Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player - a HTPC replacement??

[Sumit]

Between STX and D2X for music the STX anyday. For more all round experience the D2X. I remember reading quite a few forum threads/online reviews where they said there was not much difference in terms of performance between the DX and STX and that the DX made more sense in case there was no requirement/usage of headphones. At half the cost it does make more sense unless you're an audiophile who wants the absolute best and are convinced by the superior specs of the STX. I was convinced by the 124 dB SNR of the STX and now after hearing it coupled with cPlay I have no regrets and in fact I'm quite sure very few systems will compete with what I have (and I've heard quite a few so called high-end systems) including a very expensive RWA unit that a friend has. The PC with the right soundcard, the right speakers and the right content like FLAC/WAV will hold its own quite well indeed.

Hi!!!

Sorry, to come back to this. I need to know how does mp3 music play vide the D2X or DX i.e the quality of music. The main reason for me to go with HTPC is because of plenty of music on my computer.

mp3 copied on CD's doesn't sound right and neither it does connecting the PC directly to the amp using stock realtek card.

Thanks

 

[moserw]

Well you're going to get different answers from different people so here is my version.

For good quality MP3 rips i.e. 320 KBPS in VBR the difference is not going to be much. This I mean in comparison to lossless formats like FLAC, WAV, etc. This is mainly because of the Mid-Fi equipment. Honestly I've noted the difference to be quite perceivable only on high-end equipment, otherwise not much of a difference. Most of the systems play all music garbled as one i.e. all instruments, vocals sound as one, all coming together at the same time. Very high-end (read that as expensive) speakers will actually differentiate between each voice, each instrument and let you hear each one distinctly. On such speakers the difference will be very easily noticeable. Otherwise the difference will not be very much and MP3s will end up sounding very good indeed.

Hi!!!

Sorry, to come back to this. I need to know how does mp3 music play vide the D2X or DX i.e the quality of music. The main reason for me to go with HTPC is because of plenty of music on my computer.

mp3 copied on CD's doesn't sound right and neither it does connecting the PC directly to the amp using stock realtek card.

Thanks

 

[magma]

my answer is kind of from a diffrent angle

if you are always gonna be into mp3 i would sugest you dont invest heavily in an expensive SC like the D2x unless you plan to move to flac one day

keep a max 3-4k budget for the SC

 

[spirovious]

If you check flash Demo on asus web,the prefer DX for music & games than D2X(for mov)

 

[Sumit]

Thanks guys!

Okay. I shall simplify the question further:

Please compare>>>listening to mp3 rips at say 192kbps vide a DVD player Vs same mp3 files vide a SC like D2X of DX

1. Will the difference be perceivable? At least on my equipment
2. Even lower bitrate mp3's say 96kbps or so>> how will they sound in the above scenario/

Thanks.

 

[moserw]

Yes it will. I'm not just taking the SC into consideration here, but even players like Foobar, XMPlay, Winamp, etc. All of them have better codecs than a budget DVDP and even if the DVDP is expensive I'm not sure it has been optimized to play MP3 files. A PC on the other hand is. There are lots of plugins, DSPs, etc. available to make MP3s sound better on the PC.

Of course it goes without saying that better bitrate means better output. I've heard 96 KBPS only on my mobile where it sounded good. On the PC a min of 256-320 KBPS VBR is recommended.

Does this answer your query?

Thanks guys!

Okay. I shall simplify the question further:

Please compare>>>listening to mp3 rips at say 192kbps vide a DVD player Vs same mp3 files vide a SC like D2X of DX

1. Will the difference be perceivable? At least on my equipment
2. Even lower bitrate mp3's say 96kbps or so>> how will they sound in the above scenario/

Thanks.

 

[Sumit]

On the PC a min of 256-320 KBPS VBR is recommended.

Does this answer your query?

Yes, it does.

However, there are more queries. I checked the music available with me. Most of the music is either 128kbps or 192 kbps. You have recommended a 256-320kbps.

1.Can I upsample my music to higher bitrates?
2. What bitrate music is available with you? If it is high bitrates (320kbps), then how did you manage to procure/upsample it?
3.Are there any legal sites which offer to download music at higher bitrates?
4. What player are you using on you PC?

Thanks.

 

[reju]

Yes, it does.

However, there are more queries. I checked the music available with me. Most of the music is either 128kbps or 192 kbps. You have recommended a 256-320kbps.

1.Can I upsample my music to higher bitrates?
2. What bitrate music is available with you? If it is high bitrates (320kbps), then how did you manage to procure/upsample it?
3.Are there any legal sites which offer to download music at higher bitrates?
4. What player are you using on you PC?

Thanks.

Hi. Why don't you rip songs from your audio CDs?
Set the bit rate at 320kbps.

 

[Sumit]

Hi. Why don't you rip songs from your audio CDs?
Set the bit rate at 320kbps.

