10 Jan
2009
10 Jan
'09
3:01 a.m.
Folks,
I'm slowly building a hi-fi surround system around Trends Audio products. They
have a nice, little, stereo usb DAC. I am really only looking at wanting 4
channels for now. I have something like 8 usb2 ports on this computer so i
have plenty.
Can i have my player (xine or mplayer or what have you) decode the signal be
it dolby digital, dts, or the blu-ray formats (ha) into channels and then send
(right and left) out of one usb port and (right rear and left rear) out of a
second usb port to a pair of these stereo DACs. I assume if i eventually
wanted an 8 channel system i could so the same thing with more channels?
Is this feasible? Any drawbacks?
Also, those Trends Audio TA-10.1 are awesome.
Thanks.
--
Bearcat M. Şandor
Bearcat(a)feline-soul.net
Jabber: bearcat(a)feline-soul.net
MSN: bearcatsandor(a)hotmail.com
Yahoo: bearcatsandor
AIM: bearcatmsandor
10 Jan
10 Jan
3:16 a.m.
On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 10:59 PM, Bearcat M. Şandor
<HomeTheater(a)feline-soul.com> wrote:
Folks,
I'm slowly building a hi-fi surround system around Trends Audio products. They
have a nice, little, stereo usb DAC. I am really only looking at wanting 4
channels for now. I have something like 8 usb2 ports on this computer so i
have plenty.
Can i have my player (xine or mplayer or what have you) decode the signal be
it dolby digital, dts, or the blu-ray formats (ha) into channels and then send
(right and left) out of one usb port and (right rear and left rear) out of a
second usb port to a pair of these stereo DACs. I assume if i eventually
wanted an 8 channel system i could so the same thing with more channels?
Is this feasible? Any drawbacks?
Also, those Trends Audio TA-10.1 are awesome.
Thanks.
--
Bearcat M. Şandor
Bearcat(a)feline-soul.net
Jabber: bearcat(a)feline-soul.net
MSN: bearcatsandor(a)hotmail.com
Yahoo: bearcatsandor
AIM: bearcatmsandor
_______________________________________________
Linux-audio-user mailing list
Linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org
http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-audio-user
I am under the impression that with multiple sound cards you have the
issue of clock drift, the audio channels would eventually go out of
sync, and this would get worse and worse over time. When only one
sound card is being used, the application can sync the video playback
to the audio device, since video speed is not as evident a distortion.
With multiple audio devices with separate clocks, you would most
likely get annoying phasing and comb filter artifacts, if not a
distinct echo. There are firewire cards that can share a clock in
order to eliminate this problem, but I have not heard of USB cards
that share a clock pulse.
3:27 a.m.
New subject: decoding into a multiple channel converter (was:surround sound with stereo usb DACs?)
On Saturday 10 January 2009 00:16:04 Justin Smith wrote:
I am under the impression that with multiple sound
cards you have the
issue of clock drift, the audio channels would eventually go out of
sync, and this would get worse and worse over time. When only one
sound card is being used, the application can sync the video playback
to the audio device, since video speed is not as evident a distortion.
With multiple audio devices with separate clocks, you would most
likely get annoying phasing and comb filter artifacts, if not a
distinct echo. There are firewire cards that can share a clock in
order to eliminate this problem, but I have not heard of USB cards
that share a clock pulse.
Ah, i had not thought of that and it makes sense. Thank you. Would it be
possible to have the Linux box do the decoding and send it to a hdmi D/A (if
such a thing existed, i only know of HT processors) or a RME multi-channel
converter?
--
Bearcat M. Şandor
Bearcat(a)feline-soul.net
Jabber: bearcat(a)feline-soul.net
MSN: bearcatsandor(a)hotmail.com
Yahoo: bearcatsandor
AIM: bearcatmsandor
11 Jan
11 Jan
1:52 a.m.
