Has anyone had any experience with computer HDMI audio feeding a A/V receiver

Bill Ferris

Lunatic Member
And their SQ perceptions.. I searched the digital audio forums with no return results.. I have "successfully" experimented with this method Sunday (Easter), since my S/PDIF feed from my CD ripped to streaming lap-top will not play through my Integra A/V pre-amp in the main system.. It(the Integra) decoded & played with the same hookup S/PDIF feed setup from my Sony 400 CD carrousel player prior, but refuses to decode & produce audio now from WAV lossless ripped music from the lap-top via the same exact original S/PDIF setup feed.. I have the same ripped music on a 512 Gig thumb/flash connected to my new OPPO UDP 203 which allows me to play the same music through the main system, but I think it doesn`t sound as good as it should.. With the same perceived SQ out of it`s predecessor OPPO BDP 103 as well.. I didn`t spend any great length of time listening to the computer HDMI audio feed feasibility study Sunday in the living room as it was a warm day here in NE. FL. as it was with 4 mono`d Mac MC 275 "tubers"(highs & mids sucking major AC juice(almost 10 amps indicated) plus all their waste heat output makes my A/C think that I have all the windows and doors open after about 20 min. running with 5 other power amps operating as well, in the main living room system.. Anyway, I was wondering if anybody had tried this computer ripped music HDMI audio feed before, and their experiences/impressions.. Thank you. Regards, OKB
 
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Well, I have not but only because my ht receiver does not have hdmi. That said, if you have an Nvidia or AMD video card, and that includes the APUs from AMD, you can set the sound output to HD over hdmi. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Thanks for your response botrytis.. All HDMI sound via this scheme is working from the test Sunday using my Dell lap-top and sounds pretty good from the less than optimum time to really critically judge.. The main specifically configured music streaming lap-top is a HP with a "display port" jack, which is a type connection/cable/adaptor that I don`t have, until it arrives from MCM this week.. So I substituted the Dell lap-top with it`s standard HDMI jack for my feasibility study/checkout of this concept yesterday.. I already feed, via usb to S/PDIF, from the HP lap-top to my multi-room distributed audio through a high quality DAC to Mac pre-amp.. When I get the display port to HDMI cable this week, that the HP requires, I will connect it up and configure it to the main A/V pre-amp, and I will also find out if I can output both usb & HDMI audio at the same time without any glitches in the ripped music streaming SQ.. Thank you again Sir. for your interest in my, yet even more complicated pursuit of quality computer music streaming, as I never heard of anybody(at least around here) that`s doing what I am trying to fully accomplish.. Take care and have as good of a week as you can.. Regards, OKB
 
I can only confirm that it should work, not what the SQ will be.

Display Port is HDMI, just takes a different plug, so the conversion is passive and should have no variance in SQ from a regular HDMI.

My experience with using an HP laptop and optical S/PDIF was not impressive. I use a desktop with a simple Sound Blaster Audigy SE card using the coaxial digital output now, and it sounds great. I am not sure if it was the interface or the other laptop hardware that was the problem.

Keep us posted.
 
I have an Asus Mobo with a big AMD apu, using the Radeon catalyst drivers. The sound is good - I have streamed Tidal high quality content, HD movies, ripped tracks, etc. for years. The sound quality is very good. The Sherbourn pre/pro and Sunfire amp driving Klipsch/Velodyne/Frazier doesn't hurt. It could be improved. I am studying codecs for audio, preparing for a Mobo/cpu upgrade vs an external dac.
 
I can only confirm that it should work, not what the SQ will be.

Display Port is HDMI, just takes a different plug, so the conversion is passive and should have no variance in SQ from a regular HDMI.

My experience with using an HP laptop and optical S/PDIF was not impressive. I use a desktop with a simple Sound Blaster Audigy SE card using the coaxial digital output now, and it sounds great. I am not sure if it was the interface or the other laptop hardware that was the problem.

Keep us posted.
It does work, as indicated on the Dell test lap-top, so no reason why it won`t work on the much, much better business grade HP lap-top which is streaming at this moment via a Peachtree X1 usb to coax S/PDIF converter feeding to my high quality DAC. And sounds very good. Thank you very much.. Yes I know display port is just a different style HDMI connector.. I prefer lap-tops for my music streaming for various reasons(built in monitor, & UPS, small foot print, less noise and seem to put out less heat) to name a few. Thanks for your input and response faber12.. Regards, OKB
 
