[Yethal]

IMO the world of surround sound has been won by PC's long ago. I've never heard anything in any price bracket that can match a cheap 5.1 system and a properly configured onboard soundcard for positioning. And if sound quality is really a massive deal for you then you can replace the cheap system with something with a bit more quality.

Hell these days you can have 3 top of the line balanced output DAC's outputting 5.1, or 4 dac's for 7.1 etc etc all bitperfect whatever encoding you want and 4k video and insane quality audio all reproduced perfectly and can be controlled from an app on your phone or even by your own voice.

Its not magic, and its availiable today.

How do You output surround sound to three separate dacs? Some kind of an S/PDIF breakout board?

 

[yay101]

How do You output surround sound to three separate dacs? Some kind of an S/PDIF breakout board?

I have no idea how you would achieve it with windows, but with Linux its a feature of the audio system, number of digital outputs (including USB, optical etc) = number of DAC's you can run. I know years ago one of the paid DVD players for windows could do something similar. I can't image they would have killed the feature off.

 

[judmarc]

I have no idea how you would achieve it with windows, but with Linux its a feature of the audio system, number of digital outputs (including USB, optical etc) = number of DAC's you can run. I know years ago one of the paid DVD players for windows could do something similar. I can't image they would have killed the feature off.

 
A guy named Ted Brady (ted_b) over on Computer Audiophile is doing it using Windows and has provided information about how.  More work than I would want to go through, but for people who love surround it's apparently a great thing.

 

[David Aldrich]

With modern USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, Optical DAC's the skies the limit on how many you can run simultaneously on a Linux platform. In the past I've had a half dozen stereo DACs connected to a Mac laptop running OS X with all the DACs converting the same stereo stream.

 

[Yethal]

Yeah, I know it is possible to run multiple DACs but how do You split 5.1 or 7.1 track into 3 or four stereo tracks and output it to different dacs in real time?

 

[yay101]

Yeah, I know it is possible to run multiple DACs but how do You split 5.1 or 7.1 track into 3 or four stereo tracks and output it to different dacs in real time?

Alias', you can script scenarios in the Linux audio engine. Source = 5.1 then front is device 2 rear is device 1 center/ sub is device 3 with channels swapped etc etc. It seems complicated but its all very logical.

 

[Yethal]

 

Yeah, I know it is possible to run multiple DACs but how do You split 5.1 or 7.1 track into 3 or four stereo tracks and output it to different dacs in real time?

Alias', you can script scenarios in the Linux audio engine. Source = 5.1 then front is device 2 rear is device 1 center/ sub is device 3 with channels swapped etc etc. It seems complicated but its all very logical.

That's neat. Is there any Windows or OSX software to do just that?

 

[yay101]

That's neat. Is there any Windows or OSX software to do just that?

Honestly no idea sorry, I imagine there is, a few comments above someone mentions a computer audiophile user doing something similar on windows.

 

[AlterSack]

  Spot on. Through IP-tracking they know where you are, how much time you spend on which sites, the keywords you use in search engines etc... Great, isn't it?

That is true - and it is the reason why  I normally use a program to hide my IP. 

 

[MickeyVee]

How do you run multiple DAC's with the same stream on OS X?  I'd love to do that.. one to my headphones and one to speakers.  I though you could only choose one output at a time.
Quote:

 In the past I've had a half dozen stereo DACs connected to a Mac laptop running OS X with all the DACs converting the same stereo stream.

 

[David Aldrich]

 

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5178

 

[David Aldrich]

You should be able to set up a multi channel stream to multiple DACs by creating an aggregate device in Audio Midi Setup under OS X.

 

[marcoarment]

Got my Ragnarok today! And this is why Schiit double-boxed it:
 
  
 
Whatever made this huge gash (thanks, FedEx!) came within an inch of the front panel, but didn't seem to hit it. The Ragnarok's perfect.
 
And massive. It's roughly the size of a VCR in 1980. Here it is next to a Gungnir, which coincidentally is the perfect height to serve as an iMac stand:
 

 
I know it's not necessarily meant to be a "desktop" amp, but damn it, this is why I have a big desk.

 

[Tuco1965]

Yikes that was close.
 
Damn that thing looks might fine.

 

[tonykaz]

Phew , close one , made it though .   Makes a person wonder how rough the ride was , is it shaken up inside ? 
Lets hope .  
 
Tony in Michigan 
 
ps.  nice looking piece , sitting on the desk like it is