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Intel HD Audio & ASIO

1435 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by dZeus, Feb 23, 2005

OG-B4

Discussion Starter · Feb 23, 2005

Hi,

I am finishing off the spec of my new HTPC and I have some questions I can't seem to find definitive answers for.

Past reading on this site suggests that using ASIO for audio playback improves output quality of MP3s and other non-digital sources as it bypasses the built in Windows upsampling process. (as opposed to DVDs which send a straight digital signal to the receiver). First am I correct there? The Envy24HT chipset seems to be the best thing for this.

The new motherboard (in the Shuttle SB86i) has the Intel HD Audio chipset and the Realtek ALC880 codec. Can this support ASIO playback? Or does the new chipset/codec make the need for ASIO redundant?

Will the combination of this chipset and say WinDVD or similar player allow me to play DVD-Audio discs (I know it won't do SACD, thanks very much Sony.) The info on this point seems to be a little vague.

thanks for your help.

owen.

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olyar15

· #2 · Feb 23, 2005

It is pointless to try to use ASIO for MP3, since that is a lossy format and you have already degraded the sound quality.

If you have CD or are using a lossless format, then your two options are ASIO and kernel streaming. I think Foobar2000 can do both. I believe there needs to be an ASIO driver for the sound device.

For DVD-Audio, the Audigy2 line of cards is the only one that can play protected DVD-Audio discs at the highest resolution.

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dZeus

· #3 · Feb 23, 2005

Sure MP3 is a lossy format, but why would it not make sense to bypass any added steps that can degrade the quality because of that? I don't see the logic in that statement.

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