questions re Audio on SN41g

External Since: Jul 15, 2004 Posts: 2

Hi all

I'm using my Shuttle in the living room, as a Home Theatre PC (gives the
best picture to my projector, via DVI - blows RGB out the water), using it
mainly for DVD playback.

Anyway, bearing that in mind, I currently connect to my Amp via the SPDIF on
the front (why this wasn't put on the back I'll never know, but there you
are!).

Now I don't really care whether the on board sound can do any processing, or
whether it can playback in a bunch of different formats, all I really want
is the SPDIF to output whatever is playing on the DVD without any
interference, to let the £800 amp worry about formats and the like.

So, finally, the question is whether the SPDIF out from a better soundcard
(either a Audigy 2 or equivalent) would be any better than the SPDIF out on
the SN41G.

I get a little confused when all these soundcards boast about decoding DD EX
or DTS-ES or 5.1 and 7.1. I don't need the card to do any of that, I just
need it to output a pure digital signal to the amp so it can work that magic
instead, no doubt far better. The question is whether a 'better' soundcard
would do it any better (would the bass be deeper, or the treble purer
etc. ), or is the onboard sound perfectly capable of just sending the signal
on?

Cheers for listening, and any advice you can offer.

Paul

External Since: Jul 08, 2004 Posts: 969

In article <NcOdnZOqroIzZmvdRVn-uA.RemoveThis@giganews.com>, fatboy says...

> Now I don't really care whether the on board sound can do any processing, or
> whether it can playback in a bunch of different formats, all I really want
> is the SPDIF to output whatever is playing on the DVD without any
> interference, to let the £800 amp worry about formats and the like.
>
> So, finally, the question is whether the SPDIF out from a better soundcard
> (either a Audigy 2 or equivalent) would be any better than the SPDIF out on
> the SN41G.
>
Why would it? Its outputting a pure digital signal. You can limit the
interference even further by using the digital out on the DVDROM drive
rather than having it feed through the PC. THe signal that outputs from
the soundcard/onboard sound isn't what the DVDROM drive outputs but
what the soundcard output would be so you get any inherent line noise
from internal sources.

--
Conor

life, n.: A whim of several billion cells to be you for a while