[UNHchabo]

I should note that it's very difficult for the average user to get Blu-ray playback in Windows, either. As they've shown on Anandtech, often you have to rip a Blu-ray disc to get it to play in Windows, too. The movie companies have made it VERY difficult to play Blu-ray movies in any device other than a standalone player with an always-on network connection.

 

[userlander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torr /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually, I did the exact opposite. I encouraged him to download the live cd and give it a shot.

We can agree on that point, at least.

And thanks UNHchabo for the additional blu-ray info. I don't really use that format so I am not familiar with all its glitches and hassles. Though it appears once again that its inconveniences are manufacturer and proprietary format issues rather than any linux-specific problem.

 

[BlackLabel]

Yeah, I watch Blu-ray on the PS3 (one of the only things I use it for besides playing Divx videos from a thumb drive).

I guess I'll try the Live CD route and see. I did read that the performance of a Live CD is significantly less than with a real install, but then again, I'm just testing audio quality.

 

[manuvajpai]

I don't know about Auzentech but I have an Asus Xonar and linux works with it pretty well. Won't expect any troubles with auzentech either considering it is an X-fi and they have drivers (kernel modules in linux) for some time for the same.
Creative Linux Sound Card Support

As for the question about all your effects and DSPs, they are proprietary so don't expect any to work out of the box on linux. You can get the dolby headphone plugin for some players and get crossfeed with qmmp but that is all.

On the other hand, audio in linux is a headache free solution. No more finding ASIO plugins or WASAPI plugins to prevent resampling of audio at the mixer level, for example. Once you get it to work (automagically configured in most cases) ALSA is a wonderful solution, and Jack-audio is good solution for pro-audio as well.

As for the question whether linux is generally more capable than windows or not... Well, the problem in this case is between the keyboard and the chair. Whichever suits your productivity/entertainment requirements the most is good for you. For me linux works because it is simple, customizable, bloat-free and most of it all an elegant solution for my day-to-day needs. The openness of the platform is an added bonus.

 

[Volkum]

Stable support for X-fi cards was added a few kernel versions ago. Here's a shot of it in my 2.6.33 Gentoo kernel:

You'll get basic functionality with the kernel drivers. You will not get the Creative audio panel or any Windows software features like Gaming/Audio Creation/Entertainment modes, Crystalizer, 3D CMSS headphone, or anything of that nature.

 

[fjf]

Regarding the hardware question with linux, one has to do it differently than windows users: you first find out if the peripheral you want works with linux and then you purchase it. If not, you get something else that is supported. We dont purchase things from companies that dont care about open source software. And most of us have a PS3 for blue rays (and some casual gaming too

).

 

[errnst]

This thread has deteriorated to a debate on 'is windows better or is linux better.'   Maybe you could start a thread and anyone who is not tired of the debate can go there.
 
Meanwhile, this thread is called linux-for-sound... so anyone got any thing to say about using linux for sound.  It would be nice to have some info about this.  

 

[fjf]

Linux is very good OS for sound.  I would recommend you to try ubuntustudio.  But even with a normal linux distribution you'll have perfect audio reproduction, if your sound card is supported.  We have to say that manufacturers DO NOT provide support for linux, and the drivers have to be programmed afterwards (even reverse-engineered) by the community and companies that update the kernel.  As an example, my motherboard (IEC958) outputs SPDIF optical to my external dac and plays audio beautifully.  This does not mean that you'll have support for all the tweaks and options that you can find using the windows drivers (made by the manufacturer of the soundcard).  Most likely you wont.  All you can expect is that it works.  But I thought we wanted to HEAR music.  You can get that.
 
If anyone wants to try, just burn a live CD of any distribution and boot the computer from it.  You dont need to install it to try it.
 
I use and recommend Ubuntu because it has a forum with more than a million members and the community helps newcommers to solve any problems they find.
 
Rock solid, stable and functional.  I may be forced to use Windows to run some specific software, but for home use, I've found my OS.  It works. 
 
However, linux is not windows.  Works differently.  To use it, you have to learn a few things.  If you expect everything to work like in windows, please dont try it and later say it sucks.  Dont waste your and our time.  Among the things you have to learn is to first choose your hardware due to the manufacturer (or the kernel) support.  There are billions of hardware pieces out there.  Letting the soundcard you have to force you using an OS says nothing good about your ability to solve problems.  The so-called biological intelligence

 

[buz]

USB DACs make Linux audio very comfortable. Although I'm still a bit pissed about Amarok2, I am slowly adapting to it...
 
And agreed, the Windows GUI is just bad. And OSX is only marginally better, BTW (there it's even more of Steve's way or the high way).

 

[Roseval]

Have tried Linux some time ago.
It is not as polished as Win or OSX but not extremely difficult to use either.
Can’t say I hear any improvement in sound quality compared with Vista.
But maybe this is ‘logical’ as all major OS (Linux, OSX, Win) can be configured to deliver bit perfect output.
I haven’t found any hard evidence that one OS or the other differs in the amount of jitter generated.
My (limited) experience can be found here: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Linux/Linux.htm
 

 

[fjf]

If you want a simple audio player that plays every lossless audio codec out there, try audacious.  The nice thing about linux however is that people program what they like and from that you get dozens of audio players that you can install easily from repositories (and for free) and try.  Then you keep what you like best.  And yes, USB audio works very well and you can have an external dac working out of the box without any problems.

 

[Hybrys]

Mmm, I wish I was in on the debate before hand.  Although I love Linux, it would be a time to champion Windows.
 
Last time I tried bitperfect sound from my onboard optical to a receiver (years ago, mind you) it wasn't able to lock, no matter what we did.  We only tried 3 players though.  Just remember that not every player on there is perfect.

 

[buz]

Well, even 3 months a is a long time in Linux land...

 

[Hybrys]

Quote:

Well, even 3 months a is a long time in Linux land...

Not really for stable environments like Ubuntu.

 

[buz]

There it's rather 6 months, but even with Ubuntu, nobody says you have to stick to their kernel....