PC for Multichannel Music Playback - What's your Setup?

[mandrix]

Indeed it should.

I posted the image on the off chance that (some) people might be unaware that VLC Player offered a dedicated HDMI/SPDIF output option.

Personally, I use Media Player Classic BE, which offers the following HDMI/SPDIF output option: -
View attachment 89580

Ah OK. Because I posted that it should be enabled in post 417. It's all good. I was trying to do a walk through of different options, since I've been down the Windows messed up path a time or two. lol.

 

[p_wye]

Mine looks like this:

View attachment 16836

I like to see what's going on in each separate channel as well as hear it, but yours looks better

For many years I have been using Foobar on Windows 10 laptop for multi-channel 5.1 music.

@JanBakker how did you get the Foobar default UI peakmeter to show all 5.1 channels? I was able to do this in the past but something has changed with my configuration and now I can only get peakmeter to display stereo channels only.

 

[JanBakker]

Good question, I don't have a clue to be honest. I'm using

For many years I have been using Foobar on Windows 10 laptop for multi-channel 5.1 music.

@JanBakker how did you get the Foobar default UI peakmeter to show all 5.1 channels? I was able to do this in the past but something has changed with my configuration and now I can only get peakmeter to display stereo channels only.

Sorry, I don't have a clue how i did that. I'm using another skin for years now so I can't check.

 

[himey]

how did you get the Foobar default UI peakmeter to show all 5.1 channels? I was able to do this in the past but something has changed

The Waveform seekbar works great, but an 6/8 channel Peakmeter would be a nice option.

 

[Methuselah’s Grandpa]

The Waveform seekbar works great, but an 6/8 channel Peakmeter would be a nice option.

I use the Volume/Peak Meter visualization in FOOBAR, …it works for me up to 8 channels.

@p_wye I believe it is accessible from the View->Visualizer drop-down menu. I detach it as a separate window and then adjust the size of the main Foobar window to sit above it.

It’s how I help present my surround mixes on YouTube, so people can visualize the surround.
I just cover up the main foobar window and show the detached visualizer at the bottom.

 

[fripppp]

Here's my setup, I tried Columns for a bit but I always keep going back to the classic UI + Facets, feels more intuitive to me. I spend way too much time curating my Artist and Album artwork collection The real crown jewel of my setup though, is a custom command line decoder I wrote using the Cavern API that works with Foobar to properly decode Dolby Atmos E-AC3 files. (The MMT and Help I ripped from the Movie discs, I very much like the mixes, though I am a bit biased as they are my two favorite Beatles albums. I'm on the lookout for the Anthology DVD set too, I heard those mixes are great.)

 

[himey]

I use the Volume/Peak Meter visualization in FOOBAR, …it works for me up to 8 channels.

Working here too.

 

[himey]

 

[anibal]

Thanks @boondocks , great walkthrough

First of all, do you not have either an HDMI or DP port on the laptop? Just verifying for sure.
OK moving on.

I do not, but this made me think I might need a better adaptor. I am using a relatively cheap thunderbolt dock station.

FYI Foobar will not bitstream. But it's pretty easy to configure. File/preferences/output/Device/ and see what drivers are listed there and if any work for you.

You lost me a bit there: I tried all the different output options with no luck. When I send multichannel audio from foobar2k, it does not complain but the sound is muted when I setup atmos output from Windows settings. If I set it in 2 channels, only front channels are sent (which is expected)

For VLC go to Tools/preferences/audio and make sure HDMI passthrough says enabled.

I did that and now my receiver is decoding DTS and AC3 (DD). It is not decoding DTS-HD Master or Dolby TrueHD. Again, the sound is muted. Just to be super clear, my receiver is not Atmos enabled but it decodes DTS-HD Master and Dolby TrueHD just fine when is sent from my Blu-Ray player.

Most likely with the built in graphics you have you are using the Intel driver. You can verify this in Device Manager. Make sure it's up to date.

It is indeed an Intel Iris XE. Drivers are up to date.

