Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
I've solved my DTS-on-the-server problem in a round-about way, which comes with some advantages... I bought a 5.8GHz AV Sender and a Toslink-to-coax S/PDIF converter. The surround receiver in my hi-fi setup has a Toslink output (from whichever of its digital inputs is currently selected). I pass that Toslink output through the Toslink-to-coax converter and into the AV transmitter's 'video' input. Down in the home-office, where the SqueezeCenter PC resides, I connect the 'video' output from the AV receiver to a spare coax S/PDIF input on the surround receiver located nearby. So now I don't need to use the awful SqueezeSlave or SoftSqueeze in sync with the hi-fi SB3 - I just run the hi-fi SB3 'solo' (upstairs), and receive its Toslink output back down in the office via the AV sender! DTS tracks now decode correctly on the office surround receiver, so I'm chuffed. And of course the downstairs sound is perfectly in sync with upstairs, without any skips, pauses or bad sync that you get with SqueezeSlave. Another advantage of this method is that the stereo audio I now hear in the office is gain-adjusted (from track gain), something SqueezeSlave doesn't do. So I win on several levels! Incidentally, I chose 5.8GHz (over the more common 2.4GHz, which should also work) because the 2.4GHz band is a bit crowded in my house, with the WLAN, three cordless phone handsets, and the microwave oven. The AV Sender was under AUD100, and the Toslink converter under AUD30, so they cost me less than a top-end sound card would have, and anyway I couldn't find a soundcard manufacturer who would guarantee bit-perfect playback from SqueezeSlave. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
Honva, Thanks for your further input. But I've already tried setting the volumes to 100%, with no success. What I'd really like to know is how PowerDVD manages to bypass whatever's altering the bit-stream, and produce perfect DTS surround, when none of my audio players can do this! Thanks also to Jotham - the Transit High-Resolution Mobile Audio Interface might be the go if I can't find a suitable internal card (at the right price) that does the trick, or (better) work out how to use my present card the way PowerDVD does. Regards, Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
Besides using ASIO or KS to pass stream directly to digital out, there is one more important setting people often missed. Set the wave input and mixer output to 100%. Even KS won't bypass volume control (it just prevented the 44/48kHz conversion). Any volume adjustment will alter the DTS waveform and not regonised by receiver. Biu -- Honva Honva's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=14948 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
I'm thinking this is your best chance of success. http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Transit-main.html -- jotham jotham's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=14502 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
I recently discovered something interesting... Although none of my audio applications will play bit-perfect DTS through my sound card, if I play (via PowerDVD) a DVD with DTS soundtrack, the DTS soundtrack *does* play perfectly through my external DTS receiver (connected via Toslink). So somehow PowerDVD is finding a way to bypass the sound card's mixer and feed a bit-perfect stream through the Toslink output. Anyone have any idea how to discover how it does this, so that (maybe) I can get my audio players to do likewise? PowerDVD's audio configuration dialogue box simply offers two selections: "2 speaker" and "SPDIF" (the latter being selected), without giving any clue as to how it directly accesses the S/PDIF output. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
i'm out of my depth on some of those questions... i'm not sure if the asio driver portion of a wxp driver would work with w2k, its probably a case by case basis. i know that sometimes an xp driver will work for 2k tho, but its certainly not guaranteed. personally, i think xp is better than 2k, and i used both for a long time. it would make finding an option for you easier to go to a more recent OS. a lot of mobo's come with options to add toslink via a hardware adapter, but i doubt they have asio drivers. if u find an answer, be sure to post it. -mdw -- MrSinatra www.LION-Radio.org Using: Squeezebox2 w/SS 6.5.5 (beta!?) - Win XP Pro SP2 - 3.2ghz / 2gig ram - D-Link DIR-655 MrSinatra's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2336 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
Sorry if I offended you; it was not my intention. I appreciate any help I can get. I've had no prior experience with ASIO drivers (they're a new concept to me), but from what I've read they need to be written by or specifically for the card vendor. There seems to be no such thing as a 'generic' ASIO driver (ASIO4ALL is apparently not a true ASIO driver, and certainly doesn't work with *every* sound card and player application). So I concluded that, since the Creative X-Fi Elite Pro lists only WinXP support, that their supplied ASIO drivers would only work under WinXP. Are you saying that they should probably work under Win2K too? Even so (and even if the price was reasonable), I would be reluctant to buy something specified to be only for WinXP, since I may miss out on other features/capabilities of the card that could be useful in different circumstances. Thanks again for your efforts. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
