[mythtv-users] "Do you really need a discrete audio card ?"

[Steven Adeff]

On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 7:04 PM, Emmanuel <eallaud at gmail.com> wrote:
> Steven Adeff a écrit :
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 5:40 PM, Andrew Close <aclose at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 3:41 PM, Christopher X. Candreva
>>> <chris at westnet.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Tech Report has release an interesting review, comparing the Asus Xonar
>>>> cards to the common built-in Realtek chips, with the low-end ($29) Xonar
>>>> comming out as a worthwhile upgrade.
>>>>
>>>> Aside from the article being interesting, it made me wondering if
>>>> switching
>>>> audio cards would help with the "WriteAudio: buffer underrun" problems I
>>>> have with untranscoded content, which hasn't gone away with 0.24
>>>>
>>>
>>> Chris,
>>>
>>> do you have a link?  did they mention anything regarding pass-through
>>> to an amp/receiver?  i would assume that the cheaper option wouldn't
>>> matter if it was able to do pass-through.
>>>
>>> thanks!
>>>
>>
>> back in the day, better chips required less CPU time, especially for
>> doing surround sound in games, where they would offload this
>> processing from the CPU, so for games it may make a difference.
>>
>> As far as audio quality, I think it's foolish to both use the analog
>> output from a computer and to pay extra for cards with slightly better
>> analog output. Your money is better spend on an external DAC, whether
>> your connection choice be USB, SPDIF or HDMI/DisplayPort.
>>
>
> Well at least for home cinema (that is >= 5.1) I gues a good discrete sound
> card (around $150) with good AOP and DAC is probably much less expensive
> than putting several external dacs. For sur if you want super high hi-fi
> mega ;=) quality for stereo a DAC is probably the best choice.
> A+
> Manu

why would you need multiple DAC's? 7.1 receivers have been available
for cheap from the likes of Yamaha and Onkyo for years now, and 9.1
receivers have hit the market the last few years for not much more.
Of course, if your in a room big enough to require more than 5.1 the
price of a receiver should not be much of a hit on your budget
considering the extra cost of speakers and such.

If you're using anything other than TV speakers I just don't see the
reason for using the analog output from a computer soundcard, and if
your using an HDTV you should be using the HDMI connection for sound.


-- 
Steve
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/User:Steveadeff
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