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[trcns]

All my music is in flac and Wav formats. I use McIntosh MX121 to play it, using HDMI from computer to MX 121. Computer has a built-in AMD Radeon™ HD 6450A 512MB audio/video card capable of 24/192 bit rate.  I called McIntosh to find the kind of DAC McIntosh 121 has in it. They sent me following information
The DAC is the AKM brand, AK4358

Questions
1)   Why bit rate for .wav and .FLAC is missing from the above table?
2)   By looking at the above information, can someone please advise me which format is the best to use with my MX 121?
3)   I purchased several CD’s from HD-Tracks which are of 24/192 bit Rate in .wav format, should I convert them different format?
4)   Does it up-sample all the music, as any other DACs will do?
5)   Should I use DLNA via Ethernet instead of HDMI?
Thanks

[6233638]

• Lossy formats are typically limited to a maximum bitrate. Lossless files do not have any restriction on the bitrate.
• FLAC. It is equal in sound quality to WAV, but requires less disk space or bandwidth for playback. It also has better metadata (tagging) support, and your McIntosh only seems to support 88.2/96kHz via FLAC.
• It you set up the output format correctly in Media Center, it should convert the files to a format the MX121 supports.
• Probably. Most DAC designs do now.
• I prefer to use a direct connection (HDMI) when possible rather than streaming over DLNA.

[kiwi]

I agree with all of the above, and definitely recommend FLAC for your format.

[trcns]

The reason for my Question

Should I use DLNA via Ethernet instead of HDMI?
by using Ethernet I can bypass my built-in Sound Card "AMD Radeon HD 6450A", is this true?

Is there any ASIO Driver for "AMD Radeon HD 6450A"?

[6233638]

DLNA will transmit the audio file over the network, and be decoded inside the MX121.
HDMI will have Media Center decode the audio to PCM, which is played back on the MX121. (using your AMD drivers as a "sound card")

I don't think there is an ASIO driver for the Radeon cards - but WASAPI Exclusive should perform the same.

[pierre.goyette]

All my music is in flac and Wav formats. I use McIntosh MX121 to play it, using HDMI from computer to MX 121. Computer has a built-in AMD Radeon™ HD 6450A 512MB audio/video card capable of 24/192 bit rate.  I called McIntosh to find the kind of DAC McIntosh 121 has in it. They sent me following information
The DAC is the AKM brand, AK4358

Questions
1)   Why bit rate for .wav and .FLAC is missing from the above table?
2)   By looking at the above information, can someone please advise me which format is the best to use with my MX 121?
3)   I purchased several CD’s from HD-Tracks which are of 24/192 bit Rate in .wav format, should I convert them different format?
4)   Does it up-sample all the music, as any other DACs will do?
5)   Should I use DLNA via Ethernet instead of HDMI?
Thanks

trncs,

I also have a MX121 and have done some amount on research. Here are my suggestions:

1) Drop DLNA.  It's an aweful protocol and interoperability isn't great between devices which are all supposed to be certified. I know that MC has done a lot of work on this but it is he the mercy of the other vendors...

2) FLAC is the best (or ALAC or AIFF). Any LOSSLESS format will give you the best audio quality (same as CD)

3) For quality, simplicity, and ease of use, I have switched to playing all my music using a Sonos Controller. With the iPhone/iPad interface, it is absolutely awesome. The Sonos connects to the MX121 using an optical (TOSLINK) cable so all decoding takes places in the MX121. The Sonos merely streams the data over and does a great job at it. The Sonos will play most formats except the 96k/24b and 192k/24b but see the next item before going too far with this type of content.

3) In terms of HDTracks and any 96k/24b or 192k/24b content, I suggest you read the following articles. I am an audio nut and I'm not wasting my time with it:

   http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

   http://kenrockwell.com/audio/why-cds-sound-great.htm

   You can take your 192k/24b content and convert it to 44k/16b lossless.

4) If you really want to step it up a bit, you could a an external DAC such as a Cambridge MacMagic Plus. This particular unit has XLR Balanced Outputs which you can plug into the AUX 1 input.

5) Not sure of using HDMI to transport audio. Usually digital interconnect is done with Optical or Coaxial S/P DIF cables...

I have the following equipment and it sounds amazing:

McIntosh  MX121,  MC205,  MR88
B&W  Diamond 803s, CM Centre, PM1s
Denon DBP-2010CI
Popcorn Hour PCH-C200
Sonos Controller
Monster Power HTS 5100 MkII

If you have any questions about the MX121, let me know.

[chiptech]

is this correct:  Media Center creates FLAC files at 16 bit / 44.1 kHz?   Sonos only handles up to that bit rate and Sonos is only recognizing some of my FLAC files.

[6233638]

is this correct:  Media Center creates FLAC files at 16 bit / 44.1 kHz?   Sonos only handles up to that bit rate and Sonos is only recognizing some of my FLAC files.

FLAC files support basically any combination of bit-depth and sample rate PCM audio.
 
CD's will all be 16/44, but files sourced from HDtracks may be above that for example.

[astromo]

Wiki up baby:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Lossless_Compression
It's all there ... well maybe not all, but enough to back up the flavour of commentary coming from the multitude of voices who have already chipped in.

[EDIT: I quite like how this reads too ..  http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Bit-perfect_Audio]