Sound Chipset Drivers ...

[nshankar]

I have just put together a HTPC with the following config :-

Case :- CoolerMaster HAF X
Power Supply :- Thermaltake EVO 650W
Motherboard :- Gigabyte GA-H55M-D2H
Processor :- Intel i3 540 3.06 GHz
CPU Cooler :- CoolerMaster V8
RAM :- 4GB, Kingston DDR3 1333 (KVR1333D3N9/2G) 2GB x 2
HDD :- Seagate 1TB 7200rpm SATA
DVDR :- LG 22x
Keyboard / Mouse :- Logitech EX110 (wireless!)
Remote :- PS3 BD Remote (Bluetooth, found drivers courtesy Google!)

OS :- Win 7 Pro
S/W :- WMC 7

Video 1080 HD resolution via HDMI direct to TV.
Audio Optical to AVR, 24 bit 48 kHz 'DVD Quality'

Any idea of how to improve audio without additional hardware? Thanks.

P.S. :- Choice of components based purely on local availability and potential upgrade for gaming in future.

 

[marsilians]

whats wrong with the audio output now?

 

[prithivi]

Try Fidelity software to increase sound but there would little loss of clarity and very very high sound wont be much pleasant to hear

 

[nshankar]

whats wrong with the audio output now?

Nothing that I can make out! Just wanna move up from 48 kHz upto 192 kHz to find out if I can hear any difference!!

 

[spirovious]

For mov,optical out can sound better if your AVR has good decoder/DAC.
OR can add a decent Soundcard like xonar to get 192kz files decoded.

 

[nshankar]

For mov,optical out can sound better if your AVR has good decoder/DAC.
OR can add a decent Soundcard like xonar to get 192kz files decoded.

A soundcard from Asus Xonar family is on my wishlist. Exploring how far I can go with the current setup. Thanks.

 

[audiodelic]

Use xmplay/foobar with wasapi enabled

 

[nshankar]

Thanks to all who helped.

For now, I've decided to live with what I have (WMC 7) as the performance meets my expectations.

Added 'freerip' to back up music from CDs to FLAC and 'DVDshrink' to back up DVDs.

Only issue is music browsing by albums does not sort / show up in the folder structure that they are organised in the HDD, will have to work around it ...

ATOH, can we have a nice desktop wallpaper to display HFV to the world ??? May be a small DIY project to some graphic / creative specialist on this forum!

 

[nshankar]

Sorted out the music browsing by albums issue to show up in the folder structure that they are organised in the HDD by installing 'Music Browser'.