Confused about how home A/V works in the age of digital media

[swampwiz]

Up until 2005, I had listened to audio via a CD player or Sony MiniDisc, or from the feed from the TV, or from the tuner that was in the pre-amp, all powered by an amp that fed tower speakers; video was via VHS, LOL. Then in 2005 I got flooded by a major hurricane that year and have been living in a very mobile way ever since, completely using my computer and its audio output jack to power either a pair of powered speakers - either Paradigm Active/20, or when I'm very mobile, a pair of conic-frustrum shaped Altec Lansing ones (both of which seem to be the best bang for the size/mass). Along the way I've picked up a pair of Montana Audio EPS (I was blown away by the clarity & bass extension for something that only cost $3K used; currently in storage), and when I finally get in a situation, I would like to start enjoying these in the way I used to prior to 2005 when I was less mobile.

Now since that time, I have completely changed over to having all audio & video stored on a computer hard drive, and pretty much just stream any radio station (that I would want to listen to) through my computer, so I have absolutely no use for a CD player or tuner. I can envision watching TV from either a digital antenna, or perhaps cable, but all other video will all be from the computer, including streaming as for radio stations. I also have an XBox that has 3 video & 2 audio RCA cables. As for the "computer", I could see wanting to get the audio or video from my main computer, or some type of pad computer that would be completely dedicated to the A/V. I could live with some deterioration of A/V quality from the main computer as it would be used when I actually want to get deeply into playing something, but I would want the A/V from the other dedicated computer quality to be excellent. For this system I have in mind, I am not interested in anymore than the 2 speaker channels. (I could see another system in which I would want the fancy multi-speaker systems, but I wouldn't be wanting to set that up until I will have set this current system up.) It can be presumed that any video is in the standard MKV, MOV, AVI, MP4 format, and any audio is WAV, FLAC, MP3 (constant or variable), although if it makes any difference, I plan to have everything on the dedicated computer as FLAC.

I have heard of A/V components termed something like "digital media component" that basically is a computer but with a very high quality sound & video card, but with a limited interface (I'm thinking something as limited as an iPad), but I think that I would like a much more general interface like I could get on a regular computer. I'm wondering if it is possible to get a general computer system that lets me run my own Windows apps like VideoLan that is specially designed to produce a very high quality audio or video feed that would be input to an audio pre-/integrated amp or TV; this type of computer would be the dedicated system for the A/V. Or perhaps regular computers these days are so good that the quality of the audio output is as good as anything so simply running a cable from that would suffice?

As for the feed from my other (main) computer, as this would be a notebook that be far away, I would prefer some type of wireless connectivity, and would not be so stringent on the quality (since the dedicated system would be used for those situations when quality is paramount). Is this something "Bluetooth" or other systems could handle?

So I guess my question is what will I actually need in terms of equipment. With everything now digital, I am not sure if what I need is a dedicated computer that puts out a digital signal that goes into the pre-/integrated amp and that gets DAC there, and then onto the amp, or if even now there are amps that directly take a digital signal, for the best quality. I know that I don't want to have a too-cluttered pre-/integrated amp setup and so don't want anything dedicated specifically for a CD, phono or tuner.

And if it matters, I am interested in an amp that does not put out too much heat; my experience with my old Adcom amp was that during the summer, I didn't care too much for the heating plate that it was. I understand that Class C or D amps have a much lower heat output, but that the quality has not been as great (although perhaps that has finally changed?) And I don't care for tubes and the artificial "warmth" they provide.

Thanks, and I welcome all suggestions!

 

[Latent]

Even though you are only starting with stereo I would steer away from stereo units as for the same level of sound quality a multichannel unit will cost around the same $$$. This is just because of economies of scale from mass production. AVR's (Mulit-channel Audio Video Receivers) have other advantages like simple bass management if you upgrade to a Subwoofer later which is highly recommend. Plus they allow you to add 5.1/7.1 etc speaker setups down the track if you get more into this. They are also great at being the Central hub of your AV system with inputs to connect your existing and new sources. Plus modern units can connect to your wired/wireless network so you can send and control sources directly from your mobile/Tablet/PC etc. Different AVR's makers have different network streaming support so some research is required.

But while they can do many audio streaming/source options straight out of the box they normally lack any video sources. So the solution to getting high quality video in is via HDMI from source devices. HDMI is the highest quality signal transmission we have right now but quality does depend on the source device and the source content a bit.

Most people have setups with say a Blu-ray player connected via HDMI into their AVR and then an HDMI feeding up to their TV. The TV is treated more like a Display screen and not a 'TV' in this setup most of the time. For traditional TV sources people often get a cable/satellite TV decoder box which outputs HDMI and plugs into a second HDMI port on the AVR and when watching this box the sound gets split out to the speakers while just the video signal gets digitally sent up to the TV. Some places the TV itself can receive free TV channels over say DVB-T or old school analog and the TV is used directly as a TV which cuts the AVR out of the loop which would mean low quality audio from tiny TV speakers. This is solved using a feature called ARC which feeds the sound back down to the AVR in the opposite direction to normal so you can use your good speakers instead. Also many TV's now have smart features built into them which allows them run apps for Netflix and others internally in which case the same ARC feature is useful. Smart TV's can also play back networked movie files themselves as well but how easy to use they are varies a lot.

To add to this people now also connect other HDMI devices to the AVR like Game consoles which as well as playing games can also be used to play back online or locally stored content. They also connect in things like ChromeCast's which allow them to stream internet content (And local content with workarounds like Plex) to their system all controlled from Mobile/Tablet/PC. And finally there are many media players out there that connect via HDMI to playback internet and local content. Examples of these are Roko, AppleTV and AndroidTV.

Finally there are people who instead of using consumer built devices like these build their own solution using a PC with an HDMI output. These are called HTPC's and they come in many different software options (Windows,KODI/OpenELEC,MythTV and many others). Some versions are used just to playback your local media library and some can also record and store TV sources or stream internet sources.

As to Audio/Video quality most of these options output 1080p high quality video very well but supporting Audio formats varies a lot between device and sources. Many units will downmix higher bit rate audio before output which some find annoying.

Anyway that is the current situation but what option is best for you? It's a complex world with so many ways to get to the same result. I would suggest you look into a solution called PLEX as it may solve all your problems. You install the Plex server on a computer that stores all your content somewhere in your house and then have a device plugged into your AVR next to the TV that has support for the Plex playback app. Plex works with Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Xbox, PlayStation, NVIDIA SHIELD, and many late-model smart TVs.

You also wanted a unit that doesn't make to much heat. You can get units with class D digital amplifiers. Pioneer is probably the best example of this right now in the not to crazy high price range. However even their Class D units still have a relatively high base idle power usage which keeps them warm no matter what. For most applications I would not worry to much about this and getting a more power hungry Class A/B unit will work fine as long as you make sure you give it enough air space to breath. With any modern unit at normal listening levels you shouldn't have a real problem.