Thread: [Alsa-user] USB Audio recommendations?
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From: David <da...@2g...> - 2005-02-16 08:45:08
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Hi, the onboard audio on my HTPC's motherboard decided to commit suicide suddenly, and as I have no free PCI slots on that machine, I am looking for an external USB solution. The machine is currently hooked up via coaxial SPDIF to an amplifier, so I want it to be able to do one thing and to do it well - pipe everything through SPDIF. Requirements: * Regular 2-channel PCM through SPDIF (i.e. regular music listening) * AC3/DTS pass-through (mostly DVD watching) * Should be USB 2.0 [1] * Preferrably from a somewhat known brand So far, after browsing through the lists, I've mostly looked at the external solutions from Creative Labs, and so far I've rejected the Live! 24-bit External (USB 1.1), but the Audigy 2 NX seems interesting. Could anyone confirm that the Audigy 2 NX works well using the ALSA drivers for my purposes (with the exeception of the Windows-only firmware upgrade issues)? Regards, David [1] because I guess that earlier versions of USB would not be able to handle the necessary bandwidth without some forms of compression? |
From: Koef <ko...@no...> - 2005-02-16 09:57:19
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On Wed, Feb 16, 2005 at 09:44:49AM +0100, David H??rdeman wrote: > Could anyone confirm that the Audigy 2 NX works well using the ALSA > drivers for my purposes (with the exeception of the Windows-only firmware > upgrade issues)? I have Audigy 2 NX somewhat working with alsa 1.0.8 kernel 2.6.11-rc4. > Requirements: > * Regular 2-channel PCM through SPDIF (i.e. regular music listening) Only with 22050Hz, 48000Hz, 96000Hz sample rates. 44100Hz sounds heavily distorted but using alsa to resample to 48000Hz "solves" this. > * AC3/DTS pass-through (mostly DVD watching) I only get noise when attemtping this. > * Should be USB 2.0 [1] Audigy 2 NX spec claims USB 2.0 speeds but I'm seeing only USB 1 speeds. -- Koef. |
From: David <da...@2g...> - 2005-02-16 20:36:48
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On Wed, Feb 16, 2005 at 10:57:06AM +0100, Koef wrote: >Only with 22050Hz, 48000Hz, 96000Hz sample rates. 44100Hz sounds heavily >distorted but using alsa to resample to 48000Hz "solves" this. Does the resampled audio sound ok? >> * AC3/DTS pass-through (mostly DVD watching) >I only get noise when attemtping this. Is that also when you playback AC3 using Xine and the instructions at: http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=10421460 >> * Should be USB 2.0 [1] >Audigy 2 NX spec claims USB 2.0 speeds but I'm seeing only USB 1 speeds. Is that also after you've upgraded the firmware? If I read the Creative site correctly, USB 2.0 support was only added in later firmwares.... Re, David |
From: Koef <ko...@no...> - 2005-02-17 21:26:21
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On Wed, Feb 16, 2005 at 09:36:39PM +0100, David H?rdeman wrote: > On Wed, Feb 16, 2005 at 10:57:06AM +0100, Koef wrote: > >Only with 22050Hz, 48000Hz, 96000Hz sample rates. 44100Hz sounds heavily > >distorted but using alsa to resample to 48000Hz "solves" this. > > Does the resampled audio sound ok? I am sure that a Trained Audiophile (TM) would detect some artifacts, but to my ears it sounds just fine using Sennheiser HD 560 headphones connected directly to the NX's headphone output. > >>* AC3/DTS pass-through (mostly DVD watching) > >I only get noise when attemtping this. > > Is that also when you playback AC3 using Xine and the instructions at: > http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=10421460 Using the xine config settings mentioned in that post: audio.device.alsa_passthrough_device:hw:0,0 audio.device.alsa_surround51_device:plug:surround51:1 audio.output.speaker_arrangement:Pass Through I get crackling noise only. I use the NX's optical output which is connected to a NAD 743 receiver. The same receiver decodes AC3 streams from the onboard Realtek ALC850, a Yamaha YMF754, and a Cmedia 8738 just fine. With mplayer 1.0pre6-3.3.5 (-ac hwac3 -ao alsa) I get: ALSA lib pcm.c:1947:(snd_pcm_open_conf) Invalid type for PCM iec958:AES0=0x2,AES1=0x82,AES2=0x0,AES3=0x2 definition (id: iec958, value: cards.pcm.iec958) alsa-init: playback open error: Invalid argument Could not open/initialize audio device -> no sound. -- Koef. |