In Windows go to the control panel, select sound, select the sound device (might be your AVR, that would be super!) , configure, set it up for 5.1 or 7.1 whichever your AVR supports. Hit the test button and make sure all the speakers are playing.

The only way I can get multiple speakers is with the Atmos for Home Theaters as you suggest in the next point. I can select it, it says is working, the level bar moves when I test it but there is no sound.

If the option for mch output does not show up, then more work may be involved. If you have Windows 10 or 11, a little trick I learned (although it should make zero difference) is to go to the Windows store and download/install the free Dolby app. Then select your device/configure in Windows sound, then select the Dolby Atmos For Home Theater option and see what happens when you play music.

I did this and as I said, I get no sound. I also tried with the DTS equivalent. Same results.

If no change leave the sound set for Dolby Atmos For Home Theater and reboot the computer with the AVR on and connected with the adapter cable. This is essential to let the pc know what sound devices are connected, and boot up is when it "sees" the devices the best. Plug and Play and all that.

I rebooted many times, but no luck.

Play some mch music in VLC and see if you get mch output. If not go back to Windows Sound and see if can now select 5.1 or 7.1 mch output.

As I said, I get DTS and AC3 if I leave the windows settings in Stereo, and output in passthrough. Otherwise, no sound.

There are further things that might make a difference depending on what version of Windows you have.

Windows 11 Home (10.0.2.22612)

Note: I have no experience with USB-c/Thunderbolt output sound, but if the final connection to the AVR is HDMI you should be golden at some point.

I'll try to find a better dock station or adaptor to test it, currently, I am out of ideas!

Again, thanks a lot for the detailed answer.

 

[mandrix]

Thanks @boondocks , great walkthrough

I do not, but this made me think I might need a better adaptor. I am using a relatively cheap thunderbolt dock station.

You lost me a bit there: I tried all the different output options with no luck. When I send multichannel audio from foobar2k, it does not complain but the sound is muted when I setup atmos output from Windows settings. If I set it in 2 channels, only front channels are sent (which is expected)

I did that and now my receiver is decoding DTS and AC3 (DD). It is not decoding DTS-HD Master or Dolby TrueHD. Again, the sound is muted. Just to be super clear, my receiver is not Atmos enabled but it decodes DTS-HD Master and Dolby TrueHD just fine when is sent from my Blu-Ray player.

It is indeed an Intel Iris XE. Drivers are up to date.

The only way I can get multiple speakers is with the Atmos for Home Theaters as you suggest in the next point. I can select it, it says is working, the level bar moves when I test it but there is no sound.

I did this and as I said, I get no sound. I also tried with the DTS equivalent. Same results.

I rebooted many times, but no luck.

As I said, I get DTS and AC3 if I leave the windows settings in Stereo, and output in passthrough. Otherwise, no sound.

Windows 11 Home (10.0.2.22612)


I'll try to find a better dock station or adaptor to test it, currently, I am out of ideas!

Again, thanks a lot for the detailed answer.

Maybe it will get down to the adapter, I'm not sure. I've never had to deal with this particular situation before, I confess.
I use my pc as my music player all day every day and have encountered many quirks in the way Windows does things at times. Sometimes just rebooting fixes things is why I always suggest that after making changes; especially after the AVR has been off for a period of time, but this is on a "working system".

But, and this is a big but, I use HDMI straight from the motherboard to my AVR (well actually I use HDMI from the motherboard AND from my graphics card AND from another pc to a HDMI switch THEN to my AVR but you know....same basic thing)

On not having an Atmos setup, understood, but that is not why I asked you to download and install the Dolby Atmos For Home Theater. Sometimes in Windows 11 it seems to get stuck in stereo mode and enabling the Dolby Atmos seems to "shake it loose" and let 5.1 or 7.1 capability appear. Don't know why but I've seen it on my own system before.

How or why the output from the TB/USB c will affect things is an unknown to me but it should work if the end point is HDMI. Maybe get some input from the pc manufacturer?

Or try without the docking station? I don't own a laptop so never used a docking station, but if you can go straight from the USB c output with your adapter cable to your AVR?

