# Who here is good with computer audio stuff?



## Sarthos (Oct 29, 2010)

I see lots of people here who use really fancy DVD players and Blu-ray players, CD players, SACD players, etc. For sources in home theaters, but does anyone here have a setup that uses a computer as a source? Only because I would assume that a 24-bit/192 kHz sound card in a computer along with a really good DVD or blu-ray or SACD drive would perform really well. Or maybe I'm missing something as to why so many people use other receivers.

Next thing, is there a way I can get really good audio playback from my laptop in my car? Like is there a way to add a digital coax or digital optical output?

Can a computer utilize multiple sound cards at once? Like, hypothetically could one use a 5.1 sound card and a stereo sound card to achieve 7.1 channel surround? Or take two 5.1 channel cards and use one card to a an active front stage, and then the other for side speakers, rear speakers, and a sub?

Last question, does anyone know anything about audio tuning programs? Like how to make your own equalizer or anything like that?


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## n_olympios (Oct 23, 2008)

Sarthos said:


> I see lots of people here who use really fancy DVD players and Blu-ray players, CD players, SACD players, etc. For sources in home theaters, but does anyone here have a setup that uses a computer as a source? Only because I would assume that a 24-bit/192 kHz sound card in a computer along with a really good DVD or blu-ray or SACD drive would perform really well. Or maybe I'm missing something as to why so many people use other receivers.


You can indeed use a pc as a source. But you have to make certain that ease of use goes out of the window. No pc interface is as easy as "put a disk in the machine and push play". First you have to spend lots of time picking the software that suits your needs, then set it up, then curse lots because all the trials you've done mean you need to format the drives etc.  Then it's the noise issue, you have to choose really silent fans or a fanless design case, but these tend to get hot and are not really made for powerful rigs. 

I use the digital output of my mb's integrated sound card into my AV receiver; it being an Arcam AVR-300 means it can only decode up to 24/96, but that's plenty for me and my current system. 



Sarthos said:


> Next thing, is there a way I can get really good audio playback from my laptop in my car? Like is there a way to add a digital coax or digital optical output?


If you have a processor with digital input, then it's all good. There are portable usb audio cards with digital output, heck now there are even usb dongles with digital output as well, no need for a bulky sound card. 



Sarthos said:


> Can a computer utilize multiple sound cards at once? Like, hypothetically could one use a 5.1 sound card and a stereo sound card to achieve 7.1 channel surround? Or take two 5.1 channel cards and use one card to a an active front stage, and then the other for side speakers, rear speakers, and a sub?


That, I don't know. I do know that there are 7.1 consumer cards out there though, and with the proper software you can specify what each channel does, so you can easily route the signals you want. 



Sarthos said:


> Last question, does anyone know anything about audio tuning programs? Like how to make your own equalizer or anything like that?


Make your own? Why? There's plenty of software readily available out there already. I'm at work now, when I find a bit of time I'll do a search for you, unless someone else does it first.


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## Sarthos (Oct 29, 2010)

Couldn't you just run liquid cooled? And I suppose formatting drives would suck, but it's not impossible, and I assume it wouldn't be much harder tuning it than tuning any other receiver?

How exactly could I find such a device? My processor does indeed have digital coax in and optical in. I just don't know where to find anything like that, nor what to look for in it (And I also have no idea about the quality of USB audio)

Yes there are 7.1 channel cards, I just meant for the hypothetical system if one wanted 7.1 surround with active front speakers, could they run a 5.1 card for 

Yes, lots of software available. The problem is I would really want to have software setup in such a way that I don't have to control it through a normal computer screen or through a tv, but rather through a small LCD screen that would look more like the displays on older radios or a lot of car stereos/dash controllers.


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## ZAKOH (Nov 26, 2010)

Check this out

Maximum PC | How to Build the Ultimate 3D Home Theater PC


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## Allan74 (Jun 17, 2010)

Sarthos said:


> ... but does anyone here have a setup that uses a computer as a source?


Yes.

I have run a HTPC, in various forms, for about the last 10 or so years now...starting with my first iteration which was a PIII450/TNT2 TV Out card setup that played Divx to my now complete HD setup, which I consider to be the best yet....and was simply thrown together out of spare parts, more or less....and it's nearly silent except for bootup hard drive noise. Once up and running, it doesn't make a sound.