From: Lee R. <rlr...@jo...> - 2005-02-16 21:22:07
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On Wed, 2005-02-16 at 10:57 +0100, Koef wrote: > > Requirements: > > * Regular 2-channel PCM through SPDIF (i.e. regular music listening) > > Only with 22050Hz, 48000Hz, 96000Hz sample rates. 44100Hz sounds heavily > distorted but using alsa to resample to 48000Hz "solves" this. Windows does the exact same thing here, because the card and the USB protocol in fact only support sample rates evenly divisible by 1 ms. Windows just does it in the kernel where we do it in alsa-lib. Lee |
From: Jukka T. <juk...@ko...> - 2005-02-17 14:54:56
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On Wednesday 16 February 2005 11:57, Koef wrote: > > * Should be USB 2.0 [1] > Audigy 2 NX spec claims USB 2.0 speeds but I'm seeing only USB 1 speeds. USB 2.0 comes in full and high speed. Full speed is 12Mbps and high speed 480Mbps. Spot the marketing logic. |
From: Christoph Burger-S. <and...@fr...> - 2005-02-17 16:19:57
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Hello, I own an Extigy USB Sound card and recently switched from the oss drivers provided by http://exaudio.sourceforge.net/ to ALSA. The snd-usb-audio driver seems to be working nicely with it, however every time I load it, the infrared control module (which came with the oss drivers) stops working. Does anyone have any experience with this issue and can advise me on what to do. Thanks in advance, Christoph Burger-Scheidlin |
From: David <da...@2g...> - 2005-02-17 19:37:29
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On Thu, Feb 17, 2005 at 04:56:42PM +0200, Jukka Tastula wrote: >On Wednesday 16 February 2005 11:57, Koef wrote: >> > * Should be USB 2.0 [1] >> Audigy 2 NX spec claims USB 2.0 speeds but I'm seeing only USB 1 speeds. > >USB 2.0 comes in full and high speed. Full speed is 12Mbps and high speed >480Mbps. Spot the marketing logic. Actually, it's even more confusing, USB 2.0 supports: * Low speed (1.5 Mbps, original speed in the 1.0 standard) * Full speed (12 Mbps, added in the 1.1 standard) * High speed (480 Mbps, added in the 2.0 standard) A system (such as a laptop), which claims to support USB 2.0 must support all three speeds, however, a USB 2.0 device falls in one of two different classes: * High speed devices (mostly storage), can be either high or full speed * Other deivces (such as keyboards), can be either full or low speed So a "USB 2.0" device can in fact be a 1.5 Mbps device. Gory details: http://www.usb.org/info/usb_nomenclature The wonders of marketing... Re, David |
From: Koef <ko...@no...> - 2005-02-17 20:34:08
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On Thu, Feb 17, 2005 at 04:56:42PM +0200, Jukka Tastula wrote: > On Wednesday 16 February 2005 11:57, Koef wrote: > > > * Should be USB 2.0 [1] > > Audigy 2 NX spec claims USB 2.0 speeds but I'm seeing only USB 1 speeds. > > USB 2.0 comes in full and high speed. Full speed is 12Mbps and high speed > 480Mbps. Spot the marketing logic. Creative released new firmware this month (version 1.1.050119) and I upgraded the device with it using a Windows box. Now it connects at 480 Mb/s in Linux. -- Koef. |
From: Jon S. <jon...@gm...> - 2005-02-16 15:46:18
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I am using Philips PSC805, $35. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000ULADG/qid=1108568507/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl23/002-9633499-3864004?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846 Audigy 2 NX is better but it is around $85. PSC805 works fine under windows. I having it working from xmms and alsaplay but I am still having desktop integration issues. For example I can't get it configured right to mix. Since it mixes under windows this is just a problem in my .asoundrc which I can't figure out. -- Jon Smirl jon...@gm... |