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

I heard somewhere that a lot of Intel laptops simply don't allow you to output multichannel through USB-C, even when there is enough bandwidth. It's not allowed or written in the driver or something. Maybe that's what's happening here.

 

[mandrix]

I heard somewhere that a lot of Intel laptops simply don't allow you to output multichannel through USB-C, even when there is enough bandwidth. It's not allowed or written in the driver or something. Maybe that's what's happening here.

Wow. That would be a real bummer. There should certainly be enough bandwidth, so it would come down to the driver most likely as you say. Why they would do that is beyond me.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

I heard somewhere that a lot of Intel laptops simply don't allow you to output multichannel through USB-C, even when there is enough bandwidth. It's not allowed or written in the driver or something. Maybe that's what's happening here.

I think it's more the case that current crop of USB-C to HDMI adaptors don't support 'lossless' bit-streamed audio formats, such as: Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA. Although some might support 8-channel lossless PCM.

Indeed, the manufacturers of these USB-C to HDMI adaptors are very keen to highlight their devices video capabilities but are very vague when it comes to their audio capabilities

 

[mandrix]

I keep reading spec's on these adapters saying they will stream 4K UHD. Not understanding why they would not stream mch audio. Vague indeed!

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

I keep reading spec's on these adapters saying they will stream 4K UHD. Not understanding why they would not stream mch audio. Vague indeed!

Likely optimized for gaming: despite the overwhelming support for surround sound in video games not many games actually use it. Most people are buying PCs for games these days.

 

[Pibroch]

Terrible photo, but this is basically what my car setup looks like. Win10, FooBar2000 into a USB Creative X-Fi 7.1 card, into a Sony 6ch and Pioneer 4ch amp. Discrete front, side, rear, center and sub. Fiddly at times, but worth it. Still trying to find a control scheme that isn't completely annoying.

 

[mandrix]

@anibal exactly what laptop do you own? I found a list on one adapter's listing of supported laptops, though it may not be a complete listing.

I posted a question to the seller specifically asking if it would pass mch audio from a HP laptop with the Iris xe through the USB c port. But I 'm thinking from other comments that it's not going to work through the docking station because these cables are generally passive. I don't know how the docking station is set up but I would try the adapter cable directly from the port on the laptop.

 

[ubertrout]

Maybe (probably) it's just me, but it's a lot of fun to build a HTPC. The AMD Ryzen 5600G is a fantastic HTPC chip and on a motherboard with a HDMI 2.0 port it will output 24/192 surround audio, 4k video with HDR, and can transcode pretty decently as well. I paired mine with an ASRock mini-ITX motherboard (Fatal1ty B450 GAMING-ITX/AC AM4 - no longer being made but the B550 version is easy to get for $130). Throw in 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD and you have a really capable machine. Using a Noctua low-profile cooler with the low-noise adapter which keeps the PC nearly silent, and a Corsair 430W SFX power supply which stays entirely passive (silent) at the power draw of this system. I'm using a single "be quiet!" 80mm fan as an exhaust, not even sure I need it but I can't hear it. This all fits in a Silverstone ML05B case which fits and looks perfect in an AV rack. A Logitech K400 keyboard/mouse handles input.

Why do all of this? Well, it's kind of fun. But also, instead of reusing an old laptop which will kind of chug at times, I have something which fits seamlessly into my rack, and will laugh at any A/V task I throw at it (I could in theory do some gaming on it too, but haven't). And it wasn't that expensive - even using some more expensive parts like the Noctua cooler and Corsair power supply, it ran about $600. It runs Windows 11 perfectly and will play pretty much literally any audio or video format. I have a NAS on the other side of my house with 16 TB of storage, and with a gigabit network connection it's never had a problem. Picture from when I was building it, I've included a link above if you want to see the case from the front.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Maybe (probably) it's just me, but it's a lot of fun to build a HTPC. The AMD Ryzen 5600G is a fantastic HTPC chip and on a motherboard with a HDMI 2.0 port it will output 24/192 surround audio, 4k video with HDR, and can transcode pretty decently as well. I paired mine with an ASRock mini-ITX motherboard (Fatal1ty B450 GAMING-ITX/AC AM4 - no longer being made but the B550 version is easy to get for $130). Throw in 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD and you have a really capable machine. Using a Noctua low-profile cooler with the low-noise adapter which keeps the PC nearly silent, and a Corsair 430W SFX power supply which stays entirely passive (silent) at the power draw of this system. I'm using a single "be quiet!" 80mm fan as an exhaust, not even sure I need it but I can't hear it. This all fits in a Silverstone ML05B case which fits and looks perfect in an AV rack. A Logitech K400 keyboard/mouse handles input.

