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[sithlord0338]

This may be a stupid question about Media Centre's output format options, but here I go anyway.

Is it best to listen to audio files at source bitdepth and sample rate? I ask because my sound card is capable of 24-bit 192 kHz playback. My system seems to run at 33% CPU usage when playing at 24-bit 192 kHz, and seems to require file buffering. Most of my files are encoded losslessly with FLAC as well. Is the quality difference really worth the slightly slower response time and CPU usage? Should I just run Media Centre at source bitdepth and sample rate?

I am guessing most people on this forum have more knowledge on the subject than me.

[Matt]

If you have a good soundcard with a high-quality digital-to-analog converter, there's probably no reason to change the sample rate in software.

Outputting with extra bits (24 or 32) doesn't change the CPU overhead much, and it gives more leg room when doing DSP or digital volume adjustments.  However, if no signal adjustments are made, MC's bit-perfect 16-bit output will sound the same as one converted to 24-bit.

[sithlord0338]

thanks