bit-perfect

[aqus]

I have a htpc setup to my Yamaha Rx-v863. I am connected through spdif.
I have a soundblaster live 5.1 card in the PC.
I have been reading about bit-perfect and I know that the soundblaster re samples at 48khz therefore true bit-perfect is not possible with this card.
Is bit-perfect really only important for cd playing? My HTPC is mostly used for Home theater and listening to MP3. Is it necessary to get a true bit-perfect soundard and ASIO drivers etc? Or for my purposes it won't make a difference?
CD's I listen through my Cd player.

[audioqueso]

If you are using MP3s, getting bit-perfect really doesn't make a difference.
If you are using lossless format, it makes a difference.

I have a few very perfectly recorded MP3s on my HTPC (everything is FLAC or APE), and switching from bit-perfect or not, does not make any difference to the MP3s.

[aqus]

how about for dts or ac3 movies

[audioqueso]

I can't help you much there. My HTPC is mainly for music, pictures, and my videos. I have some movies on it, but usually it's movies I download just to see if I like the movie before buying it. Usually AC3. I can't say I've ever compared AC3 with bit-perfect vs no bit-perfect. So I don't know if it makes much of a difference for that.

However, as mentioned, if most of your music collection is MP3, I wouldn't trouble changing what you already have.
Another question, what kind of speakers and components are you using?

[aqus]

My components are:
Yamaha rx-v863 AVR
HTPC, with MCE 2005
speakers are 4T & 4CC from http://clearwaveloudspeaker.googlepages.com/
Panasonic DVD player

[audioqueso]

The reason I ask is because I don't hear that much of a difference comparing bit-perfect vs no bit-perfect with my B&W 600 speakers, but with the B&W 805's, it's much much more noticeable. I don't know about those speakers, but what I'm saying is it would depend how revealing your speakers are.

But honestly, with MP3's as the source, I wouldn't recommend going through the trouble.

[aqus]

m-audio 2496

I just installed a m-audio 2496. I also installed foobar.
I downloaded a 44100 test dts audio file.
When I play it in foobar I hear it well and the info at the bottom says dts 44100khz. But my yamaha receiver only shows it playing like a 2 channel.
If the sound is DTS encoded shouldn't it show it like multichannel?
When I play a movie with AC3 the amp does show it like multichannel.
Please explain

[audioqueso]

If it's a true DTS file, if you connect your HTPC via digital/optical to your Yamaha receiver, it will only play correctly if you have bit-perfect and your Yamaha should detect it as DTS. If the file is playing and you are not getting DTS on your Yamaha, get another DTS file because the one you have is not truly encoded in DTS.

[aqus]

solution found

If it could help others here is what I did

To enable dts 44110 audio passthrough
In M-audio control panel make sure in hardware spdif settings, mode is set to professional and data type to non-audio.

For WMP go to tools options devices speakers. properties and make sure to choose directsound delta ap spdif in sound playback.
check play wm audio professional content...
performance I checked 24bit

If using Foobar, make sure not to use the foo_dts.dll