192 Khz on Harman Kardon through ASUS Xonax DX

[beeper007]

Got at ASUS Xonar DX PCIe sound card for my HTPC . Connect it to my old Harman Kardon AVR 3550 via Digital Optical. Plays pretty fine but the sound card and Receiver both are capable of 192Khz 24 bit however the display on the Receiver still says "DVD/96K" for any 96K or 192K FLAC songs played through it . Also tried DD 2.0 and 5.1 content, fiddled with all the settings of the card, the player(media player classic, WMP 11, vlc) still the same issue

Can some one pls help me through this, as to how to get 192Khz sampling through my HTPC-Receiver combination?

 

[cym_city]

I don't think Optical cable can carry 192khz. It's only good up to 96khz. There are a lot of people on here that know more about this than I do so hopefully they will chime in.

 

[beeper007]

I don't think Optical cable can carry 192khz. It's only good up to 96khz.

Hmmm... Interesting thing that you mentioned over here, But I really wonder if its not the dital optical cable that can support 192Khz then which medium is better and cleaner than Digital optical cable which can transport 192Khz signal? Food for thought huh!

Please advise...

 

[Adam]

Do you have both the sound card and the player set up to output audio in bitstream?

 

[Adam]

I downloaded the manual for the 3550 - no mention of 96 or 192kHz, so I'm assuming for now that you don't have to set anything in a menu on the receiver.

The sound card does have a selection for PCM Sample Rate for 44.1, 48, 96, or 192kHz. Have you set that to 192?

 

[beeper007]

Do you have both the sound card and the player set up to output audio in bitstream?

Umm...Well...The Receiver does not have any such settings however in the Card, I have enabled the DIGITAL OUT and checked the "PCM output" option rather than the other "Dolby Digital Live" option.

 

[beeper007]

I downloaded the manual for the 3550 - no mention of 96 or 192kHz, ...The sound card does have a selection for PCM Sample Rate for 44.1, 48, 96, or 192kHz. Have you set that to 192?

Yeah, In the Harman Kardon AVR 3550 manual there are no Menu settings for the same however the spec sheet mentions it as having Crystal DACs 24bit, 192 Khz, but like many other problems in life this one also doesnt budge! Even the Harman Kardon tech support people have no idea about it. God help the HK customers.

 

[fractile]

It's unclear whether the H/K supports 24 bits and not just 20 over the SPDIF

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPDIF

You may need to do an HDMI conversion out of the computer. It's been my intent to have HDMI output on my next notebook, maybe for this reason that I stuck in the back of my mind.

 

[pzaur]

Is this your PCI card and Receiver?
Just double checking.

-pat

 

[pzaur]

Of is it this one?
-pat

 

[pzaur]

The 3550HD only mentions the 192khz rate once at the beginning of the manual. The rest of the manual talks about 96khz as the highest frequency rate.
Maybe it down-samples?!

-pat

 

[beeper007]

Of is it this

Yepp, This is the exact model I got.(AVR 3550). I dont have the above mentioned AVR3550HD. And yeah, The same card ASUS Xonar DX PCIe card.

Lemme locate the product brochure from my data station and upload it so that you can verify from there that it surely states that it supports 192Khz. But in which mode, That ehy have left onto us to guess !!!

 

[beeper007]

The 3550HD only mentions the 192khz rate once at the beginning of the manual. The rest of the manual talks about 96khz as the highest frequency rate.
Maybe it down-samples?!

-pat

https://www.hci-services.com//tech_doc/documents/harman%20kardon/Home/Electronics/AVR/AVR%203550/Info%20Sheet/AVR%203550.pdf

Got the tech spec sheet online, here they are boldly mentioning 192Khz sample rates.
https://www.hci-services.com//tech_doc/documents/harman kardon/Home/Electronics/AVR/AVR 3550/Info Sheet/AVR 3550.pdf

 

[pzaur]

I'm guessing it only does 192khz through the analog inputs.

There are no mention of sample rates in the manual.

-pat

 

[beeper007]

I'm guessing it only does 192khz through the analog inputs.

There are no mention of sample rates in the manual.

-pat

Hmm...So you mean to say that I will have to use its "6 Channel direct input" connectors(Page 9 of manual, Picture-9) using the ordiniary "3.5 MM to RCA" connector cables which will hook up from the back of the sound card(3.5mm jack) to the back of the Receiver(RCA connectors)?

But isn't that kinda strange cause otherwise it supports 96Khz on digital but for the 192Khz we need to walk into the Analogue domain!

Is there any way to double check what you are saying, I mean just to be sure before I invest in 3 pairs of 3.5 MM to RCA cables?

 

[pzaur]

Hmm...So you mean to say that I will have to use its "6 Channel direct input" connectors(Page 9 of manual, Picture-9) using the ordiniary "3.5 MM to RCA" connector cables which will hook up from the back of the sound card(3.5mm jack) to the back of the Receiver(RCA connectors)?

But isn't that kinda strange cause otherwise it supports 96Khz on digital but for the 192Khz we need to walk into the Analogue domain!

Is there any way to double check what you are saying, I mean just to be sure before I invest in 3 pairs of 3.5 MM to RCA cables?

Call Harman Kardon and ask them. Otherwise, the manual is pretty bleak about what formats are supported and by what connections. You could always just try one pair or buy two adapters and go that route (Stereo connection). Not very expensive through monoprice.com or Radioshack.

-pat