gusangora Posted September 21, 2008 Posted September 21, 2008 I use a HTPC as my CD/DVD player and also for playback of my music library (most music files are mp3, encoded at 320kbps). The HTPC has onboard sound (ASUS P5W DH Deluxe with Realtek ALC882M) which can output digital or analogue at 16 bit or 24 bit and sample rates of 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 96kHz or 192kHz, via either S/PDIF or 3.5m connectors. It supports DVD-Audio. I listen to music in 2-channel mode (except DVD-Audio and DVD music discs, concerts, etc.; occasionally). I am about to take delivery of a new Yamaha RXV3800 (thanks to Andrew's group buy ); currently using a Yamaha RXV3000. The Yamaha 3800 has Burr-Brown DACs which support upsampling to 192kHz for the front 2 channels. So, which is the best method of output from the HTPC to the Receiver? Upsample by HTPC or AVR? Steve
Shonky* Posted September 21, 2008 Posted September 21, 2008 (edited) Not sure why you think the Burr Browns support some magical upsampling to 192kHz. They are merely capable of sampling at that rate since it's possible sources will come out with that. Also when passing analogue in, it has ADCs capable of that rate so hopefully it samples better. You will probably notice a difference between using the analogue outputs of the motherboard and using the DACs in the Yamaha. You would hope/think the Yamaha is better. For the rest of the options I doubt you'll see much difference at all. There's no point in using different sample rates really unless you have some special alogrithm for upsampling. Otherwise it will merely interpolate the extra samples required. Likewise with 16 vs 24 bit. With anything like this it's a case of trying all methods with some well known material and see what you think. Edited September 21, 2008 by Shonky*
Recommended Posts