From: Frank B. <fb...@fo...> - 2005-02-17 22:16:44
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Hallo, Jon Smirl hat gesagt: // Jon Smirl wrote: > PSC805 works fine under windows. I having it working from xmms and > alsaplay but I am still having desktop integration issues. For example > I can't get it configured right to mix. Since it mixes under windows > this is just a problem in my .asoundrc which I can't figure out. Windows mixes in software. ALSA can do this, too, by using the "dmix" plugin. See [1] for details on setting this up. For USB devices, don't use 44100 but 48000 Hz samplerate. [1] http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=DmixPlugin Ciao -- Frank Barknecht _ ______footils.org__ _ __latest track: fqdn _ http://footils.org/cms/show/38 |
From: Sebastian <seb...@gm...> - 2005-02-17 22:51:18
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Frank Barknecht schrieb: > Hallo, > Jon Smirl hat gesagt: // Jon Smirl wrote: > > >>PSC805 works fine under windows. I having it working from xmms and >>alsaplay but I am still having desktop integration issues. For example >>I can't get it configured right to mix. Since it mixes under windows >>this is just a problem in my .asoundrc which I can't figure out. > > > Windows mixes in software. ALSA can do this, too, by using the "dmix" > plugin. See [1] for details on setting this up. For USB devices, don't > use 44100 but 48000 Hz samplerate. > > [1] http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=DmixPlugin > > Ciao The Terratec Aureon 5.1 MKII supports 44100 Hz, AC3 passthroug and it's cheaper ;-) Sebastian |
From: Frank B. <fb...@fo...> - 2005-02-18 06:56:21
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Hallo, Sebastian hat gesagt: // Sebastian wrote: > Frank Barknecht schrieb: > >Windows mixes in software. ALSA can do this, too, by using the "dmix" > >plugin. See [1] for details on setting this up. For USB devices, don't > >use 44100 but 48000 Hz samplerate. > > > >[1] http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=DmixPlugin > > > >Ciao > > The Terratec Aureon 5.1 MKII supports 44100 Hz, AC3 passthroug and it's > cheaper ;-) Well, I also much prefer the Aureon over the Creative cards (standard's compliant, *real* plug and play etc.), but the 48000 samplerate is generally to prefer on Linux/ALSA for all USB devices, because it is evenly divisible by 1000 and thus allows lower latency for USB audio, which is constant-time instead of constant-blocksizei based. Many USB problems go away, if you don't use 44.1 kHz. Ciao -- Frank Barknecht _ ______footils.org__ _ __latest track: fqdn _ http://footils.org/cms/show/38 |
From: Sebastian <seb...@gm...> - 2005-02-18 13:23:43
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Frank Barknecht schrieb: > Hallo, > Sebastian hat gesagt: // Sebastian wrote: > > >>Frank Barknecht schrieb: >> >>>Windows mixes in software. ALSA can do this, too, by using the "dmix" >>>plugin. See [1] for details on setting this up. For USB devices, don't >>>use 44100 but 48000 Hz samplerate. >>> >>>[1] http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=DmixPlugin >>> >>>Ciao >> >>The Terratec Aureon 5.1 MKII supports 44100 Hz, AC3 passthroug and it's >>cheaper ;-) > > > Well, I also much prefer the Aureon over the Creative cards > (standard's compliant, *real* plug and play etc.), but the 48000 > samplerate is generally to prefer on Linux/ALSA for all USB devices, > because it is evenly divisible by 1000 and thus allows lower latency > for USB audio, which is constant-time instead of constant-blocksizei > based. > > Many USB problems go away, if you don't use 44.1 kHz. > > Ciao :-) But there _are_ no problems with the Aureon. There are lots of issues with the Creative NX. I have both of them. I was so angry at myself that I bought the Creative NX in the first place. As for the 44,1kHz; there might be latency problems as you say which I wouldn't know about anyway. But when I start playing a tune in, say, xmms, playback