Which soundcard for media centre ? Help. better than denon 2500bt high end blu-ray

Meridiusuk · 23 Jul 2009 at 19:17

Hi all I hope you can help.

I am going to build a media centre pc and I was wanting to be able to play every single video format out there including 1080p mkv files and blu-ray.

I want to be able to get dobly digital HD and Master DTS Hd to from the hdmi as this is the only way you can get these sounds to my amp which can decode the hi-def sounds.

is it better to get a sound card that does this or a gfx card ?

is there any problems with blu-ray and hi def playback with soundcards at all which is best to use.

can media pcs produce top rate sounds like a high end denon 2500 blu-ray player ?

also what motherboard should I be looking at ?

Thanks for any help

AbsenceJam · 23 Jul 2009 at 19:36

Anything other than the Xonar HDAV cannot bitstream and will downconvert audio, the Xonar's can only be used with the Asus version of Arcsoft. Coupled with a 9300/9400 board (nVidia IGP's are the best) and a cheap CPU and you have a quality setup.
Thing is, you probably wouldn't notice the difference in the downconverted audio as the higher bit depth and samplerate is really a bit of a gimmick at the listeners end of things. A lot of 93/400 boards do 7.1 PCM @ 48/16 over HDMI anyway so you don't need a Xonar or you could add one later if you really wanted to.

D D Danneh · 23 Jul 2009 at 19:48

If you're outputting sound through HDMI, you don't need a soundcard, as you cannot improve a digital signal.

AbsenceJam · 23 Jul 2009 at 19:58

D D Danneh said:
If you're outputting sound through HDMI, you don't need a soundcard, as you cannot improve a digital signal.

There's so much more to it than that here...

D D Danneh · 23 Jul 2009 at 20:04

AbsenceJam said:
There's so much more to it than that here...

Okay, let me rephrase that:

You don't need to spend a lot of money on a top of the line soundcard, because a cheaper D2 (and D1 too?), can provide Dolby Digital HD and DTS.

AbsenceJam · 23 Jul 2009 at 20:06

D D Danneh said:
Okay, let me rephrase that:

You don't need to spend a lot of money on a top of the line soundcard, because a cheaper D2 (and D1 too?), can provide Dolby Digital HD and DTS.

S/PDIF can only do standard DTS/DD or the core tracks from the HD codecs.

Meridiusuk · 23 Jul 2009 at 20:19

i own a ps3 and a denon2500bt and i can tell the denon ha much much better sound it has more depth and is crisper than the ps3.

the thing is i want to be able to get rid of the ps3 and denon 2500bt if a media pc can produce a sound just as good or better than the denon 2500bt player.

i have to be ablle to bitstream as my yamaha 3900 can decode all audio formats using the hdmi.

i was going to get a ati gfx card as they fo audio with the hdmi but they dont bitstream and can not do hd audios i think.

so what your telling me is the Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe Sound Card is the onyl true hi-def audio card ?

questions

Q1 will it have better sound than the denon 2500bt
Q2 i noticed it does picture how does that work ? will i hook the gfx card to teh tv for normal picture and stereo audio and then hook the sound card to the amp and the sound card can send a picture to ?
Q3 is the Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe Sound Card the best a pc sound can produce and i noticed it had a fan on it are they loud.
Q4 or should i just keep the denon2500bt for blu-rays ?
Q5 what is asus arcsoft ?

thanks for any help

AbsenceJam · 23 Jul 2009 at 20:29

There's a cheaper Slim version now, it's what I'd suggest.

1) If you bitstream from your Denon and the Xonar quality will be identical.
2) GPU DVI/HDMI output > Xonar HDMI input > Xonar HDMI output > Amp > Display.
3) It's the ONLY option for this - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1093445 - and as I said above there's the Slim version.
4) Up to you.
5) A special version of Arcsoft Total Media Theatre which is the only software which will support bitstreaming and non-downsampled audio.