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[tritium6]

I'm putting together an audio server / distribution system with MC on Win 7 at its heart. I've been looking into multi-channel sound cards to connect to my 6 zone / 12 channel amp.

A few I've been considering are from this thread: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=55607.0

Creative X-Fi Titanium - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001E25KDK
ESI Prodigy 7.1 HiFi - http://www.amazon.com/ESI-ProdigyHi-Fi-Prodigy-7-1-HiFi/dp/B001QJKZEU/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1306522717&sr=1-2
M Audio Delta 1010LT - http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Delta-1010-LT-Digital-System/dp/B000085ZKX/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1306523320&sr=1-1

It seems like driver support is the key factor which is turning out to be pretty hard to research. Does anyone have any opinions about ASIO drivers for the above cards (or any cards that suit my purpose)?

Another option I'm considering is using a USB sound card. Do they generally work as well as onboard? I've never used a peripheral sound card before.

ESI Gigaport HD - http://www.esi-audio.com/products/gigaporthd/

I realize I may need multiple cards to drive all channels. How well does multi-zone work in MC with multiple sound cards? Is a multi-card solution generally better or worse than a single card? Pros/Cons?

One feature that I'd like to take advantage of is MC's ability to output a stereo mp3 as mono. What I want to do is output one mp3 as mono to the right channel of an amplifier zone, and another mono mp3 to the left channel. This way I can use the amp's 12 channels discretely. The R/L speakers will be in separate rooms of course so you aren't hearing two different songs at the same time.

If I can't address the sound card's R/L channels directly, I still think I can achieve this same thing by using twice as many sound card outputs, probably requiring multiple cards. For instance, MC outputs mono mp3 to the Front R/L on sound card 1 which is hooked up only to the R channel of zone 1 on the amp. MC outputs another mono mp3 to the Front R/L on sound card 2 which is hooked up only to the L channel of zone 1. This is a waste of sound card channels though.

Is it possible to do this at all in MC? Am I going to run into processor issues trying to play 12 mp3s at the same time? It doesn't seem like a very taxing activity at this point in time. Does mp3 decoding get offloaded to the soundcard or does it need cpu time?

Thanks for the sanity check!
-Randy

[tritium6]

Another feature that is important to me is going to be minimal popping during boot, so that my ears aren't blown out every time I restart. Also, minimal line noise will allow the music detect feature of the amp to shutoff unused channels. Is that even an issue?

[Matt]

Welcome to Interact!

It seems like driver support is the key factor which is turning out to be pretty hard to research. Does anyone have any opinions about ASIO drivers for the above cards (or any cards that suit my purpose)?

ASIO was not designed with multiple instances in mind.  Media Center supports multiple instances with a workaround, but most ASIO drivers do not allow opening them multiple times at once.  This might be an argument for multiple cards.  Or it might force you to use DirectSound or WASAPI.  But then you'll bump into the issue where not too many cards allow presenting their 8 channels as 4 discrete stereo sets.

I realize I may need multiple cards to drive all channels. How well does multi-zone work in MC with multiple sound cards? Is a multi-card solution generally better or worse than a single card? Pros/Cons?

Zones work fine with any number of cards.

Zone sync (i.e. playing the same thing in all zones at the same time) may get a little tougher as you add more zones or hardware.

One feature that I'd like to take advantage of is MC's ability to output a stereo mp3 as mono. What I want to do is output one mp3 as mono to the right channel of an amplifier zone, and another mono mp3 to the left channel. This way I can use the amp's 12 channels discretely. The R/L speakers will be in separate rooms of course so you aren't hearing two different songs at the same time.

You can output mono with Media Center, but again you'll have to wrestle with the ASIO instance limit.

Is it possible to do this at all in MC? Am I going to run into processor issues trying to play 12 mp3s at the same time? It doesn't seem like a very taxing activity at this point in time. Does mp3 decoding get offloaded to the soundcard or does it need cpu time?

This is the sort of thing where a multi-core processor will really help.  I'd consider a four core processor for a server doing this much work, but you would probably be fine with a fast dual-core setup assuming you're not doing heavy DSP on the 12 outputs.

Good luck, and let us know how you fare.

[tritium6]

Thanks Matt!

I'm new to this so I'm just trying to figure it all out.

it might force you to use DirectSound or WASAPI

I don't care whether I use ASIO or DirectSound or WASAPI, I just want whatever will work.

you'll bump into the issue where not too many cards allow presenting their 8 channels as 4 discrete stereo sets

Can someone make a recommendation about which cards do present their channels as discrete units? It seems like the Delta 1010LT might present each channel independently, is that right? Also, I wouldn't really mind if a card presented each of its channels as a mono channel. Can anyone recommend a card like that?

Zone sync (i.e. playing the same thing in all zones at the same time) may get a little tougher

What does it mean for sync to "get tougher"? Does that mean there will be a delay from zone to zone? Or that it will take more work for me to fiddle with drivers and MC settings?

a multi-core processor will really help

Does that mean mp3 decoding is done on the CPU as opposed to on the sound card?

Thanks again!

[lhsrad]

Hi - I am wondering if your system is working and what components you used. This is what I am trying to do... I am looking for a sound card with 12 outputs (or 6 stereo) -- i would like to stream 6 different songs from itunes or windows media player similutaneously to a multizone home audio system drive a channel vision amp likely . also do you know of any software (pc or mac) that can control the music remotely, for instance via an ipad or itouch or android? does this make sense what i am querying?

[tritium6]

Yeah, I think I understand what you're trying to do, and J River is the perfect software for you to use. iTunes and and WMP don't have the ability to play 6 different songs to different channels like you are trying to do. I have my J River system setup to play 3 different songs to different channels. The name of the feature in J River is called "Zones". If you search this forum for Zones you will find more information.

What you need to do is install J River on a PC with the 12 channel outputs (if you can find one! The most I know of is the M Audio Delta 1010LT with 10 channels). Then you wire each channel to the amplifier. Then you can control playback via an Android App called Gizmo which works with the J River software. I think there is an iPad / itouch version of Gizmo but I don't know for sure because I use Android.

If you need more help you should start a "New Topic". It will get more replies than just by replying to my topic.

[Mysticeti]

Hi Tritium6,

By any chance did you go with the ESI Gigaport HD solution?   I'm interested in hearing anyone's experiences with this USB multizone sound card.

I'm thinking of moving my MC setup to a laptop and this would let me keep my zone system pretty much the same as it is now.

There was some other discussion of this device here:
 http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=57829.0
but it's not clear if that person ever got it working (or whether their issue was specifically due to using ASIO).

Thanks.

[Mediahome]

I am also interested to hear if the Gigaport HD works as a multi-zone USB DAC with MC.

Has anyone gotten it to work?

Matt

[tritium6]

It works but not very well. I'm not getting as many zones out of it as I expected. I'm actually back browsing this forum after several months to find another solution. This time I think I'm going to go with an internal card, maybe the Asus.

[Mysticeti]

Bummer.  Sorry to hear it didn't work out.

I only need three zones.  Did you at least get three working zones out of it?

If you decide to go "internal" I can attest to the M-Audio Delta 1010-LT PCI working well for me.  Probably overkill but very stable (not a single problem in the 3+ years I've been using it).