faberryman

"One thing to keep in mind is that there's no free lunch. On-board sound from a motherboard doesn't even compare to a quality card like the Lynx. All audio devices that handle 24/192 are not equal just like all cars that go 120 mph are not equal." Clearly, the cost no object card of choice is the Lynx AES16. I'm exploring alternatives.

"I've never tested, but I suspect both of these cards would offer a lower jitter output than the SPDIF off a motherboard as they will have their own independent clock where as a motherboard SPDIF is probably derived from the main clocks within the PC." Sounds like a compelling reason to go the sound card route. I think the ESI Juli@ is preferable to the EM-U cards as it auto-adjusts sampling rates.

"Could you not add in a suitably equipped sound card?" Sure, but I would prefer go the motherboard route unless there is some compelling reason for using a soundcard. Anything shy of a Lynx AES16 and the cost would be comparable, if not less.

I am currently using an Asus P5E-VM HDMI motherboard for my music server. It has a coaxial S/PDIF digital output but the Realtek ALC883 audio chip only does 44.1, 48, 96 and 192 - no 88.2 or 176.4. Can someone recommend an Intel compatible motherboard that has a coaxial S/PDIF out and does 88.2 and 176.4, preferably with video onboard. Thanks.

"Apple is about to upgrade there OS and that will make it an even better music source." What new audio features/improvements does Snow Leopard bring to the table?

Have you checked the digital I/O settings in your Realtek HD control panel. The Realtek HD driver defaults to 48kHz. You might want to reset it to 44.1kHz and see if it makes any difference.

"When Sonic Studio adds the option of loading songs/playlists to memory..." Is that in the works?

How did you mount the Lynx L22 card is your low-profile case?

"My question is from the Lynx card, what is the simplest/cleanest output connector? It looks like the Lynx comes with, oh, I don't know, about ten XLRs. What's a non-engineer to do?" I am interested in this as well. I'd like to see the pinout of the back ports. I'd prefer to have a cable with a single balanced digital output and was consider just making one.

I have two AEs - one in my listening room and one in my kitchen. The listening room one is wired, the kitchen one is wireless. I have never had any dropouts with the wired one, and the only time I have dropouts with the wireless one is when the microwave is on, which isn't surprising given that the AE is about three feet away from the microwave. I haven't experimented with moving it further away. Sounds like a good project this weekend. In short, fears over wireless dropouts may be overstated.

It has already been noted that Amarra mini is limited to 96/24. However, consider that perhaps the $395 spent on Amarra yields a greater improvement than an additional $395 spent on hardware. Presumably one can upgrade to the full version for the difference in price if one acquires 192/24 capability.

Chris is correct (he usually is). In essence, you are comparing the DAC in your CD player to the Nixon USB tube DAC. It may not be a fair fight. What CD player are you using?

The Juli@ it is then!

Peter, Thanks for directing me to the Juli@. I have an odd question. I have a "low-profile" PC case which means I would need a right-angle riser card to use a full height PCI card. Since I will not be using the DAC portion of the Juli@ card, just the lower part with the optical output and brakeout cable connector, will the Juli@ card work with the top part disengaged entirely?

Two other PCI cards have popped up - the M-Audio 96/24 and the M-Audio 192 Audiophile. Does anyone have any first hand experience with these. Same question as with the E-MU cards. Do I have to manually change playback sample rate when changing from 44.1 to 88.2 files or do they automatically detect and output the proper sample rate?