I'm taking tentative steps into the world of high resolution computer audio. I've previously used computer audio only for casual listening, relying on CD's and SACD's for the more "serious" (if that's the right word) listening. My first step, then, was to recently install an Asus Sonar Essence STX in a Dell XPS desktop. While I have it working fine, some aspects of using it for high resolution FLAC's have been confusing me, and I'm hoping this forum can offer some insight. I've searched and searched on the subject (both here and around the internet), but I've really only made myself more confused.
I'll be using only the headphone and RCA outputs on my STX for the near future- the headphones at my desk area and the RCA outputs run to a nearby (and somewhat obscure) NHT M60 system. I've started using Foobar2000, but I'll probably give the J River system a try shortly as well.
Here's the main question I have: what am I to do with 24/88.2 and 24/176.4 FLAC files? I know at one point they weren't supported, but some 2010 driver updates added them to the repertoire of the card. But even the latest Audio Center still only has 16/44.1, 16/48, 24/96, and 24/192 options in the pulldown menu.
To add to my confusion, most of the discussion in this area seems to center around getting bit perfect output via the S/PDIF digital stream, which I'm not using at all. And both the driver update notes and a John Atkinson Stereophile followup on the card make mention of losing volume control when properly decoding 88.2 and 176.4 streams:
I will, then, try to summarize my questions:
- How should I be handling 88.2 and 176.4 FLAC files using the headphone or RCA outputs to make sure they're decoded correctly? Do I need to give up volume control to do it?
- What does the 44.1/48/96/192 pulldown selection in the Xonar Audio Center actually do? Is it resampling an audio stream to that rate if it's not on the pulldown menu?
- Are there other drivers or ways of the controlling the sound card that I should be using? Or is everything fine and I'm making a big deal out of nothing?
Thanks for the assistance.
Keith
