Quality sound on PVR?

[5-11under]

Hi there,

I'm in the thinking/planning stage of creating a living room PVR, which will also include the ability to play music through a decent stereo system.

I'm wondering if you're using on-board audio, whatever cheap sound card you can find, or more expensive audio cards? Either way, does anyone have any suggestions for good quality, but still hopefully fairly inexpensive solutions. I could buy an Echo Mia card (I'm familiar with another of their products) for about $150, but can I do just as well, or close, for less money?

Thanks in advance,
5-11under
first time caller, although I've been lurking for a while.

[craigap]

If your stereo has S/PDIF I recommend getting a motherboard with built-in S/PDIF also and connecting sound that way.

[Miller]

If you already have a receiver and like it then the spdif passthrough will send the sound from your computer on to your receiver and your recevier will do all the signal decoding/processing. If you want to skip the receiver completely you could go with a nice sound card instead of a receiver. In this case I recommend the Auzentech cards. Top notch.

[5-11under]

Neither of my receivers have S/PDIF inputs, although I see how that would be nice. I guess they're older models... which I won't be getting rid of anytime soon.

Thanks,
5-11under

[ca n vt]

You can still just get a mobo with onboard surround and SPDIF. The mobos onboard sound is usually pretty good and you can always add a receiver or sound card later. Mine has onboard surround and it sounds great.

[aint skierd]

Neither of my receivers have S/PDIF inputs, although I see how that would be nice. I guess they're older models... which I won't be getting rid of anytime soon.

Thanks,
5-11under

Spdif is the preferred, because it's digital and a single connection carries all 6 channels. The receiver's you are dealing with are analog, so as an alternative you could obtain the stereo mini-jack adapters that split the channels off of the back of a sound card or the on-board connections. Monster would have you pay $30+, Rat Shack will have them (fine quality) for $9.
The Spaghetti for 6 channels is the main disadvantage.
If you decide to go with a sound card, I second Miller's recommendation.

[5-11under]

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like I'll give the motherboard audio a chance first. Based on sound quality, are there preferred motherboards or audio chips (on the motherboards)?

Thanks,
5-11under

[Miller]

Most of the motherboards are going to be the same quality. If you find a specific one you like, you could post and ask, but I don't think you'll notice much difference. As for cables, I would buy from monoprice.com. You have to pay shipping, but they still usually beat local prices by quite a bit.

[LoganSix]

If you already have a receiver and like it then the spdif passthrough will send the sound from your computer on to your receiver and your recevier will do all the signal decoding/processing. If you want to skip the receiver completely you could go with a nice sound card instead of a receiver. In this case I recommend the Auzentech cards. Top notch.

Correct me if I am wrong here, but if you go with the Auzentech (or other options) card, you still don't have true surround sound.  The outputs for those cards are front, center/woofer, (optional side for 7.1) and rear.  Each of the outputs require a splitter for the individual left and right speakers. Or you have to use PC speakers.  Is that correct?


Also, with the S/PDIF / TOSLINK (optical) connection, does it control the master volume on the receiver?  Or do you just set the receiver to a certain level and then the master volume on the HTPC is changed?  (I know this is a newbie questions, but I haven't totally figured it out)

[5-11under]

If you already have a receiver and like it then the spdif passthrough will send the sound from your computer on to your receiver and your recevier will do all the signal decoding/processing. If you want to skip the receiver completely you could go with a nice sound card instead of a receiver. In this case I recommend the Auzentech cards. Top notch.

Correct me if I am wrong here, but if you go with the Auzentech (or other options) card, you still don't have true surround sound.  The outputs for those cards are front, center/woofer, (optional side for 7.1) and rear.  Each of the outputs require a splitter for the individual left and right speakers. Or you have to use PC speakers.  Is that correct?

The connections you're describing are correct, at least for the motherboard I'm looking into. The light blue (line in) and pink (mic in) jacks can be configured for surround (l&r) and center/subwoofer respectively (the lime jack remains front l&r). The 3.5 mm jacks are "stereo", so they contain two channels each. Three adapters/cables from 3.5 mm stereo plug to stereo (2) RCA jacks (or plugs, depending on your requirements) should do the trick. This should add up to the "true surround sound" you mentioned.

Thanks,
5-11under

[LoganSix]

The 3.5 mm jacks are "stereo", so they contain two channels each. Three adapters/cables from 3.5 mm stereo plug to stereo (2) RCA jacks (or plugs, depending on your requirements) should do the trick.

I guess I can go that route too.  I really want to reduce the number of components next to the tv to the HTPC, DirecTV box, and Nintendo Wii.  If I can combine the dvd, vcr, and receiver into one box, I think that would be the perfect solution to reducing clutter around the tv.

[Miller]

If you want to get rid of the receiver then I would go with an Auzentech card in your HTPC. It has 5.1 true surround sound. It also has Dolby decoding (which version depends on which Auzentech card you buy). The part I like is that it's all hardware decoding. So just like the hvr1600 does most of the work for the video, the Auzentech cards do most of the work for your audio. The other really nice thing is that it will take any music file (including stereo mp3 files) and remaster them to 5.1 surround on the fly witout really touching the cpu. So if you have a large mp3 collection and you want to listen to it in 5.1 this is a great option. I think they have 6.1 and 7.1 cards too if you're interested in that. Their latest card partners with Creative and has full EAX support in case you want all those gaming sound features as well.

www.auzentech.com

[LoganSix]

Thanks for the tip Miller.
I was looking at Auzentech yesterday after reading your post.  I will most likely go that route.
I have decide that I need to bite the bullet on this and get started.  So, I'm looking at cases right now, trying to figure out which one will be best for my needs.

[Miller]

You've probably heard me say this before, but I really like the LC20 from Silverstone. It has a few quirks (like having to reroute some wires), but it looks really nice. It can be found ~$120. It accepts full size ATX motherboards and regular PSUs. The hard drive cage is my only complaint about it. It holds 6 hard drives, but that would be really hot. It does have an option to mount 2 fans right in front of the drives, but that might make the drives bump into your motherboard a little depending on your setup. In general, the Silverstone cases I've found to be a good mix of looks and affordability that also are designed pretty well.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/enclosure.php?area=usa

http://www.directron.com/lc20b.html