The HK AVR-220 I believe has 192KHz/24-bit DACs.
That would make it better than most computer based DACS.
You can read about it here:
http://manuals.harman.com/HK/Product%20Information/AVR220PI.pdfhttp://manuals.harman.com/HK/Technology%20Articles/HKH1112%20MP3%20Tech%20Sheet.pdfHere are some quotes:
"†MP3 playback requires a compatible S/P-DIF
signal, or an optional transcoder such as the
Harman Kardon DAL 150.
...
For installations where a consumer wishes to play MP3 files directly from a computer-based source, the ... output of a compatible computer sound card is connected to one of the AVR’s optical or coaxial digital inputs. At present, the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz™ PCI card has the correct S/P-DIF output and, in the future, more computers and sound cards will include this capability."
The encoded original MP3 bitstream exists on your hard drive. That provides the infomation, according to the MP3 standard to decode two (stereo) audio channels. The result of the properly implemented decoding algorithm are two bit streams. One for each of the two speakers. If the decoding algorithm is implemented correctly, and runs in the proper environment, then the two output bitstreams can be verified to be
bit perfect. In fact there are test files that provide what the output should be to test whether the MP3 decoder is working properly. They kind of give the answer ahead of time to the decoder writers.
I do not know if JRiver writes their own MP3 decoder or licenses someone else's code and glues/hooks it up to their Media Center proprietary product.
I would guess Matt know this answer, but may not be able to share that here.Beyond MP3 endoded bitstreams, there are more advanced encodings of 6 and 7 channels. These include Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, and variants of 7 channel encodings. And there are lossless formats like APE, FLACC, lossless-WMA, etc.
In theory these more advance encoded formats could be stored and accessed through Media Centers Library, but I do not know if Media Center has a way to play these. Matt would know if Media Center can play Dolby Digital 5.1. I doubt Media Center can NATIVELY play lossless-Window Media Format!
Now the word 'play' is tricky. Play can mean 1- simply
pass through the disk/DVD/CD resident encoded bitstream to other licensed software programs on your computer, or to
pass it through to the sound card which has a capability to pass it through to your HK AVR's internal 192kHz/24-bit DACS.
I think the Media Center decoding either native or borrowed is 32-bits, but NOT 192kHz.
Originally there were no consumer available MP3 decoding cabable audio receivers/amplifiers/speakers and the PC was the only means to accomplish this.
Bottom line is (IMHO): it is better technically to pass the pure unencoded signal from the hard drive, or DVD, or CD to the 192/24-bit DACs and even full blown DSPs now in some HK, and Onkyo, and other high end audio gear. More and more powered speakers have built in mulitprotocol decoding capabiltiy, if only you can get them the pure undecoded signal, hehe. Windows is NOT a real time operating system. It has a hard time guranteeing it will/can keep up with tasks that must be done in real time. Especially when it is running multiple tasks. Large buffers try to overcome Windows disadvantages. But given sufficient loads, the PC will not be able to keep up. Software and hardware latencies will rear their ugly head. Result:
stuttering. Anyone ever hear their system stutter once in awhile?
There is a largely political reason why digital pass through is not functional on many PC based sound systems. But that is another story.