Why do all of this? Well, it's kind of fun. But also, instead of reusing an old laptop which will kind of chug at times, I have something which fits seamlessly into my rack, and will laugh at any A/V task I throw at it (I could in theory do some gaming on it too, but haven't). And it wasn't that expensive - even using some more expensive parts like the Noctua cooler and Corsair power supply, it ran about $600. It runs Windows 11 perfectly and will play pretty much literally any audio or video format. I have a NAS on the other side of my house with 16 TB of storage, and with a gigabit network connection it's never had a problem. Picture from when I was building it, I've included a link above if you want to see the case from the front.

View attachment 89666

I must agree with you: building and using a PC made to your own requirements can be very gratifying. The part selection is both the trickiest & most fun part to the process and after that it's mostly knowing where & what to plug into.

I really like your set up. Your wiring is neat. Mine, not so much. I would never build anything into a fancy case you can see in to. However my build is sort of the opposite of yours. Instead of compact mine is big & complex. Complex is relative tho & I am amazed at the sophistication I see from others here that put my rig to shame. Where as many of the set ups on the forum is aimed at ripping & NAS and music playback, mine is for both audio & video & up mixing.

Your Silverstone is an attractive box. For myself I opted for (IIRC) the same enclosure @Sal1950 has, a Coolermaster Cosmos 1000:

It's fairly huge with a full size ASUS MOBO and 32 GB fast & low lat RAM. It was the newest & best board available at the time that still had a full size PCI slot needed for my Delta 1010 "sound card." What I really like about this is 4 internal storage drives. One is SSD used only for Windows & apps. Even Firefox cache is moved to a storage drive. Then I have 3, 4 TB HGST drives for data. The nifty thing about this is batch process or otherwise save and read from one drive & simultaneously write to another. Really speeds things UP. The 3rd HDD is used for ripping hold or what I call short term archive, hold pieces of other projects I have yet to finish.
Video from the PC goes straight to my projector via HDMI. Audio is played back two ways. Either SPDIF into my Anthem pre-pro or analog discrete output from the Delta 1010 into the analog inputs on the Anthem.

So when I'm doing DAW stuff I can sit in my sweet spot with a wireless keyboard/mouse & look at Adobe Audition or whatever on an 8' screen. This is so much better than editing in one room/environment & listening to in another, which I think a few folks here have the challenge of.

I got started building PC's (Win XP, P4) because I wanted to capture my Moody Blues R2R quad tapes with high quality confidence. I upgraded the board for capturing un-compressed AVI from Laserdisc which was a whole 'nother set of demands. And since then I've arrived at the current build, several years old (Win 7) and it just works great. No bugs, no glitches, just does what I want and pretty fast.

 

[anibal]

@anibal exactly what laptop do you own? I found a list on one adapter's listing of supported laptops, though it may not be a complete listing.

I posted a question to the seller specifically asking if it would pass mch audio from a HP laptop with the Iris xe through the USB c port. But I 'm thinking from other comments that it's not going to work through the docking station because these cables are generally passive. I don't know how the docking station is set up but I would try the adapter cable directly from the port on the laptop.

I have an HP Spectre x360 Convertible 14-ea0420nd (301Y7EA#ABH). From 2021.
I have been looking around and apparently the used adaptor is a big deal, since the laptop outputs DP over USB: the audio implementation is optional and the HDMI adaptor quality varies a lot.
I also found this document with some DP audio implementation details.