Just seen Xonar HDAV1.3 Slim is available, any good?

dlthorpe

dlthorpe

dlthorpe

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Seen here...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-007-AS

Ive had a HTPC for ages now but but had the latest hd-dvd or bluray audio due to the first Xonar costing a lot more than the slim.

Just thought, hmmm i wonder whats on the latest deals then, and see this.

Any one have it yet despite it being added yesterday? I assume this like its big brother will need you to do a picture pass through from gfx to the Xonar, then the Xonar sends both out?

D.
 
Well if you want to be tied to Arcsoft software and want full resolution audio from BD (which requires a very good sound system to be worth it) then go for it. If you don't already have some sort of HDMI audio setup then it's good too.

Yes it's GPU>Xonar>Amp/Processor.
 
Well i want it for my HTPC in which i use Media Portal. I already know i cant get MediaPortal to use the device or anything which is fine. I just want to be able to launch whatever program i need to from within MediaPortal to then watch a HD-DVD or BluRay disc.

Im not really sure if being tied to Arcsoft is an issue though.

But i defo have a sufficient sound system to handle it as I have a PS3 and BluRay plays fine on that with the new audio formats.
 
sounds fine to me. of course its hdmi1.3 compliant, it has to be to be able to stream DTS:MA and TrueHD which is the only reason to buy that card.
 
dlthorpe said:
Doesnt sound all that good reading that. Confusing comment by someone saying its only HDAV 1.2 compliant not 1.3. Its called a HDAV 1.3 Slim after all, so shouldnt it be 1.3 compliant?
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It is 1.3 compliant. It is the only way to bitstream HD audio out of a HTPC at present and has to be used with TMT 2 or 3 (TMT 2 is included with the card) to complete the secure path needed to bitstream the audio. Now the drivers have had a bit of development work it also works very well.

Auzentech are due to release a similar card however it is rumored to be more than twice the price and tied to Power DVD 9 which is not as good as TMT. The other issue is that it has been delayed almost 18 months and still no firm release date.
 
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Dangerous Dave said:
Auzentech are due to release a similar card however it is rumored to be more than twice the price and tied to Power DVD 9 which is not as good as TMT. The other issue is that it has been delayed almost 18 months and still no firm release date.
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It's on their site to preorder for $250 and $300 with the Xfi front panel. So it's only a little bit more but that's before the inevitable price hike over here.
 
markop2003 said:
It's on their site to preorder for $250 and $300 with the Xfi front panel. So it's only a little bit more but that's before the inevitable price hike over here.
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It was on their site for pre order in 2008 before it vanished, I do think it will be out before the end of this year though. They hopefully have learned from ASUS's mistake where it took them almost 6 months to get stable drivers after releasing the full fat HDAV.

I am sure I saw on avsform.com that Americans were picking up the HDAV SLIM for under $100 with discount codes, won't take long for it to drop under £100 in the UK I would have thought.
 
I only want it for them new audio formats yeh.

I was reading all the comments on that review which confused the hell out of me for this PCM and bitstreaming talk. Can this card do all the stuff audiophiles rave about regarding the audio transmission? Hopefully that makes sense as my lack of knowledge might be shining through there :) I get the impression there is more to this than just being able to play the new audio formats...

I dont personally see a problem with ties only to TMT unless people believe its rubbish? Currently i use PowerDVD 9 to play my discs obviously without the better audio. So if TMT is better than PowerDVD 9 then sweet.
 
Windows Version: Vista 64
CPU Type: AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 2MB (2x1MB) L3 Cache
Memory: Crucial 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G Socket AM2+ onboard VGA 8 channel audio mATX
Video Card: onboard Radeon ATI HD 3200
Sound Card: onboard
HTPC Case: Antec Fusion Remote Veris Black MATX Media Center Case
TV: Samsung 40" LE40M86BD
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI for video and audio
Projector: Panasonic PT-AE2000
Projector - HTPC Connection: HDMI for video and audio
AMP: Yamaha RX-V1800

I watch movies on the projector or TV depending on the quality of them, but using media portal i have a hard drive full of mkv's.