*Basic Setup:* (outputs 1080p to LCD TV)
------------
- Intel e6600 Core2Duo.
- Basic s775 motherboard.
- Nvidia Geforce8800GTS 512MB _(DVI to HDMI Adapter. Offload h264 decoding from CPU via Nvidia CUDA)_
- Auzentech 7.1 Xplosion Theater DTS _(feeding Pioneer Elite via Fibre Optic Cable decoding passed through DTS/AC3 etc)_.
- 2GB DDR2800 RAM.
- WD Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM HDD (for quick boots/reboots).
- Gigabit (10/100/1000bt) LAN
- LG BluRay/HD DVD Combo Drive.
- Media Card Reader.

- Windows 7 Ultimate x86 - *Using Media Center as main front end*.
- Arcsoft Total Media Theater Platinum (_auto integrates into MCE for full control, for BluRay/HD disc playback only_).
- Misc MCE plugins, tools....setup etc. (_trial and error based on personal needs_)
- Boxxee (_alternate front end for streaming TV and apps, remote controlled using same hardware_).
- Microsoft MCE Remote & Wireless Keyboard.

- nMedia HTPC Case, black aluminium (looks like audio component, matches my Pioneer Elite's lights).


This thing is bulletproof. I can watch ANY video format available and send digital audio to my Receiver for either AC3 or DTS decoding automatically based on content, otherwise, defaults to 2chan PCM/Prologic II (reveicer display tells me status).

99.9% control via MCE remote. I rarely pickup the wireless keyboard.

I feed the network using a pair of servers at the other end of the house on a Gigabit link with a total of approx 10+TB (terabytes) of High Definition Video in a number of formats (m2ts, mkv, avi, mp4, wma, mpg, mpeg) covering movies, tv shows....everything, as well as Standard Definition Video. Also, Audio in a number of formats (16 and 24bit FLAC, MP3, DTS WAV etc.)

My HTPC is my main entertainment piece. I don not use it as a TV tuner or DVR though. Playback only, as I have no need to save streams.

Can a PC do everything required in an entertainment center ? YES IT CAN. It's only limited to what you are able to setup.


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## Sarthos (Oct 29, 2010)

10+TB that's a lot. I'm surprised, I thought you'd need a larger video card for a good home theater setup, but I suppose larger video cards are more used for gaming?


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## Allan74 (Jun 17, 2010)

Sarthos said:


> 10+TB that's a lot. I'm surprised, I thought you'd need a larger video card for a good home theater setup, but I suppose larger video cards are more used for gaming?


For gaming...exactly. For HT use, that video card that I run is actually overkill, but I used it because it was a spare I had kicking around along with the fact that it supports Nvidia CUDA (ability to offload video decoding to GPU, rather than CPU in some cases) and is a double slot card with a large oversized fan that keeps it cool without noise.
The video card has 128 CUDA 'cores' or Stream Processors and is far more powerful than the CPU of the unit itself for some tasks that have instruction sets written for them.

This is what gives the Intel Atom the ability to playback 1080p content on the Nvidia ION platform....the Nvidia Chipset's onboard Geforce8 8-16 CUDA cores/stream processors do the video decoding, as otherwise, the Atom is a DOG.


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## Sarthos (Oct 29, 2010)

Do those of you that have computers as a source use it for all your signal processing, or are external processors often used?

And at this point I suppose I'm more interested about how I can add an optical or digital coax output to my laptop. Anyone have any suggestions on a good device to do that? My car's DSP does have both types of inputs (digital optical, digital coax)


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## Allan74 (Jun 17, 2010)

$9.99 USB Sound Box/Card w/Optical Out on Ebay......to $199.95 Creative X-Fi USB w/Optical Out.

I have both and both work the same when using optical out.


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## Sarthos (Oct 29, 2010)

Is there anything specific to look for in a sound box or sound card? Just any old brand that plugs into the USB drive or do I need to find something specific for Windows 7 or anything else? Also the sound cards say they accept up to 48 kHz sample rates, is that something I might need to worry about? I don't know what DVD sample rates have, I know it's generally 48 kHz, I have some high quality music files and stuff I play on my laptop, will it just down-convert it for me to 48 kHz or do I need to do anything?

And one of the sound cards made me bang my head against a wall... "deliver your downloaded MP3 music... with full cinematic surround sound". Since when are MP3s cinematic?


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## Allan74 (Jun 17, 2010)

What DSP are you using ?

Regardless, I wouldn't be overly concerned as 99.9% of what you put through it will be native 16/44, perhaps 16/48......downsampling will occur on other, most likely, RARE instances.

I can sit here using my Logitech Z5500's and A/B 16/44 vs 24/96 using the same song (a 24/96 example) and I can't tell the difference.