Hiho,
On Saturday 10 January 2009 02:16:04 Justin Smith wrote:
On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 10:59 PM, Bearcat M. Şandor
<HomeTheater(a)feline-soul.com> wrote:
There are a couple of issues: can the audio software keep things in sync,
without having problems writing to the different devices. There clock drift
is an issue and I'm not sure how well ALSA deals with combining several
usb-audio devices.
Another question is how well the USB subsystem deals with several high traffic
streams. Are the Trend USB devices USB1 or 2? The latter would be novel,
since there aren't many audio USB2 devices out there that adhere to the USB
audio standard (and thus work on Linux). You can get this info with (possibly
as root), when the device is attached:
lsusb -v
Then depending on how you place your speakers, how good your speakers are and
which channels from which USB device you use for which speakers.
I imagine it would be a bad idea to have the front stereo pair of a dolby
surround come from two different devices. Rather separate the devices into
back and front.
If you have an acoustically perfect room and have very accurate speaker
placement, or are trying to do things like ambisonics or wave field
synthesis, then no, it's not going to work.
If you use this setup in a normal living room setup, where you have to
compromise between a free path to the kitchen door, speaker placement and the
dogs basket, then you might get acceptable (but not perfect) results using
the separate USB devices.
sincerely,
Marije
Folks,
I'm slowly building a hi-fi surround system around Trends Audio products.
They have a nice, little, stereo usb DAC. I am really only looking at
wanting 4 channels for now. I have something like 8 usb2 ports on this
computer so i have plenty.
Can i have my player (xine or mplayer or what have you) decode the
signal be it dolby digital, dts, or the blu-ray formats (ha) into
channels and then send (right and left) out of one usb port and (right
rear and left rear) out of a second usb port to a pair of these stereo
DACs. I assume if i eventually wanted an 8 channel system i could so the
same thing with more channels?
Is this feasible? Any drawbacks?
Also, those Trends Audio TA-10.1 are awesome.
Thanks.
I am under the impression that with multiple sound cards you have the
issue of clock drift, the audio channels would eventually go out of
sync, and this would get worse and worse over time. When only one
sound card is being used, the application can sync the video playback
to the audio device, since video speed is not as evident a distortion.
With multiple audio devices with separate clocks, you would most
likely get annoying phasing and comb filter artifacts, if not a
distinct echo. There are firewire cards that can share a clock in
order to eliminate this problem, but I have not heard of USB cards
that share a clock pulse. 
10 Jan
10 Jan
4:20 a.m.
Hallo,
Bearcat M. ??andor hat gesagt: // Bearcat M. ??andor wrote:
I'm slowly building a hi-fi surround system around
Trends Audio products. They
have a nice, little, stereo usb DAC. I am really only looking at wanting 4
channels for now. I have something like 8 usb2 ports on this computer so i
have plenty.
Can i have my player (xine or mplayer or what have you) decode the signal be
it dolby digital, dts, or the blu-ray formats (ha) into channels and then send
(right and left) out of one usb port and (right rear and left rear) out of a
second usb port to a pair of these stereo DACs. I assume if i eventually
wanted an 8 channel system i could so the same thing with more channels?
To make a long story short: Forget it!
Google "el cheapo soundcard" for the long story.
It's better to invest in a real multi channel soundcard, something like
the M-Audio Delta 1010.
Ciao
--
Frank
10:18 p.m.
On Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 09:20:50AM +0100, Frank Barknecht
wrote:
Google "el cheapo soundcard" for the long
story.
It's better to invest in a real multi channel soundcard,
something like the M-Audio Delta 1010.
These cards are free from drift between channels in half
duplex mode, as suits the application the original poster
discussed. However I think it is worth re-iterating that in
full-duplex mode, these cards are subject to drift between
playback and capture operation in, which will tend to
result in xruns.
http://ardour.org/node/2296
Regards,
Ciao -- Frank
--
Joel Roth
14 Jan
14 Jan
7:20 p.m.
On Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 5:59 PM, Bearcat M. Şandor
<HomeTheater(a)feline-soul.com> wrote:
Folks,
I'm slowly building a hi-fi surround system around Trends Audio products. They
have a nice, little, stereo usb DAC. I am really only looking at wanting 4
channels for now. I have something like 8 usb2 ports on this computer so i
have plenty.
Can i have my player (xine or mplayer or what have you) decode the signal be
it dolby digital, dts, or the blu-ray formats (ha) into channels and then send
(right and left) out of one usb port and (right rear and left rear) out of a
second usb port to a pair of these stereo DACs. I assume if i eventually
wanted an 8 channel system i could so the same thing with more channels?
Is this feasible? Any drawbacks?
Also, those Trends Audio TA-10.1 are awesome.
Thanks.
--
Bearcat M. Şandor
Bearcat(a)feline-soul.net
Jabber: bearcat(a)feline-soul.net
MSN: bearcatsandor(a)hotmail.com
Yahoo: bearcatsandor
AIM: bearcatmsandor
Have you thought of buying a decent pci sound card? A PCI solution
would mostly likely be better in almost every way.
You can choose a level of price quality, and > 8 channel out is easy
to find. My echo 3g does that fine, with no arseing around and i would
suspect superior sound quality, if not put and DAC you like on the
ADAT out... ;)
Loki
8:45 p.m.
Have you thought of buying a decent pci sound card? A
PCI solution
would mostly likely be better in almost every way.
You can choose a level of price quality, and > 8 channel out is easy
to find. My echo 3g does that fine, with no arseing around and i would
suspect superior sound quality, if not put and DAC you like on the
ADAT out... ;)
Loki
I have actually. I'm thinking that i could get *fantastic* quality out of
a
RME MADI and that multichannel converter they have. However, the inputs and 64
channels ^o.0^ is overkill.
If i get a good pci card and are therefore doing the D/A conversion in the box
how much do i need to worry about electrical isolation and noise and all that?
Frankly i think we audiophiles can be full of it. I have a ultra quiet system
(scythe brand fans) and even using the on board sound, putting my ear right
against the tweeter (a micro-thin cylinder tweeter) and turning up the amp
and sound mixer to max i can't hear a *thing*. No fan noise, no hum.
Nothing.
Thanks folks.
--
Bearcat M. Şandor
Bearcat(a)feline-soul.net
Jabber: bearcat(a)feline-soul.net
MSN: bearcatsandor(a)hotmail.com
Yahoo: bearcatsandor
AIM: bearcatmsandor
9:01 p.m.
2009/1/15 Bearcat M. Şandor <hometheater(a)feline-soul.com>om>:
D/A conversion isn't done in the box with the sound card i mentioned,
the echo 3g i have. Google for pics. But on cards where it is, sounds
quality / isolation / noise is still far better than most usb cards.
The whole usb / out of box thing is cheesy sales pitch basically. Get
a cheap pci card => be happy. Look at anything with envy chip
basically and m-audio delta, echo's cards, etc. Should find a much
better setup than a bunch of dodgy usb things. > than one card is a
really bad idea unless they are designed for it, and from my
experience, usb audio is a really bad idea on it own ;)
Loki
Have you thought of buying a decent pci sound
card? A PCI solution
would mostly likely be better in almost every way.
You can choose a level of price quality, and > 8 channel out is easy
to find. My echo 3g does that fine, with no arseing around and i would
suspect superior sound quality, if not put and DAC you like on the
ADAT out... ;)
Loki
I have actually. I'm thinking that i could get *fantastic* quality out
of a
RME MADI and that multichannel converter they have. However, the inputs and 64
channels ^o.0^ is overkill.
If i get a good pci card and are therefore doing the D/A conversion in the box
how much do i need to worry about electrical isolation and noise and all that?
5821
days inactive
5825
days old
linux-audio-user@lists.linuxaudio.org
8 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
Bearcat M. Şandor -
Frank Barknecht -
Joel Roth -
Justin Smith -
Loki Davison -
nescivi