starts instantly. That's all I care about latency ;) And I didn't have to fiddle with a cryptic .asoundrc to be able to listen to my CDs/mp3s/oggs. I wasn't even really surprised that ac3 passthrough with the Aureon is no problem at all because it's plain and simple a great card. That's all I can say about this. I'm still angry at myself for spending 120€ on the NX after learning the hard way that there's an even better supported card for Linux for much less €. aka more bang for the bucks :-) But then again, I didn't know about the Aureon when I bought the NX, which was over half a year ago. Have a jolly one Sebastian |
From: Frank B. <fb...@fo...> - 2005-02-19 11:43:44
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Hallo, Sebastian hat gesagt: // Sebastian wrote: > :-) But there _are_ no problems with the Aureon. There are lots of > issues with the Creative NX. I have both of them. I was so angry at > myself that I bought the Creative NX in the first place. As for the > 44,1kHz; there might be latency problems as you say which I wouldn't > know about anyway. But when I start playing a tune in, say, xmms, > playback starts instantly. That's all I care about latency ;) These "uneven" samplerates really become a problem however if you want to run Jack or some other software (e.g. Pd). The older Aureon USB, which I have, only supports 48 kHz anyways, so I don't need to choose. If it works fine for you, congratulations! But changing the rate to be "even" should be the first thing to try when fixing problems with USB devices. > That's all I can say about this. I'm still angry at myself for spending > 120€ on the NX after learning the hard way that there's an even better > supported card for Linux for much less €. aka more bang for the bucks > :-) But then again, I didn't know about the Aureon when I bought the NX, > which was over half a year ago. When I was testing two Creative USB models some months ago, they also were giving problems. For "consumers" and even people more demanding (like those wanting to avoid the unnecessary headaches of non-standards compliant USB devices), the Terratec Aureon IMO is a much better choice. And it even looks much better than the Creative cards. Ciao -- Frank Barknecht _ ______footils.org__ _ __latest track: fqdn _ http://footils.org/cms/show/38 |
From: Jon S. <jon...@gm...> - 2005-02-17 23:04:41
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On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 23:16:34 +0100, Frank Barknecht <fb...@fo...> wrote: > > PSC805 works fine under windows. I having it working from xmms and > > alsaplay but I am still having desktop integration issues. For example > > I can't get it configured right to mix. Since it mixes under windows > > this is just a problem in my .asoundrc which I can't figure out. My USB device needs 6 channel output. I have tried a hundred different configs in .asoundrc trying to get ch51dup and dmix working at the same time. I can get one or the other to work, but not both at the same time. pcm.ch51dup { type route slave.pcm surround51 slave.channels 6 ttable.0.0 1 ttable.1.1 1 ttable.0.2 1 ttable.1.3 1 ttable.0.4 0.5 ttable.1.4 0.5 ttable.0.5 0.5 ttable.1.5 0.5 } -- Jon Smirl jon...@gm... |
From: Sebastian <seb...@gm...> - 2005-02-16 20:06:07
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Hi, I strongly suggest you don't buy a NX for your setup. It's a pain. You can't set it up properl. And forget AC3-passthrough with this card. Sebastian David Härdeman schrieb: > Hi, > > the onboard audio on my HTPC's motherboard decided to commit suicide suddenly, > and as I have no free PCI slots on that machine, I am looking for an external > USB solution. The machine is currently hooked up via coaxial SPDIF to an > amplifier, so I want it to be able to do one thing and to do it well - pipe > everything through SPDIF. > > Requirements: > * Regular 2-channel PCM through SPDIF (i.e. regular music listening) > * AC3/DTS pass-through (mostly DVD watching) > * Should be USB 2.0 [1] > * Preferrably from a somewhat known brand > > So far, after browsing