HTPC Audio

[itschris]

XFi is Creative's newest chipset after the Audigy2 series. It's overhyped, undersupported, and poorly implemented in Vista64, which is arguably the best OS to use for HTPC stuff.

If he's doing lossless, he better know what the source of the rips was, like I said. Lossless, unless you ripped things yourself, means nothing. Anyone can re-encode MP3s as lossless FLACs for the sake of having "lossless" files. I've seen this plenty of times, when my own lossless rips have far higher freq ranges than the lossless rips I saw posted on usenet.

The ONLY way to guarantee a best quality lossless encode is to encode the original source material yourself.

I'm ripping my all my own CD's... about 1200 of them... maybe more. It's a big task...so I only want to do it once and I want it to be used for playback and for archiving to recreate discs if need be. Once I get this all done, I'll be backing up to an external hard drive.

 

[itschris]

Have you learned nothing from being on this forum? Spending more money != more capability or performance. Monster Cable anyone?!?!

You should look to fulfill a purpose, not spend money because marketing and hype tell you it's the best option.

Okay the difference between buying a soundcard for a $100 that actually does something is a lot different than buying $450 interconnects that don't.

For me, and if you read my posts in the past, what I buy is not just about to fullfill purpose. That's almost a silly statement because show me one person who bases all their purchases on that. If that were the case, there would be one car to buy, we'd buy only the food we need to survive, etc. I don't live that way and I'm not sure I know anyone else who does either.

Why would anyone spend $20 more for a Panny over a Sony bd player or visa versa, when most could probably not tell any difference between the two? You buy what you want for the reasons you want... period. Clearly the largest part of that is function, but there's a lot of other drivers beyond that which create a decision.

 

[itschris]

Can you elaborate a bit on what this actually is, does, and how it integrates into a system?

BTW nvidia has announced their ION platform which uses an Intel Atom and fully supports 1080p video along with 8ch LPCM over HDMI.

This tiny little box has the following inside:
2GB DDR3 ram
Intel Atom
9400M graphics
500GB hard drive

This is a chart showing CPU and memory usage while playing back The Dark Knight at 1080p.

Also this thing uses <30w at max TDP.

 

[Nemo128]

Okay the difference between buying a soundcard for a $100 that actually does something is a lot different than buying $450 interconnects that don't.

Sorry but I think you missed the point. When I say fulfill a purpose, I mean fulfill one's EXACT purpose. If that purpose is the BEST sound quality without compromise, that still does not require the most expensive sound card on the market. Whoever tells you otherwise is no different than the Monster Cable lovers that will swear till they're blue in the face that their $300 HDMI cable is better than, for example, a $60 BJC cable. Both give you, not comparable, but EXACTLY EQUAL performance. In some cases, the less expensive product gives you better performance!

You're confusing my statement of "purpose" with "functional need". Do we need 110" projection screens and 3KW home theater systems? No, but we want them, and we need the right gear to fulfill that purpose.

But hey, feel free to go buy a Creative E-MU 1820M or 1620M if you want the absolute best sound quality possible. And even those aren't the cream of the performance or price crop.

 

[Nemo128]

Can you elaborate a bit on what this actually is, does, and how it integrates into a system?

It's an HTPC in ridiculously small form that has more video and audio processing power than a full blown very decked out system. It will hopefully be available at a very attractive price point.

Only further illustrates my point about price not being the determining factor for performance.

 

[itschris]

It's an HTPC in ridiculously small form that has more video and audio processing power than a full blown very decked out system. It will hopefully be available at a very attractive price point.

Only further illustrates my point about price not being the determining factor for performance.

Valid point taken.

For this thing, what kind of front end does it have?

 

[gus6464]

Valid point taken.

For this thing, what kind of front end does it have?

Specs of the reference ION system were the following:

Intel Atom CPU (Most likely the single core running at 1.6GHz)
Nvidia 9400M video
2GB of DDR3 ram
HDMI and DVI out (the HDMI out can process 8ch LPCM audio)
1 internal SATA port (products from other manufacturers will most likely have more)

Essentially this is a tiny little box that has the power to run high def video and audio like any of the bigger systems out there at a fraction of the power requirements. In essence this thing is the perfect HTPC.

 

[OttoMatic]

Can it browse the web? What's the OS?

 

[Biggiesized]

I completely agree, but if increased processing power, lower power consumption, and smaller form factor are desired, I suggest a board based on the Intel G45 chipset.

The Intel DG45FC is incredibly capable when you pair it with the right Core2Duo CPU. Food for thought.

As much as I love Intel processors, I cannot in good conscience recommend a G45 solution considering Intel's past support in the graphics driver department.

 

[gus6464]

Can it browse the web? What's the OS?

The OS is whatever you want it to be. That little box is a full blown PC.