USB audio in A/V receivers?

[Loki]

Hey does anyone know about how you can plug into some of the new A/V receivers with a USB input? I know JVC is making them but I wanted to know if there is any advantage to it? Is it worth the extra $100 ? I would assume you would get a clearer sound because the signal is digital as opposed to analog and you wouldn't get any distortion.
Has anyone tried this setup before?

[hapoo]

any reciever with dolby digital or dts already has a digital port.. either coax or optical. I have my computer connected to my pioneer reciever through a 1 simple rca cable and its perfectly digital until the reciever outputs the sound to the speakers.

[Loki]

Originally posted by hapoo
any reciever with dolby digital or dts already has a digital port.. either coax or optical. I have my computer connected to my pioneer reciever through a 1 simple rca cable and its perfectly digital until the reciever outputs the sound to the speakers.

Yes but that is deceptive. It's not really a digital signal through RCA cables because it's an analog signal travelling over the cables. Unless you're using an optical cable.

[hapoo]

It IS a digital connection. I'm not going to go into details but suffice it to say you dont lose any quality through this method. However you do save 100 bucks and CPU cycles.

[Loki]

Originally posted by hapoo
It IS a digital connection. I'm not going to go into details but suffice it to say you dont lose any quality through this method. However you do save 100 bucks and CPU cycles.

It's not a digital signal because the digital gets converted to analog by your sound card. That's basically what a sound card is. Also, if you send an analog signal over a cable it can get distored and loses some quality. That's why you hear a "hissing" noise out of your speakers when you turn the volume up if you don't have shielded cable. If you transfer an MP3 over a cable like a USB cable then you are transfering data not an analog signal. Now I assume somehow the receiver would then decipher the data and turn it into an analog signal to the speakers but in the process you wouldn't lose any of the quality like in the latter situation. Now, my question was if this is trully a big advantage or not? I'm not sure if it's worth the extra $$.

[revil]

Originally posted by Loki
It's not a digital signal because the digital gets converted to analog by your sound card.

No, you seem to be mistaken. if your soundcard has a digital out, it will output digital. if the digital out outputted analog, then there would a few angy consumers bitching at them.

suffice it to say, the soundcard does decode sound to analog. but it also does a whole lot more that just convert it to analog.

[MrBehm]

Check mate.

[Loki]

Oh ok....sorry I thought he meant he was using the regular analog outputs on the sound card. I didn't know he had one of those new fangled sound cards :P

[hapoo]

Originally posted by Loki
Oh ok....sorry I thought he meant he was using the regular analog outputs on the sound card. I didn't know he had one of those new fangled sound cards :P


hehe sorry if i didn't explain myself better :)
Actually i just have a Soundblaster Live card.

[Loki]

Ya i have a Sound Blaster Live too..hehe I tried plugging the digital output into the receiver...but the receiver I'm using now doesn't have any digital inputs....so I didn't hear anything. In order to hear sound I need to plug into a digital input right? I'm afraid that the port isn't working becuase I've never used it before. But of course there would be no way for the receiver to decipher the digital signal without a digital input right?

[Ice-9]

Originally posted by Loki
Ya i have a Sound Blaster Live too..hehe I tried plugging the digital output into the receiver...but the receiver I'm using now doesn't have any digital inputs....so I didn't hear anything. In order to hear sound I need to plug into a digital input right? I'm afraid that the port isn't working becuase I've never used it before. But of course there would be no way for the receiver to decipher the digital signal without a digital input right?

Yes, you need a digital input. If you want one, get a receiver with a S/PDIF (coaxial) or optical input, not USB. USB wasn't designed for audio data, and once you get above two channels, it may not hold up under the strain, meaning you get error-correction and lost data. This equals bad sound, which is exactly what you're trying to avoid.

For the absolute best results, get a system that transmits a digital signal over AES/EBU (XLR-type digital cable). Preferably with Digidesign or Apogee hardware and feeding out to some nice Genelecs or Westlakes. :) Now THAT would be clean.

[revil]

Originally posted by Loki
Hey does anyone know about how you can plug into some of the new A/V receivers with a USB input? I know JVC is making them but I wanted to know if there is any advantage to it? Is it worth the extra $100 ? I would assume you would get a clearer sound because the signal is digital as opposed to analog and you wouldn't get any distortion.
Has anyone tried this setup before?

I'm going to make some assumptions here. I thinking JVC is using the usb cable to transfer the mp3's over to the a/v reciever and decode them there. so it should play nice. how nice depends on the reciever and not your soundcard. so if you wanted to play dvd's or other type media besides mp3, you may be SOL if you are expecting the usb to play the media on the reciever. So you'd still need to get a soundcard with digital out (like sb!live or hercules gametheater) and a reciever with digital out. personally i would go with out the usb. (although it would probably be cool to play with)

[Loki]

Ok kewl...thanks guys I appreciate the help. Now I have one more question. I need a little general receiver advice. I got a pair of fattie Cerwin Vega 400W speakers and that's why I'm buying a new amp. I want to know what I should get to pump these things. Do I need to find something that will pump 400W to each speaker? THe most I can find are amps that pump 110W per channel. But I understand that it doesn't matter too much about wattage but what quality the signal is. Any, any advice is welcome as to what you think I need.

[Ice-9]

You're not going to find a receiver that pushes 400 watts/channel. How exactly are the Cerwin Vegas rated? 400W RMS? Program? Peak? There are different wattage ratings, and you need to understand the differences to get the right amp. If it doesn't say, it's probably RMS, but you should check the web site to make sure.

In any case, you can run them with a 100W amp, and as long as you don't clip the hell out of it and the speakers have a reasonable sensitivity rating (maybe 92-95 db, 1w@1m), you'll get plenty of volume out of them. But if you they're not too sensitive (88 or lower), you may really need a 400 watt amp to push them. Plus, more wattage is almost always a good idea so that you have the necessary headroom to keep the sound clean on a solid bass hit or other spike in wattage requirements. You can either look for a pro amp, made by someone like QSC or Crown, or a home stereo amp (don't know the good companies for home amps too well). Either way, expect it to be EXPENSIVE. So I'd stick to a normal receiver unless it's really just not enough power. If you want more info than this, just ask.