[edesilva]

Glad I found this place... I'm in the process of ripping over 1000 CDs in WAV format for a media PC (I am using EAC, had huge problems before with other rippers). Right now I'm thinking in terms of buying a media PC--probably the Niveus Denali--b/c I've got no idea how to build my own, and the Niveus seems really quiet. I think the WAVs will get stored on one of the new Buffalo terabyte NAS servers with RAID 5 when the become available next month. Here's my question...

I'm really *only* into 2 channel audio. I've got a stereo with a high end upsampler and DAC--the dCS Purcell/Delius combo, and want the highest quality PCM out--no DTS/Dolby/multichannel. In another room, I'm currently using a USB audio device--the Edirol UA-1D--into a Theta Pro Basic IIIA DAC and it sounds pretty good. The Niveus literature doesn't indicate anything about a sound card in the Denali, just that it has "Intel 8 channel high resolution 24/196 kHz audio out." I *think*, but I'm not sure, that means the audio is on the MoBo. My question is whether (if I'm right) there is any problem with trying to run PCM audio out through a USB port? Anyone know if there are compatibility issues?

Anyone have any familiarity with the Intel 8 ch audio? Since I only care about 2 ch, any idea of its quality for that application? If I watch a DVD, anyone know if the Win MCE software will allow conversion of DTS/Dolby material to 2 ch PCM?

In this vein, I've already got a CATV box hooked up to my stereo. Problem is that the CATV box only has Dolby/DTS on the coax out. My totally kludgey solution is to run the analog outputs to an ART DI/O and then the digital out from that into my Purcell--but that is an A2D2A2D2A conversion. Is there any small/cheap box out there that will simply do digital to digital conversion of multichannel DTS/Dolby into PCM? If I get a media PC, do my options increase? I.e., could I run the digital from the CATV into the PC, do a software conversion to PCM, and use that? Any idea what software would be useful in that respect?

Any help/ideas appreciated...

 

[Wodgy]

Whatever you do, you should probably replace the Edirol UA-1D with something else. That device only has a single clock for stereo output, and it is locked at 48kHz (see http://www.edirol.com/products/info/ua1d.html ), so the operating system is resampling all your CD audio to 48kHz before sending it to the Theta DAC. The built-in Windows resampling algorithm is not terribly poor, but it is not great either, as it is optimized for speed, not quality. The M-Audio Transit is a similar device that will output a clean datastream.

I'm doubtful that the Intel 8-channel audio chip is going to provide a clean digital output, based on my previous experiments with various chipsets, but I cannot say for sure. Your best bet is to verify whatever system you set up yourself, to check whether it outputs a clean, bit-perfect datastream. There are two main ways of doing this: 1) loopback digital playback and recording with a comparison, or 2) playing back a PCM-encoded 44.1kHz DTS/DD file to a home theatre receiver capable of decoding it -- if you hear static rather than music, the encoded bitstream is being munged in inappropriate ways. You can find out more about this by searching the archives.

Instead of a Media Center PC, you may wish to consider a device like the Slim Devices Squeezebox or Roku Soundbridge that can pull songs directly off your NAS, has a remote control, and is verified to have a bit-perfect digital output. The Airport Express is also bit-perfect when properly configured. Many Media Center PCs are, unfortunately, not. With your level of gear, you definitely want a clean digital output.

As for the DTS/DD standalone decoder question, a few such standalone devices did used to be for sale in the late 90s. They fell out of fashion with the popularity of home theatre receivers. You might find a good used one on Audiogon or eBay. It's also quite possible that you can find a slim home theatre receiver that inputs a DTS/DD bitstream and outputs a decoded digital bitstream.

 

[edesilva]

Oddly enuf, I've got a Transit right behind me. Problem with that is the Theta does not have a toslink in--only RCA. I've got a M-Audio C02 kicking around somewhere, but figured I'm better off with the UA-1D vs. transit>C02.

I had looked at some of the "music center" kind of options. In fact, I've got 3 audiotrons and one CD30 in my house already. Problem is that I like the idea of the visual drag-n-drop playlist that I didn't think I could get with the Roku/AT/Slimp3. The AT was OK for mp3s, but only sort of does WAVs--tagging WAVs is a problem and it doesn't support any other lossless formats.

Was thinking about using a 10" airpanel as a remote desktop to a computer in the garage and pushing the stuff out from a USB server on the ethernet, but the Keylink (?) USB server doesn't do audio. I guess I didn't realize the Slim/Roku were bit perfect... Might have to look into that as well, since I could just as easily push WAVs from the remote computer to one of those.

Hmm... Also just noticed Apple's new $499 Mac mini. Wonder how that would do as an audio server. Has DVI out, a wireless keyboard, and USB/firewire out, so I could use the transit on that...