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(1) The web page for the sound card you recommended claims, for example, an S/N ratio of 105dB for audio output - a pretty ambitious spec! On the other hand, the card does not even appear to be electromagnetically shielded, judging from the photo on the web page. So, can these analog-domain specs truly attainable or guaranteed irrespective of the quality of parts and construction for the rest of your computer? For example, I assume that the cleanliness of the internal power-supply voltage could wildly vary from computer to computer; same would be true for the amount or maliciousness of radio-frequency interference inside the computer case. Given these variables, can you plug-and-play and be guaranteed for a decent "hi-fi" audio quality out of these cards? Or do you still have to optimize the power supply and other parts of the computer specifically for audio purposes in order to obtain decent results, even with the fan noise issue set aside? If these modifications can eventually be pricey, then wouldn't it be cheaper and simpler to just buy a Panasonic DVD player and forget about it?
If you do a search of the AVSforum, you'll find a good number of people using a computer as a CD player and/or a DVD player. These individuals all swear by solutions such as the M-Audio. Additionally, M-Audio makes a USB setup similar to the one described above if the internal electrical noise is a concern to you.
Search that forum for more details, but I haven't seen a negative post about such a setup yet.
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(2) A related question: the HTPC's certainly have an appeal with respect to high-quality video processing, but do they have the level of audio quality that satisfies, say, discerning Axiom owners when configured with an audio processor/DAC card inside the computer, rather than digitally connected to a receiver or pre-pro?
There's actually an entire forum devoted to this at AVS. The consensus has been a resounding yes. I'm actually in the process of building an HTPC for my own use. More important to me is the ability to use it as a central file server for the other computers in the home as well as serving my extensive Divx collection to my HT. Additionally, it should be a bit more flexible for time shifting with my external digital cable box.
I'll actually be using an nForce board though and offloading everything to my receiver digitally as I already have a DVD-A player.
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(3) Excuse my ignorance here, but these cards are not capable of DVD-Audio or SACD playback since these formats require a specific transport, right? And, if the computer does have a DVD-A and/or SACD-capable transport, are these cards supposedly firmware/software updatable to make use of it?
DVD-A discs are no different from DVD discs. They just use a different encryption scheme to thwart us nefarious computer users. The Audigy 2 named above actually comes with the pertinent software to decode the discs. The Revo was supposed to but apparently the company they contracted to do it wasn't ready and they've been offering people an IOU.
Regards,
Semi
