selection and quality isn't going to match the quality of an equally priced dedicated amp (ie - Emotiva XPA-5)


Sounds good, I can't imagine you being unhappy with the quality of sound you will get for the price, now focus on getting a dedicated amplifier!

I use an EMU 1820m which has a DAC superior to almost all pre-pros (and should be equal to the most expensive). I use a quality amplifier (analog out of the EMU) and high end speakers and the sound is fantastic. There are no problems with processing (eg. bass delay or filtering) as EMU use a driver which has an integrated effect processor called Patchmix, which very high quality software filters.

As this stuff is built for pro-audio, the quality is better than standard consumer equipment. Also pretty cheap. I don't understand why more people don't do this type of setup (albeit the software processing takes a bit of time to get right).

How do you handle external sources (game consoles, STBs, etc)? That is really the biggest problem with using a PC as more than just a source.

These are switched analog at the amplifier. As the HTPC is so versatile I only occassionaly use an Xbox (HTPC does music, TV, blu-ray, PC games...)

For more flexibility I use the EMU 0404 USB; this allows the use of 1 SPDIF in and TOSlink in, as well as a L/R analog in - so for my living room setup, the PC sends the signal via USB, my DVD player connects via coaxial, and my Wii I use the analog in; so with pro audio equipment - you will find these features quite versatile to handle those additional external sources.

I run a Xonar HDAV Deluxe straight to Poweramps...well, via an active crossover.

The HDMI section of the card is useless to me, but I wanted the analogue daughterboard.

I also run Room Correction using Convolver via a filter generated by DRC. It works very well, and is more sophisticated than the Vista room correction. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...550750&page=11


And there is no noise from the Xonar. That's FUD. The drivers are annoying, but the hardware is very good.

You decoding the S/PDIF or do you have the DVD player set to PCM?

DVD player outputs PCM. 0404USB makes a lovely highpitched beep beep noise for DTS/DolbyD

Figured

Especially as the Slyplayer development suggests that HDMI PCM 5.1 and 7.1 will lose the 48k/16bit limit of the current player apps. The Slyplayer developers are apparently hoping to output 96/192k and 20/24 bit audio via PCM HDMI. (The hardware supports it - it is a licensing issue. AIUI Slyplayer will not be a licensed player - and may not have full functionality - but it should play the movies!)