Sold the Rotel 1098 and built an HTPC

[Blazar]

I sold my 1098 due to a variety of issues I've posted about. I sent it in, it came back unfixed. Eventually got it replaced and sold it.

On th bright side, I bought an RME 9632 Hammerfall sound card with 4 channel expansion card. This is a high end sound card (combo costs around $900). It has XLR outputs and 110 S/N ratio per channel minimum....

It OWNS the rotel 1098 in sound quality. I still use my Rotel 1095 but the sound card allows you to duplicate channels for Bi-amping so I may sell the 1095 also.

I dumped my entire CD collection onto a 200 gb hard drive in wav format. I have my entire collection which I can browse on my TV or lcd screen dedicated to my rack. I use a gyration mouse for volume control, etc. I just leave the htpc on all the time with a UPS connected.

I have all ultraquiet parts like Smart Drive enclosures for the hard drives, and ultraquiet cpu fan, and power supply.

The HTPC itself is practically inaudible. It handles my dvd playback better than my dvd player.

Woohoo... I threw my dvd player, cd changer, and pre-amp out the window. The new system is superior in so many ways.

[Aussie Geoff]

Blazar,

Enjoy - you are one of the pioneers of a digital convergance that will keep transforming HT and AV equipment for a few years yet...

Geoff

[Hoffa]

Im curious, what do you plan to do with video switching? You have the dvd player on the HTPC, but what about TV input? Or do you have a tv card? Do you plan to get an external video switcher?

[ILuvDefTech]

I'm also curious. If you get rid of the 1095 what will you use for amplification?

I like the direction you are heading, but I'm not that bold yet. I plan on getting rid of my cd player and building a dedicated music server, but that's the extent of it. Are you saying that the dvd player on your htpc is better than a standalone dvd player?

[ajpoe]

I have been doing the HTPC thing for a few years now. I used it as my DVD player, music server, DVR, etc. and loved it... but it got old and relying on windows caused some problems too. I found while I could record on my computer, I could only do one tuner a time, and then when I moved to satellite this posed even more problems. DVD playback was at 720p and quite impressive, I have no complains, except for when I wanted to record a show while watching a movie. The software didnt support this well. I actually moved away from the HTPC to an upscaling DVD player and a Tivo to handle the recording aspect. Sure, it cost quite a bit more, but it was well worth it IMO. I still use the HTPC for the occasional DVD and as a music server as you described, but I think there are still quite a few steps that need to be taken before it can become an all in one machine that I would be completely happy with.

I am by no means trying to be negative, I think it's great that you are happy with your HTPC, I was/am too... but I wanted to make some points to others that might be considering going that route. And, it all depends on your demands... I record quite a bit of TV and that right there got to be a hassle for me. If I were only watching DVDs and listening to music, I would have never made the switch. HTPCs will be the way of the future though. I saw a new multimedia box on ahanix's website. It seems to be a full functioning computer that is just slightly larger than an external drive (4" x 8" x 9"). It obvisouly has some limitations, but it is quite impressive and I'm looking forward to seeing what other types of things will be coming our way!

AJ

[tedaudio]

Hi Blazar,
I have been waiting for the day that I will audition and potientially buy a rsp-1098, but I have to admit your article has me curious and wondering about taking a different route.
I read about that 9632 card after your post and have a few questions. Mostly about the audio side during dvd playback of movies and music.
Are you able to get DTS decoding on your htpc?
How would you characterize the sound in comparison to the 1098, as in is it warmer, brighter, colder, smoother, more controlled due to the xlr connections etc.
The 1098 has a lot of electronics in it to get separate and smooth power to the analog and digital sections of the preamp, does the sound card really match or outdo the 1098 with all that electronic noise going on in the pc?
I'm not so concerned about the ability of a htpc for recording, but your feedback about the type of sound you are getting would interest me, especially since I can get an idea of the comparison with your b&w 802 speakers - I have the similar, but lesser 803 speakers in my setup.
Ted

[Blazar]

The "electronic noise" the people keep assuming pc's have.... It doesn't seem to affect the sound as fas as I can tell. I'm not sure how the card isolates itself from the noisy power supply and digital noise. Whatever it does, it does it in spades.

You have the advantage of the hard drive being superior to any CD/transport you could ever use.

I only want to get rid of the 1095 so that I can buy a truly balanced amplifer to better utilize the XLR connections. Also the 5 channels isn't enough to Bi-amp the mains and center. I will need around 8 channels of amplification to do 5.1. After hearing the bi-amped mains, I can't go back..


Yes, the PowerDVD codec will perform DVD-A / DTS 7.1 / DD 7.1. Newer versions should do other things like channel delay, bass management, etc.

Honestly I don't really miss the bass management since I have B&W 802's.


I am currently working on figuring out where to spend my money on AC line noise management so that I can possibly improve the sound even further.