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## Allan74 (Jun 17, 2010)

Sorry, to be more clear.....16bit 44.1khz .vs. 24bit 96khz ..... blah blah....


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## Sarthos (Oct 29, 2010)

Okay, I'm quite sure I have some 16/48 stuff. I could've sworn I had some files from SACDs or DVD-As that were higher resolution but I might be mistaken on that. Just didn't want to realize that all of a sudden a bunch of my songs weren't playing. So I guess just any of these random cards will work? I won't run into noise issues by using a cheap card or anything?


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

I've very recently built a HTPC as well and went much the same route that Allan did as well. My case has a touch screen front display and specs are as follows...
-BluRay Drive
-8GB RAM
-Intel I3 550
-WD Raptor 10k drive for OS and programs
-SeaGate Barracuda 2TB for media
-Asus motherboard with HDMI and optical audio

I'm using much the same programing as Allan as well. Windows 7 but 64bit. I too use Windows Media Center as my front end with the Arcsoft Total Media Theater for BluRay capabilities. I don't even run a video card yet and I have yet to notice any type of jitter or breakup in the picture. I'll get around to it eventually. 

The big deal for me is that I've figured out how to integrate some Class D amps into the box so I can just hook up speakers directly to it. The only thing I can't figure out is how to do an active crossover for a 2.1 setup. I'll have a 120x2 amp and a 240x1 for the sub and I need a way to yield a crossover between the two and a level setting. I bought an Asus Xonar DX sound card and it sounds good but I don't think it has the functionality I need to do that.


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## Allan74 (Jun 17, 2010)

ItalynStylion said:


> I've very recently built a HTPC as well and went much the same route that Allan did as well. My case has a touch screen front display and specs are as follows...
> -BluRay Drive
> -8GB RAM
> -Intel I3 550
> ...


WOW!.....that's a powerhouse for a HTPC.

Your software config is basically the same as mine, so you are happy with it's integration, same as me....very streamlined I have to say.

*What special addons are you using for Win7MCE ?*

For Codecs, I use '*Shark007*'. I use '*MediaControl*' for integrated Subtitles and alternate Audio track switching (from the remote)......and *'Music Browser' *for my audio, as my tags are not all complete, so it allows me to browse the existing folder structure from within MCE, like the 'Video' function. I HATE the way that MCE handles audio files by default through it's 'Music' interface....GGggrrr.

Cheers,
Allan


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

I have most of the Tags for my music. If I don't I just open up Windows Media _PLAYER_ and use it's function to find all the album info. It's really easy and takes about a minute. 

I think the only thing I changed in Win7MCE is the registry for the Dolby Sound. I think it's on "Night Mode" or something really gay that takes all the dynamic range out of it as a default. You have to go into the registry and change it to normal to get any BANG out of it.

You might be the right guy to ask about this. When you play a BluRay in Windows7MCE does it take up the whole screen like normal DVD's do or is there a blue border? If I play the BluRay in Total Media Theater it looks 100% but in MCE it's got a border around it. Any way to change that?


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## 000zero (Mar 12, 2011)

I have hooked up my PC to HT using an ATI 4350 graphics card, it has an HDMI output and can do 7.1 plus all of the latest formats (DTS HD, Dolby TrueHD). The only issue I have found is that my card does not work with Vista Media Center, I get a buzzing in my speakers, but if I use VLC the sound goes away and it sounds great.


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## Fetus (Apr 14, 2011)

Hey guys, 
I have a similar question, though I don't mean to highjack...
I am building a mini ITX PC to be used as a carputer. It has an optical output on the mobo, but I was wondering if the quality would be better if I used a high end soundcard with RCA outputs? I figured the Bitone has optical in, so I don't really need RCA output, so it just comes down to a quality question...
Anyone have experience with this?
THANKS!


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## Fetus (Apr 14, 2011)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Keep in mind when it comes to sound, great sound is only as good as the best speakers you've heard, till you hear a better set and realize what you've been missing.
> 
> Won't having a PCI or PCI-e card throw off the dimensions of this mini ITX pc?
> 
> If not, I'd recommend the X-Fi cards. I have one and I've tried switching between it and onboard 5.1 audio and noticed a pretty large difference in the actual sound quality. However, they're not exactly cheap.


Not too worried about the dimensions of the PC, I have a PCIe extension cable, so can mount the sound card pretty much anywhere, depending on how I go with the case for it...

Yeah, I have an Asus sound card in my desktop and it absolutely blows the onboard sound out of the water... But would that be the same with optical? I haven't really used optical but I was under the assumption it was of quite high quality...


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