I know the amp and projector can handle the 1080p and 24p video, and the DTS:MA, TrueHD audio as my PS3 can do it all ok - id just prefer to get it all done through my HTPC.
 
your ps3 doesnt bitstream DTS:MA or TrueHD. The yamaha ticks the box alright, but what about the speakers?

people like watching that little light come on on their amps but in reality 99% of them dont have the kit to do it justice. I've not persued HD audio for that reason - i dont have a grands worth of speakers to back my amp up - and i advise most people who look at these cards to do what i did..... dont buy one.
 
If i put a BluRay disc in the PS3 though which has a DTS:MA sound track it plays it fine, the PS3 has a button where you can see the information its playing and there it shows it i think. During the movie too i can switch between this audio track, and standard DD or DTS - the amp shows its flicking between say 7.1 channels or 5.1 channels.

Im not that sure about any of this though so if im obviously mistaken, can you explain it to me so i know what it is? :)

My speakers are lacking at the moment yeh which is why i didnt really mention them, but im planning to spend a couple k on them at some point in the near future.
 
dlthorpe said:
If i put a BluRay disc in the PS3 though which has a DTS:MA sound track it plays it fine, the PS3 has a button where you can see the information its playing and there it shows it i think. During the movie too i can switch between this audio track, and standard DD or DTS - the amp shows its flicking between say 7.1 channels or 5.1 channels.

Im not that sure about any of this though so if im obviously mistaken, can you explain it to me so i know what it is? :)

My speakers are lacking at the moment yeh which is why i didnt really mention them, but im planning to spend a couple k on them at some point in the near future.
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The PS3 is decoding the sound track and sending the audio as LPCM to the amp , if you use a HDAV it will bitstream the audio which means the amp will do all the decoding. Stand alone blu-ray players can send a bitstream signal to a amp as well however the chipset in the PS3 is not capable of doing this.

Technically speaking both methods should sound identical however I have found this not to be the case the main reason being on a bitstreamed audio stream it can pass center channel volume and dynamic range information to the decoding device be this a AMP/PC/PS3 however the software players don't always do any thing with this information or treat it incorrectly which means on certain tracks the centre channel can be to low or to high and the dynamic range can be all off meaning loud scenes sound compressed. The home cinema amps don't seem to have this problem so I still think the best method is to allow the amp to decode it. Actual sound quality wise I can't tell the difference so if the software players sort out the small bugs they should sound the same, I also have not tried this with a PS3 so it may decode the levels/dynamic range properly.
 
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Yeh just checked, iRobot for example i select the audio track DTS-HD MA and then when its playing back i can press the "back" button and it shows thats the audio track playing. Its only a 5.1 track though. My amp shows 5.1 and "PCM".

RocknRolla has a TrueHD 5.1 track and that again shows in the details if i play it. Amp again only shows PCM.

Last example is 3:10 to Yuma which has a 7.1 PCM track. If i enable that the PS3 shows "Linea PCM" and the amp shows its a 7.1 track.

When im switching from the standard track to either TrueHD or DTS-MA i can hear differences in it too.

Does this not mean the PS3 can bitstream fine? or is Bitstreaming something else? :)

Thanks,
D.
 
Dam just notied the other reply. So these are different things then, even though the PS3 can read it like you say, its sending it as a bitstream (PCM?) to the AMP but the PS3 is decoding it first.

Where as if i got a HDAV card, it would then send the audio straight to the amp and that would decode it?

Have i got that right?
 
dlthorpe said:
Dam just notied the other reply. So these are different things then, even though the PS3 can read it like you say, its sending it as a bitstream (PCM?) to the AMP but the PS3 is decoding it first.

Where as if i got a HDAV card, it would then send the audio straight to the amp and that would decode it?

Have i got that right?
Click to expand...

The PS3 is sending it as LPCM which means the PS3 is decoding the sound track, a HDAV 1.3 soundcard or stand alone player can send it bitstream which means the audio stream is sent untouched off the disk and the decoding is done with the amp. On the amp you then get the DTS-HD light on with your I Robot disk as it is doing the decoding.

In short with good speakers you can make good use of the HDAV slim in your system so it is a worth while purchase.
 
I get it now! Appreciate the explanations from you all.

Last question. Some people are picking up on this card being PCI not PCI-e. Is that a concern?
 
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