through the lists, I've mostly looked at the external > solutions from Creative Labs, and so far I've rejected the Live! 24-bit > External (USB 1.1), but the Audigy 2 NX seems interesting. > > Could anyone confirm that the Audigy 2 NX works well using the ALSA drivers > for my purposes (with the exeception of the Windows-only firmware upgrade > issues)? > > Regards, > David > > [1] because I guess that earlier versions of USB would not be able to handle > the necessary bandwidth without some forms of compression? > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. > Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click > _______________________________________________ > Alsa-user mailing list > Als...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user > > |
From: David <da...@2g...> - 2005-02-16 20:29:08
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On Wed, Feb 16, 2005 at 09:05:55PM +0100, Sebastian wrote: >Hi, > >I strongly suggest you don't buy a NX for your setup. It's a pain. You >can't set it up properl. And forget AC3-passthrough with this card. > >Sebastian Hi, After doing some more digging in the ALSA-user archives I found this post: http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=10421460 which seems to indicate that AC3-passthrough indeed does work. Did I misunderstand something? //David |
From: Sebastian <seb...@gm...> - 2005-02-16 20:25:49
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Hi again, I have an USB soundcard myself, I didn't mention it because I thought it's an USB 1 device and AC3 passthrough would be probably impossible, too. I never checked the latter because on my Hifi I got two speakers. But I just got curious. I tried playing a (non CSS encrypted, of course) DVD with mplayer, using mplayer dvd:// -ac hwac3 and my Hifi says DOLBY DGTL, so it is possible to pipe it through. It sounds great, no stuttering at all. I'd never have thought a card this cheap is capable of this.The card doesn't support hardware mixing, but neither does the NX. You would have to use dmix for that. You can read up on my experiences with this card a few threads earlier. The card is a ~35-40€ Terratec Aureon 5.1 USB MKII.. Oh, and the card doesn't need rate conversion like the NX. Additionally to the optical SPDIF OUT (no coaxial one!) it has an optical IN. Erzwungener Audiocodec: hwac3 Öffne Audiodecoder: [hwac3] AC3/DTS pass-through SP/DIF No accelerated IMDCT transform found hwac3: switched to AC3, 384000 bps, 48000 Hz AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, 16 bit (0x400), ratio: 48000->192000 (384,0 kbit) Selected audio codec: [hwac3] afm:hwac3 (AC3 through SPDIF) Later Sebastian David Härdeman schrieb: > Hi, > > the onboard audio on my HTPC's motherboard decided to commit suicide suddenly, > and as I have no free PCI slots on that machine, I am looking for an external > USB solution. The machine is currently hooked up via coaxial SPDIF to an > amplifier, so I want it to be able to do one thing and to do it well - pipe > everything through SPDIF. > > Requirements: > * Regular 2-channel PCM through SPDIF (i.e. regular music listening) > * AC3/DTS pass-through (mostly DVD watching) > * Should be USB 2.0 [1] > * Preferrably from a somewhat known brand > > So far, after browsing through the lists, I've mostly looked at the external > solutions from Creative Labs, and so far I've rejected the Live! 24-bit > External (USB 1.1), but the Audigy 2 NX seems interesting. > > Could anyone confirm that the Audigy 2 NX works well using the ALSA drivers > for my purposes (with the exeception of the Windows-only firmware upgrade > issues)? > > Regards, > David > > [1] because I guess that earlier versions of USB would not be able to handle > the necessary bandwidth without some forms of compression? > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. > Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click > _______________________________________________ > Alsa-user mailing list > Als...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user > > |
From: chris b. <lu...@so...> - 2005-02-16 22:32:10
