Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Media Center Setup Connections Digtial or Analog?

I have been using a media center setup for several years now. Recently I built a completely new system with Vista Ultimate, and a new sound card the Auzentech X-Meridian. If you are not familiar with this card http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-meridian.php

Many reviews are calling this the best sounding Sound Card ever created. My previous card was the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 which was also supposed to be a decent card however not as good as the new X-Merdian. My X-Merdian has also had the OPAMP chips upgraded to the Texas Instruments / Burr Brown OPA2134PA chips which is supposed greatly improve the sound even more. In the past I have always hooked up the cards using a Digital Coax Cable to my Amp. My amp which is a Yamaha RXV-1500 http://hometheater.about.com/od/audiocomponentreviews/gr/yamaharxv1500.htm which seems to be an ok amp for powering the Axiom M80s. From what I have been reading is that if you are going to use the Auzentech X-Merdian you better not be buying this for its digital connections. What many users are saying in the Audio forums is that this cards processing can compete with amps in the several thousand dollar range. Several users have said it has better sound then there outlaw audio processing. In other words they are not connecting the card up through a digital cable and are using the Analog connections. For this to occur you would use 3 minijack to RCA which input into your RCA inputs on the AMP. What I am confused about is I have a powered Subwoofer plugged into the Sub connection on the back of the amp. These analog RCA connections are supposed to use this same sub connection. Where would I plug the sub into if I plug the sound card into this connection?

So from what I have been reading if I use the Digital out connection on the card then my amp does all the processing. If I use the Analog connections on the card then my card will use its processing. Is it really possible this card with the upgraded Texas Instruments / Burr Brown OPA2134PA would sound better then my Yamaha RX V 15500 for processing? Any info on this and the question pertaining to the Sub connection would be greatly appreciated.

Chances are any differences would be negligible and probably not audible to most of us if anyone. And if you are outputting digitally to your receiver a built-in sound chip with digital out (if your motherboard came with them) would be just as good and much more cost effective than an expensive sound card. But since you have the card and the receiver you might as well go ahead and try both. Go with what sounds best to you.

Thanks for the reply. I see a simiar question has been discussed in this forum.

http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/showfla...e=0&fpart=2

I would have to imagine the Burr Brown Dacs in this soundcard will be superior to the DAC in the Yamaha Amp. I will have to compare this once I get the Cables I ordered. Any ideas regarding the How I would hook up the Sub woofer to the Amp since the Sub connection will now be used by the soundcard. Thanks

That is a pretty sweet lookin' sound card. As to whether to use the sound card or your receiver as the DSP, I'd think that it would boil down to whichever has the features that you want. Perhaps the soundcard software offers a snazzy graphical setup of crossovers, speaker distances, etc, and if that's a big deal to you then use it. Perhaps it offers more surround DSP modes that you want, etc. Is the HTPC your only media source? If that were the case, I'd probably stick to the sound card to do the DSP since your entire system could then be controlled from the HTPC, and not even bother with a receiver - just get an amp.

I've always been a little bit skeptical about using a PC as a signal source for home theater, simply because there are so many other sources of interference in a PC as opposed to just a receiver. Then again, I've never owned a sound card of that quality, nor have I ever built a dedicated HTPC.

To your question, if it came with two 3 way RCA signal splitters, they I'd think they should be labeled. Your receiver should have a 'Sub In' as part of the 5/7.1 inputs. This way, the analog signals from the HTPC should be un-touched by the receiver, and allow other sources (DVD, Cable box, etc) that are hooked up to the receiver to use the sub as well (via the receiver's sub-out).

However, if you are using the HTPC as your only media source, then I suspect that the sub-output from that split would hook up directly to the sub itself. In other words, FR/FL/Center/RS/LS would be running to your amp(s), and the sub cable would just be hooked up directly to the sub (assuming you have a powered sub, otherwise to the sub amp). The sub signal wouldn't ever be routed through the receiver as your HTPC would do all the bass management.

Yes the Media center is my only source. I will use the Media center to Watch Cable TV, Play MP3s, DTS-audio, DVD, HD-DVD, soon blue-ray. I am using Vista which supports bit perfect audio over 192 without having to run it through Asio or kernal streaming like XP did due to its resampling of everything to 48khz. I think setup should be able to eliminate all other sources except for video games sytems.

Ok just realized the amp has both multi-channel inputs and outputs. For some reason I thought I only had outputs. This means the soundcard is attached to the inputs and the sub would be attached to the sub output as usual. This would allow the sub to be used for the media center as well as other devices connected over the amps digital inputs. I should have the analog cables tonight so I will compare how it is currently setup over digital to Analog. I suspect the Analog is going to be superior.

Using the digital output is easier, and in most cases better... But you have a nice soundcard so I'd say use that for a few reasons. With digital you can only get playback of what your AVR can decode, which is most often DD, DTS and PCM. With Analog you can add multichannel WMA, EAX (games) and a few others I can't think of at the moment. Plus with Vista you could try out its new room correction feature which sounds pretty cool (if your driver supports it).

DD, it's advisable to view with a ton of salt stories floating around the internet such as the one you've described . You've said that you "imagine" that the DAC in your 1500 wouldn't do as well, but looking at reality the Asahi-Kasei 4382 used in the 1500 and 2500 has, as is typical of modern DACs, performance which is audibly flawless(again, if not affected by imagination).