well, i was talking about the card i suggested, not your card. and please drop the "as i mentioned earlier" bit. -- MrSinatra www.LION-Radio.org Using: Squeezebox2 w/SS 6.5.5 (beta!?) - Win XP Pro SP2 - 3.2ghz / 2gig ram - D-Link DIR-655 MrSinatra's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2336 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
As mentioned earlier, there are no ASIO drivers (that I could find) for my sound card. But yes, if they existed they should work under Win2k. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
am i wrong in thinking that asio drivers would work with w2k? -- MrSinatra www.LION-Radio.org Using: Squeezebox2 w/SS 6.5.5 (beta!?) - Win XP Pro SP2 - 3.2ghz / 2gig ram - D-Link DIR-655 MrSinatra's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2336 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
MrSinatra (Frank?), Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, apart from being a bit pricey, that model only appears to support WinXP, and I run Win2000, as mentioned. Rgds, Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
the creative x fi elite pro has asio drivers and toslink, or so says their website, (i don't have one). -- MrSinatra www.LION-Radio.org Using: Squeezebox2 w/SS 6.5.5 (beta!?) - Win XP Pro SP2 - 3.2ghz / 2gig ram - D-Link DIR-655 MrSinatra's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2336 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
Radish, Thanks for the tips - you got my hopes up for a while! But after an extensive search (and an unsuccessful play with ASIO4ALL), I eventually determined that there are no ASIO drivers for my card. But I've learned a few things from you already! I hadn't heard of ASIO drivers before (the only ASIO I knew is the secretive Australian Security Intelligence Organisation! :-) and now I know the 'feature' I need is 'bit-perfect' playback of WAV/FLAC files. So I'd still be pleased to hear from anyone with card recommendations (or even a suitable card to sell!). Regards, Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
Windows & the card's drivers do a lot of processing to the sound before it gets out - mixing, eq etc and as you suspect this is killing the DTS bitstream. Try using ASIO drivers if you're not already, and look around the home theater forums (like avs) for tips on getting bitperfect output from that card. -- radish radish's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=77 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
I'm a newbie to this forum, so forgive me if this topic has already been covered at length (please just direct me to the thread in that case). I recently acquired a couple of Squeezebox 3's, and have set up one with my Hi-Fi system, streaming the audio from my 'server' PC via a wireless router. The Squeezebox connects via Toslink to a surround receiver, and works perfectly playing DTS tracks from either WAV or FLAC ripped DTS files. But I also want to hear these same tracks on my second surround receiver connected to the SlimServer PC (in a different room), also via Toslink. Trouble is my present sound card (HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold with X10 SPDIF Input Extension board), though connected via Toslink to my second DTS receiver, won't play DTS WAV/FLAC files correctly (I just get the usual analogue white noise). This board correctly plays DTS CDs & DVDs when the 'S/PDIF In Loopback' option is selected, provided the disc drive's digital output is plugged into the Mystique's (internal) digital input (the board is then simply passing-through the DTS bit-stream from the disc to the Toslink output). But playing a ripped DTS track (via any of several player applications, including SoftSqueeze) somehow corrupts the DTS stream. I'm guessing it's changing the gain via the board's software mixer, even if I disable all inputs other than 'WAV' and set its 'volume' to maximum. So what I'm looking for is a (preferably low-cost) sound card that allows playback of uncorrupted DTS WAV and FLAC files via a Toslink output to an external DTS surround receiver, using any common player software (but particularly SoftSqueeze and SqueezeSlave [now preferred over the flaky SoftSqueeze]). The board must also have a Toslink input, for digital recording. Anybody have experience with such a board? Recommendations? Preferably something available in Australia (the Audigy 2 Platinum eX Audio Cards currently being sold on eBay are not available to Australia). Incidentally, I'm running Windows 2000 in a PC with PCI slots and room on the front for a 5.25" module if required, if that's relevant. -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