Hi Reju!!

Yes, I can do that. But, I don't have the time to RIP audio CD's/
As it is I am quite satified with the qulaity of original audio CD's. Why bother?

My issue is with mp3's. I want them to sound better, just like audio CD's.
If a SC like D2X can do a better job with mp3's than a DAC like CA DAC magic, then HTPC + D2X is the way to go for me.

Cheers !!

 

[unleash_me]

3.Are there any legal sites which offer to download music at higher bitrates?

Linn Records - specialists in Classical, Jazz and Celtic music
naimlabel.com
HDtracks high resolution audiophile music downloads

Just to name a few.

Cheers.

 

[reju]

Hi Reju!!

Yes, I can do that. But, I don't have the time to RIP audio CD's/
As it is I am quite satified with the qulaity of original audio CD's. Why bother?

My issue is with mp3's. I want them to sound better, just like audio CD's.
If a SC like D2X can do a better job with mp3's than a DAC like CA DAC magic, then HTPC + D2X is the way to go for me.

Cheers !!

Oh OK! I thought you want some sample 320kbps MP3 for testing.

 

[moserw]

Yes you can upsample MP3s, but what kind of benefit you will get will depend on the h/w you have in terms of the SC and the media player and codecs/plugins being used. Give Foobar with SoX a resampler a try. Otherwise Foobar with SRC resampler too is good. 128 KBPS is ok, 192 KBPS is actually pretty good. I used to rip all my audio CDs at 320 KBPS VBR previously but not anymore. Now, I've more or less deleted all my MP3s for lack of space on the system. I'm re-ripping all my CDs in a lossless format like FLAC and the player I use is cPlay.

Coming to legal sites the best is Amazon where you can d/l MP3 content. I tried it once because I was impatient for an album but when I got the same CD from Amazon the MP3s were really not up to the mark on comparison. Amazon only gives at 192 KBPS and on comparison to FLAC that's not much good. For higher bitrates I'm not aware of any legal sites. Anyway FLAC/WAV/ALAC is my choice, if you're fine with MP3s then go with it. As long as you listen to music and not your equipment its great.

Yes, it does.

However, there are more queries. I checked the music available with me. Most of the music is either 128kbps or 192 kbps. You have recommended a 256-320kbps.

1.Can I upsample my music to higher bitrates?
2. What bitrate music is available with you? If it is high bitrates (320kbps), then how did you manage to procure/upsample it?
3.Are there any legal sites which offer to download music at higher bitrates?
4. What player are you using on you PC?

Thanks.

 

[Sumit]

Thanks moser. I shall ping you if I need further help.

Sumit

 

[illusion]

WD TV cannot playback mkv files , encoded with aac audio !

 

[madbullram]

WD TV cannot playback mkv files , encoded with aac audio !

It can, but it will play it as Stereo mode not 5.1. Did you use Digital as output or Stereo?

There is a easy fix to it:

1. Download Popcorn Audio Convertor
2. Reencode .mkv+aac to .mkv + .ac3

It will work flawlessly. It takes some 15 to 20 mins per movie.

Here is the download link:
http://audioconverter.heartware.dk/

Guide:
Tutorial for converting audio tracks with HeartWare MKV Audio Converter

Imp
1 Follow the guide to the last word and ensure all codecs are available
2. Add the mkv save and select ac3 option and save it
3. run the program

Have used it extensively for last 3 months and I just love it. Initially, it does take time to install and link the codecs. Once done, it just takes 2 clicks to convert.

 

[illusion]

It can, but it will play it as Stereo mode not 5.1. Did you use Digital as output or Stereo?

There is a easy fix to it:

1. Download Popcorn Audio Convertor
2. Reencode to .mkv+aac to .mkv + .ac3

It will work flawlessly. It takes some 15 to 20 mins per movie.

Here is the download link:
http://audioconverter.heartware.dk/

Guide:
Tutorial for converting audio tracks with HeartWare MKV Audio Converter

Imp
1 Follow the guide to the last word and ensure all codecs are available
2. Add the mkv save and select ac3 option and save it
3. run the program

Have used it extensively for last 3 months and I just love it. Initially, it does take time to install and link the codecs. Once done, it just takes 2 clicks to convert.

Any software out there which has dts encoding ?

 

[reju]

WD TV cannot playback mkv files , encoded with aac audio !

There you are!! MBR has given very good inputs!

 

[illusion]

Any software out there which has dts encoding ?

Also does encoding to ac3 increase file size ?

 

[madbullram]

Any software out there which has dts encoding ?

You want remove DTS or encode say Dolby to DTS?

 

[illusion]

You want remove DTS or encode say Dolby to DTS?

I want to encode aac / ac3 to dts with a possible sound db boost .


Also as you mentioned earlier , will encoding aac to ac3 increase file size ?