Multichannel FLAC?

Blue Dude · #1 10-21-2008, 08:12 PM

Hi all,

Is there any standalone equipment out there anywhere that will play lossless multichannel media files, such as FLAC, wav, etc. FLAC is vastly preferred. I'm not interested in lossy encoded streams like DD or DTS, just lossless.

I keep hoping the Popcorn Hour boxes will come through with this feature, but they seem far more interested in video features. Music playback is very rudimentary. The Squeezebox products only have S/PDIF outputs and can't reproduce lossless multichannel material.

Any leads would be appreciated!

gus6464 · #2 10-22-2008, 02:06 AM

You have to get yourself a sound card that can do 5.1 LPCM to a receiver and then have the application on your pc handle the decoding. Sadly I do not know of any sound cards that can do 5.1 LPCM through optical/toslink so going through HDMI is your best bet. As far as cheapest way to get up to 7.1 LPCM over HDMI is to get a Radeon 4550.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=Radeon%204550

fmw · #3 10-22-2008, 08:23 AM

I wasn't even aware you could encode more than 2 channels on FLAC. Learn something every day.

bandphan · #4 10-22-2008, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fmw

I wasn't even aware you could encode more than 2 channels on FLAC. Learn something every day.

I emailed mike wren, iirc multi chanel and 24 bit are possible, Ill post his reply.

Blue Dude · #5 10-22-2008, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gus6464

You have to get yourself a sound card that can do 5.1 LPCM to a receiver and then have the application on your pc handle the decoding. Sadly I do not know of any sound cards that can do 5.1 LPCM through optical/toslink so going through HDMI is your best bet. As far as cheapest way to get up to 7.1 LPCM over HDMI is to get a Radeon 4550.

Thanks for the tip, but I was looking for a stand alone box, not a HTPC. There are several options available if I wanted to build my own box, but sadly, that's overkill for this application.

BTW, you won't ever find a sound card that will output multichannel PCM over S/PDIF. It's a limitation of the interface - not enough bandwidth for more than two channels. So we're down to analog or HDMI. All things considered, HDMI is preferable.

Blue Dude · #6 10-22-2008, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fmw

I wasn't even aware you could encode more than 2 channels on FLAC. Learn something every day.

I've encoded 6 channel/24 bit WAV's to FLAC without a problem. It's a great format.

fmw · #7 10-22-2008, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Dude

I've encoded 6 channel/24 bit WAV's to FLAC without a problem. It's a great format.

Does it dither to 16 bits?

Blue Dude · #8 10-22-2008, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fmw

Does it dither to 16 bits?

Nope. Stores it as 24 bit.

fmw · #9 10-22-2008, 08:58 PM

I guess I am behind in this area. I wasn't aware that it was common to put 24 bit decoders in computer sound cards. My sound card handles up to 24 bit/192 khz but it really is a recording interface, not just a sound card.

Apparently 24 bit dacs are pretty common in consumer audio.

bandphan · #10 10-23-2008, 12:25 AM

cant cut and paste, but yes 24 bit is good and muliti channel will work fine, im trying to get the open source for reference/....