[chris ruth]

Is there any advantage to using an external audio interface (say, a
usbpre 2, cause that's what i have) vs the laptop alone and HDMI out.
I admit, i don't really understand how this all works. I use the
laptop HDMI connected directly to my reciever. It's convenient at
least in that i can throw in a 5.1 DVD and it will play surround. Also
general music listening via flac files. But what determines the
quality? Is there any /AD taking place when using hdmi? Sorry if this
is a dumb question.

[Arny Krueger[_4_]]

"chris ruth" wrote in message
...

Is there any advantage to using an external audio interface (say, a
usbpre 2, cause that's what i have) vs the laptop alone and HDMI out.
I admit, i don't really understand how this all works. I use the
laptop HDMI connected directly to my reciever. It's convenient at
least in that i can throw in a 5.1 DVD and it will play surround. Also
general music listening via flac files. But what determines the
quality? Is there any /AD taking place when using hdmi? Sorry if this
is a dumb question.

If you play a digital recording on a laptop or other computer with a HDMI
output, the signal stays in the digital domain from source to output. No
conversions to or from analog.

HDMI can be thought of as 4 stereo digital outputs routed through a single
multipin connector.

You can find out more about HDMI he http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

[chris ruth]

On Dec 14, 6:05*pm, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
"chris ruth" wrote in message

...

Is there any advantage to using an external audio interface (say, a
usbpre 2, cause that's what i have) vs the laptop alone and HDMI out.
I admit, i don't really understand how this all works. I use the
laptop HDMI connected directly to my reciever. It's convenient at
least in that i can throw in a 5.1 DVD and it will play surround. Also
general music listening via flac files. *But what determines the
quality? Is there any /AD taking place when using hdmi? Sorry if this
is a dumb question.

If you play a digital recording on a laptop or other computer with a HDMI
output, the signal stays in the digital domain from source to output. No
conversions to or from analog.

HDMI can be thought of as 4 stereo digital outputs routed through a single
multipin connector.

You can find out more about HDMI hehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

Thanks, that's what i thought. That's why my laptop actually lists the
name of my reciever as the 'soudcard'. Pretty cool how they talk to
eachother.
Anyway i did a test last night and thought i liked the hdmi method
better than the usbpre2

ok we can close this one.

[Scott Dorsey]

chris ruth wrote:
Is there any advantage to using an external audio interface (say, a
usbpre 2, cause that's what i have) vs the laptop alone and HDMI out.
I admit, i don't really understand how this all works. I use the
laptop HDMI connected directly to my reciever. It's convenient at
least in that i can throw in a 5.1 DVD and it will play surround. Also
general music listening via flac files. But what determines the
quality? Is there any /AD taking place when using hdmi? Sorry if this
is a dumb question.

No, the D/A is happening in your receiver, and so the quality is mostly
determined by the receiver.

However, you should know that some HDMI interfaces also silently do
sample rate conversions witout telling you, so there is some quality issue
there as well.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."