xbox 360 in a computer audio playback system?

[vortecjr]

My co worker (I am trying to convert to ca...hehehe) has a pc, external harddrive with music, home network, and an xbox 360 hooked up to a pretty cool home theator system that I setup about a year ago. I love to spend other people money . I am also pretty sure he plays music via ms media player.

 

Any thoughts on this being any kind of setup for computer audio playback?

 

thank you in advance...

 

re

 

JR

 

[BEEMB]

Hello jr.

 

I think the 360 may be a little on the loud side unless it's closed behind a cabinet or something. I'm also pretty sure the os will not allow a bit perfect output working in a similar way to xp.

 

Matt.

 

[BEEMB]

Hello jr.

 

I think the 360 may be a little on the loud side unless it's closed behind a cabinet or something. I'm also pretty sure the os will not allow a bit perfect output working in a similar way to xp.

 

Matt.

 

[vortecjr]

what is the main issue with xp? he has xp as well I though xp was ok and would out the sample rate played according to the benchmarkmedia wiki page.

 

thanks

 

jr

 

ps I do remember the unit loud now that you mension it!

 

[BEEMB]

 

If you were to open up for example Windows Media Player and play a file, the data would be transmitted via the K-Mixer. It's normally (but not always) preferable to get around the K-Mixer which by Microsofts own admission is pretty poor. You can use ASIO with some software to send your audio data directly to your soundcard without being changed - this is called 'bit perfect'.

 

The K-Mixer can be 'bit perfect' under certain conditions.

 

I'd assume that the XBox 360 most definately uses the K-Mixer. It was never meant to be an audiophile tool and because it's a console you have very limited access to it's OS.

 

You can of course check that the output is bit perfect. I believe connecting the optical output to a digital receiver could show you that .. It should receive dolby digital - and the player should show that.

 

However, Dolby Digital is not ideal for music being 48khz and, given 48khz was an XP standard, I'd hazard a guess that music would be upsampled, using some variation of the k-mixer, to 48khz.

 

 

[BEEMB]

Just thought it might be worth mentioning ...

 

... if you're keen to take the console route for whatever reason, you may find the PS3 a better bet. I believe people have had good results with this as a media server but I understand it's not easy to cycle your way through your music library if it's of some size.

 

 

 

[Tonto]

Yes the cycling is a wee hassle but if you set up good playlists its not as bad. I got a rude suprise playing music off an external USB drive the other day. You can't create playlists or sort the music!!!! (You can for networked music and locally stored music however)- Weird!

I can happily recommend the PS3 if you want a media streaming box that happens to play games and Bluray aswell

 

[vortecjr]

good information