Ok people, I sense that some of you guys think I am struggling with this setup.. But my Easter Sunday afternoon tests show that it has/does and will work.. I`m primarily seeking feedback from other`s on this site whom are doing this now, or have in the past, and their SQ impressions compared to more common digital audio feed methods to similar setups.. If my original unchanged S/PDIF coaxial feed to the Integra A/V preamp now via the HP, or any of the other three lap-tops capable of feeding it successfully have not produced decoded S/PDIF fed audio, so hence the HDMI audio only feed for the Integra feasibility experiment.. I`m hoping to be able to feed both the HDMI audio feed and usb audio feed outputs at the same time from the HP lap-top without computer inability and glitching or degrading the very good sounding coaxial SQ S/PDIF I`m already currently enjoying.. I will surely find out later this week when my conversion cable arrives, and let you guys know the results.. Regards, OKB
 
i know you can use hdmi and usb at the same time
i've been doing it for yrs

i use vlc for from hdmi to avr
it keeps it simple for [her]
all audio video go to the avr via hdmi

my 2 chan stuff goes to the stereo via usb and foobar

u do have to tell each app which card to default
they do both play at the same time

she can youtube while i 2 channel from the same system

i have tried getting both 2 play the same source.. but its impossible to get 2 apps in perfect sync but they do both play
 
i know you can use hdmi and usb at the same time
i've been doing it for yrs

i use vlc for from hdmi to avr
it keeps it simple for [her]
all audio video go to the avr via hdmi

my 2 chan stuff goes to the stereo via usb and foobar

u do have to tell each app which card to default
they do both play at the same time

she can youtube while i 2 channel from the same system

i have tried getting both 2 play the same source.. but its impossible to get 2 apps in perfect sync but they do both play
Well orsen, I don`t know what I`m doing wrong, but I`m unable to get my HP lap-top with a clean install of 64 bit Win 10 and 8 Gig. of memory & SSD using WMP(my preferred player) to play/output the same digital stream audio to both HDMI and the usb at the same time.. As soon as I turn on the Integra A/V HT preamp which is fed the HDMI in the main living room system it kills the usb audio S/PDIF feed.. I`ve futzed with it some, but can`t set both usb & HDMI to be either default or neither default.. I really haven`t spent a lot of time with it as my friend unexpectedly dropped in from out of town this weekend and with the needed Display port to HDMI adaptor cable only arriving late Friday afternoon hasn`t left me much time to futz much with it.. Thanks orsen for showing interest in and trying to help me with my little annoying digital audio feed situation.. Take care Sir. Regards, OKB
 
you cant get a single app to use 2 audio cards
to use both at the same time you need 2 apps
 
you cant get a single app to use 2 audio cards
to use both at the same time you need 2 apps
Thank you orsen for that bit of information.. I won`t waste my time trying to make it work and will have to manually select the digital feeds on the play back settings per requirement.. Also, strangely enough, the playback device setting`s property`s allow higher bit rate selection for the usb feed(24/192 max) than the HDMI(24/48 max) !! HDMI HDCP limits maybe ?
 
there is an app called Voicemeeter, its free
you could try that
Interesting, but he point`s out that lap-top`s won`t work with his method.. And in this case I`m using a HD A/V feed(HDMI) with it`s own copyright protection restrictions and a more common digital audio usb feed as the same time.. Ironically when I first got into this computer ripped music audio streaming via usb to S/PDIF, the lap-top`s speakers would play the streaming music at the same time as the usb feed until I disabled the computer`s internal audio sound card.. So there might be a way to do it yet.. Thank you orsen, for your time and effort in trying to assist me with this.. Take care Sir. Regards, OKB
 
probably simpler if your preamp has zone 2

but i believe chevolume will do what you want
 
i believe the hdmi bitrate is controlled by the dac receiving the hdmi
Well then that, in my case, would be the A/V Integra preamp or HDMI to Ethernet and back to HDMI active converter boxes influence.. FWIW. My Integra has only HDMI digital audio fed into it via the 4K OPPO`s selectable specific two HDMI outputs(# 1 video, and # 2 HDMI audio only), and now the streaming lap-tops HDMI audio feed.. And to look at the Integra`s menu I feed it`s HDMI output to the OPPO`s selectable HDMI input and when I do, not that it`s important, but the HDMI feed from the lap-top provides the computer`s display as well, which is expected and of no surprise.
 
FWIW-- :blah: I have an update on this digital feed situation of mine.. Today I decided to explore some more into why I was not able to successfully decode my original S/PDIF coaxial feed to my A/V HT Integra preamp from my recently setup computer audio streaming interface.. The problem turned out to be that I had my lap-top`s playback sampling rate setting set too high for the DRM S/PDIF restrictions.. When I decided to try setting the playback quality to 16 bit 44.1 kb(CD specs.) down from 24 bit 192 kbps, the Integra decoded and produced very good SQ music output.. Just as it had before when playing CDs from the Sony 400 disc carrousel player for five years prior through the same S/PDIF feed setup.. It would seem that I did not think to check that important setting when converting from CD player to computer.. I present this oversight of mine so that someone else might avoid this situation.. As I`m recently new(early Oct. 2016) to computer digital music streaming and still learning.. Thank you, to all the responding AK member`s suggestions and responses on this, and also, my attempts of a semi-successful HDMI audio feed work around with the playback bit rate at 24 bit 48 kbps.. Mercy sakes alive !! Digital is not always better, but, in fact, different IMHO !! HA !! :idea: Take care. Regards, OKB
 
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