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[pmh]

Hello everyone!  I'm planning to build my first htpc and would love to plug a sound card analog directly into my power amps and sub for 5.1.  I have been trying to read a lot about it but am still struggling with a few issues before deciding how to configure it.  

1.  I am deathly afraid that some quirk might eventually play a sound at full volume and blow my speakers (i.e. windows crashes and then forgets to skip the startup chime at startup.)  I realize that JRiver has excellent volume protection, but it only takes a rare fluke to cause big problems.  Is there truly an attractive failsafe way to handle this?  Like keeping the system volume at 100% and controlling the volume with something that has a physical dial (i.e. like a pre/pro has)?

2.  Are external sound cards the way to go?  This seems logical because of the ability to reduce jitter, to easily upgrade in the future, and (in some cases) to get a physical volume dial (not sure if these give me the same volume protection as a pre/pro would).

3.  Also on the topic of volume, as I understand, it can affect quality whether volume is reduced/controlled on the digital side or the analog side of the signal.  Does using a pre/pro have an advantage over a sound card in this regard?  I have a powerful amp that probably doesn't need a lot of preamp power coming into it, and I'd hate to be clipping a ton of my signal if all that volume reduction is done digitally.  Feel free to correct my assumptions here - I only half understand this topic.

Bonus topic also related to sound cards:
4.  I want my movies to sound good in 5.1, but I care a lot more about 2 channel stereo music.  Therefore, I would like to use a dedicated stereo dac/preamp like the peachtree nova pre via asynchronous USB to the htpc for stereo listening.  While watching 5.1 content, is there any possibility or advantage to using this same USB connection for my LR channels while using the sound card analog out for my surround/center/sub channels?  My intuition is that the timing will get messed up, but maybe that is a common thing that is corrected via software.  Another issue might be the ability to send some channels via usb and others via sound card analog at the same time.  One alternative is to run the analog signal through the nova pre and set the dial to a consistent level (or get a stereo dac/preamp with true ht bypass), but maybe this will also delay the signal.  I would rather save money on movie/surround playback and put it into my music/2-channel playback - how do people physically configure this, and are there software limitations to do it?  

Budget for a sound card is $400, but hoping to keep it under $250.  At $400 I'd be wondering if I might as well get a used Emotiva UMC-200 pre/pro and send digital audio straight off the motherboard to the pre/pro.  Right now I need 5.1, but 7.1 would be nice to allow future upgrade.  Other equipment is Emotiva XPA-2 for Left/Right and a to-be-determined amp for the center and surrounds.  Hoping to keep things in Windows.

While this originally started as a quest to simplify my life (one box that does everything), the more I think about how to do an htpc well, the more complicated it seems.  So, I would greatly appreciate any advice!  Sorry I'm a noob, but hopefully I'm touching on some topics of true merit.

[dean70]

1. If you have a card that uses ASIO drivers, in most cases you can disable the Windows Audio Services. That way Windows cant possibly output any beeps or startup sounds. Alternativly, set the default audio device to something other than the sound card, eg: onboard audio.

2. Choices are limited with multi channel DACs (big $). The alternative is pro audio multi-channel interfaces (which generally are not ideal for asthetics - lots of leds, flashing level meters, etc. Might be a bit distracting for movie viewing).

4. You can use a sound card for 5.1 and a 2 channel dac with a pre-in or ht bypass function. I use a Xonar ST+H6 combo for 7.1 surround and a W4S DSD2Se DAC for 2 channel. The front LR outs from the sound card run through the HT Bypass Inputs on the DAC. The whole thing is driven from a universal remote, so switching between "modes" is simplified. It is well behaved and can shutdown the PC with the amps on no issues. Runs directly to Emotiva XPA2/XPA5 amps.

[pmh]

Thanks!  I was thinking of doing something much like your setup, so it's good to have this plan validated from somebody who knows what they are doing.  Although I'll probably be looking at a step down in components - wish I could afford that DAC!

I think I'm getting more comfortable with the volume protection situation.  And I was also looking at a xonar card - the Essence STX II 7.1.  Maybe I'd just start with that and see how the stereo music listening sounds.  Though I doubt it really competes with a good stereo external DAC/preamp.

My next step is to play around with jriver to see if I can get it to do LR through USB while simultaneously doing the other channels through sound card analog.  I suspect not, but if this were possible, it would open up a lot more shopping options for the stereo (LR) DAC/preamp (since I wouldn't need an HT bypass a pre-in).  Although I suppose this would still force me to set the DAC/preamp volume to a consistent level when watching 5.1, so HT bypass is probably still ideal.

thanks again