|
David et al, I recently got my NX working with gentoo after a couple of false starts,=20 it seemed quite difficult at first but in hindsight not so,the hickups I=20 had in order where:- * It did not work until I removed usbaudio from the kernel, * As I understand it the NX does not comply with the usb-audio standard=20 at 44100Hz, and thus all 44.1 material needs to be resampled by alsa to=20 48000(easy) * I spent some time enabling 6 channel outputs on my media apps and=20 determining the right routing for all the speakers in surround mode,=20 alsa is very flexible in this regard! * I have not yet got the onboard ac3 decoder working - is this the same=20 thing as ac3 passthough ? * I have not yet determined if it possible to support the remote though=20 midi with LIRC/livedrive_midi driver ? When I have a few more things ironed out I hope to write a HOWTO to ease=20 the pain of people with this card. BTW the sound is fantastic - I have=20 my laptop setup for deafult through the laptop and media apps through=20 the NX, it works well and avoids getting system beeps at 75dB in full 5.1= ! If you have questions or want an .asoundrc drop me a line... Chris David H=C3=A4rdeman wrote: Hi, the onboard audio on my HTPC's motherboard decided to commit suicide=20 suddenly, and as I have no free PCI slots on that machine, I am looking for an=20 external USB solution. The machine is currently hooked up via coaxial SPDIF to an amplifier, so I want it to be able to do one thing and to do it well - pi= pe everything through SPDIF. Requirements: * Regular 2-channel PCM through SPDIF (i.e. regular music listening) * AC3/DTS pass-through (mostly DVD watching) * Should be USB 2.0 [1] * Preferrably from a somewhat known brand So far, after browsing through the lists, I've mostly looked at the=20 external solutions from Creative Labs, and so far I've rejected the Live! 24-bit External (USB 1.1), but the Audigy 2 NX seems interesting. Could anyone confirm that the Audigy 2 NX works well using the ALSA drive= rs for my purposes (with the exeception of the Windows-only firmware upgrade issues)? Regards, David [1] because I guess that earlier versions of USB would not be able to=20 handle the necessary bandwidth without some forms of compression? ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=3D6595&alloc_id=3D14396&op=3Dclick _______________________________________________ Alsa-user mailing list Als...@li... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user =20 |
From: David <da...@2g...> - 2005-02-16 23:39:13
|
On Wed, Feb 16, 2005 at 11:31:54PM +0100, chris bayley wrote: > >* I have not yet got the onboard ac3 decoder working - is this the same >thing as ac3 passthough ? I'm not sure what you mean by getting the onboard ac3 decoder working. Do you mean that you currently use the analog speaker output on the NX? AC3 passthrough means that when you play a source which has an AC3 audio stream (most commonly, a DVD), the AC3 stream is passed raw to the SPDIF output without any intermediate processing. Re, David |
From: Lee R. <rlr...@jo...> - 2005-02-16 23:47:38
|
On Thu, 2005-02-17 at 00:38 +0100, David Härdeman wrote: > On Wed, Feb 16, 2005 at 11:31:54PM +0100, chris bayley wrote: > > > >* I have not yet got the onboard ac3 decoder working - is this the same > >thing as ac3 passthough ? > > I'm not sure what you mean by getting the onboard ac3 decoder working. > Do you mean that you currently use the analog speaker output on the NX? > > AC3 passthrough means that when you play a source which has an AC3 audio > stream (most commonly, a DVD), the AC3 stream is passed raw to the SPDIF > output without any intermediate processing. And an onboard AC3 decoder presumably means if you play an AC stream the hardware decodes it and you get 5.1 output. I really doubt this card has any "onboard AC3 decoding" hardware. The Windows driver probably just does the decoding in software. Lee |
From: chris b. <lu...@so...> - 2005-02-17 14:53:31
|
David H=E4rdeman wrote: > On Wed, Feb 16, 2005 at 11:31:54PM +0100, chris bayley wrote: > >> >> * I have not yet got the onboard ac3 decoder working - is this the=20 >> same thing as ac3 passthough ? > > > I'm not sure what you mean by getting the onboard ac3 decoder working.=20 > Do you mean that you currently use the analog speaker output on the NX? Yes that is what I do, I have the NX driving a GigaWorks THX speaker=20 system it sounds great using liba52 software decoder, but if the NX has=20 a decoder built I would like to try that. > > > AC3 passthrough means that when you play a source which has an AC3=20 > audio stream (most commonly, a DVD), the AC3 stream is passed raw to=20 > the SPDIF output without any intermediate processing. I want to pass the AC3 stream 'to' the NX for hardware decoding there=20 (the NX includes a Hardware decoder if I am not mistaken), so I'm not=20 sure if 'passthrough' mode is what I should use or not ? > Re, > David > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users= . > Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=3D6595&alloc_id=3D14396&op=3Dclick > _______________________________________________ > Alsa-user mailing list > Als...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user > |
From: Koef <ko...@no...> - 2005-02-17 15:12:32
|
On Thu, Feb 17, 2005 at 03:53:17PM +0100, chris bayley wrote: > Yes that is what I do, I have the NX driving a GigaWorks THX speaker > system it sounds great using liba52 software decoder, but if the NX has > a decoder built I would like to try that. It hasn't, according to at least one review (http://atlas.csbnet.se/livecenter/showpage.php?id=47&page=6). Also there are no Dolby trademarks printed on the box. > I want to pass the AC3 stream 'to' the NX for hardware decoding there > (the NX includes a Hardware decoder if I am not mistaken), so I'm not > sure if 'passthrough' mode is what I should use or not ? No, passthrough sends the AC3 stream to an external device like your A/V receiver for decoding, as explained before in this thread. -- Koef. |
From: Jonathan R. <jo...@te...> - 2006-07-05 04:25:07
|
chris bayley <lugz <at> sourcepower.co.nz> writes: > I recently got my NX working with gentoo after a couple of false starts, > it seemed quite difficult at first but in hindsight not so,the hickups I > had in order where:- > * It did not work until I removed usbaudio from the kernel, > * As I understand it the NX does not comply with the usb-audio standard > at 44100Hz, and thus all 44.1 material needs to be resampled by alsa to > 48000(easy) > * I spent some time enabling 6 channel outputs on my media apps and > determining the right routing for all the speakers in surround mode, > alsa is very flexible in this regard! > * I have not yet got the onboard ac3 decoder working - is this the same > thing as ac3 passthough ? > * I have not yet determined if it possible to support the remote though > midi with LIRC/livedrive_midi driver ? > > When I have a few more things ironed out I hope to write a HOWTO to ease > the pain of people with this card. BTW the sound is fantastic - I have > my laptop setup for deafult through the laptop and media apps through > the NX, it works well and avoids getting system beeps at 75dB in full 5.1! > > If you have questions or want an .asoundrc drop me a line... I'd be interested in what you did to get 5.1 surround working, including relevant parts of asoundrc. I just got a Creative SB Live! 24-bit external, which is also a USB audio device, but may or may not be internally similar to your device. Stereo seems to work fine with no special configuration, but I haven't gotten 5.1 to work yet. Using a Via onboard 7.1 audio system, I just had to use the ALSA surround51 device to get output on three stereo 1/8th inch jacks, but I get the following when I try the same with the Live! USB box. I don't know what type is invalid. marvin ~ # speaker-test -D pcm.surround51 -c 6 speaker-test 1.0.11 Playback device is pcm.surround51 Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 6 channels Using 16 octaves of pink noise ALSA lib pcm.c:2017:(snd_pcm_open_conf) Invalid type for PCM pcm.surround51 definition (id: surround51, value: cards.pcm.surround51) |