A "proper" HTPC [Archive] - The Art of Sound Forum

Ammonite Audio

07-01-2012, 08:07

I am (slowly) building a dedicated PC for music duties, based around a silent Asus AT3IONT-I DELUXE Atom-powered motherboard that has a single DC power connector, so easy to feed it from my Paul Hynes SR5 PSU. That motherboard is no longer produced, but there are plenty of other Mini-ITX boards that are silent, although pretty much all require some sort of ATX PSU. The delay in building is really down to the Thailand floods and the price of HDDs - I am going to use a small SSD for running Windows 7 and vital program stuff, with two large notebook drives running in a simple RAID 0 array inside the case - both these drives are to be encased within Scythe Himuro Mini HDD silencer/coolers, which I have already bought and which should ensure no noise whatsoever from the case.

Although expensive, the case I'm using is the Wesena E5 ( http://www.wesena.co.uk/product.php/7/3/e5 ) which looks nice, will fit in the rack in place of my CD player, and which has enough room inside for all the gubbins (particularly since I won't be using the space provided for an ATX PSU.

Good advice on these things can be had from Mark at Item Audio. They do sell expensive media PCs but he is quick to provide sensible advice, and has done so on other forums. Item also sell some audiophile PC goodies, like the SoTM SATA noise filters and SoTM audiophile USB card, which not only isolates the USB feed, but also reclocks it. My PC build is intended as a USB digital transport only, so I shall be getting that SoTM card as soon as I can afford it. For analogue outputs, I am told that the better Asus Xonar sound cards are pretty good.

I am happy to use Windows 7, because it's now stable and there is a good range of streaming software options, the best of which in terms of sound quality (for me, so far) is J River Media Center which has plenty of options and does everything including error-free ripping, although it does not seem to play 192kHz WAV files, but it does play 192kHz FLAC. Even on a Netbook, I get really good results with J River, via USB and a HiFace Evo.

I hope that helps. I'm really a novice too, but playing with the Netbook has encouraged me to press ahead with the media PC. I don't think the CD player will be staying, because I already find that CDs ripped into J River already sound more enjoyable than from the CD player.

Gints

07-01-2012, 09:36

For a silent PC I would go for a Asus E45M1-I Deluxe (or e35) and Pico type power supply. It will handle any video as well, could be useful.
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_CPU_on_Board/E45M1I_DELUXE/
http://linitx.com/product/12383
http://linitx.com/product/12185

bobbasrah

07-01-2012, 10:07

Morning Martin,
Mini HTPC are all the rage these days, mainly based on perceptions of it blending in with the rest of the hifi, but there are constraints with these whether commercial or DIY, as you restrict the available space. My own full ATX sits below the amp and is about 2 inches taller, but with multiple drives and a large cooler on a 4-core on my requirements, I had different goals.
From what you say, it is not your intention to use parts from your gaming machine, but to start afresh. Good. If it is a recycle job, and the objective is a quiet case, a little listening will usually reveal that little is usable.

The Atom solution that Hugo is building for music is very popular, and handles audio perfectly well. As the price of HDD is falling rapidly, that will soon be up and running, and is a very very good audio solution. Some here are considering the imminent Raspberry, but I think that soltion will some time in gestation.
The only imposed constraint may be available storage capacity in a mini case, and the size of any cooling fans.
An aluminium case TENDS to be less prone to vibration, large fans tend to be quieter as they can run at lower rpm for the same airflow. And if you want to go full HTPC and add a video card, think again...

barry-potter

07-01-2012, 10:34

i did this over the summer.

my silent pc has no moving parts and whilst i haven't compared it to any other music pc's playing ripped cd's is better then my old teac vrds 10.

mobo is a mini itx intel d945 gsejt which has a dc connector (just bought a regulated power supply for it, waiting for it to arrive) and it has a ssd (which will def be cheaper now). i didn't have that many cd's to rip so could get it all on 60 GB but if you have hundreds and hundreds and a budget then maybe explore cheaper options. the wesena cases are sexy, in the end i was working to a budget and got a bog standard mini itx case with 1 pci slot. the case doesn't vibrate or anything because, i suppose, there are no moving parts.

keep us up to date on your project.

realysm42

07-01-2012, 11:24

Gints

07-01-2012, 11:49

yes, that is not a PCI slot, that is PCI Express slot
but maybe you want to check it because from picture it looks that xonar connector shape is compatible with long pci-e slots.

MartinT

07-01-2012, 12:07

with two large notebook drives running in a simple RAID 0 array inside the case

I hope you mean RAID1, Hugo. Not a good idea to run RAID0 for valuable data. If you need the capacity (and performance), go with RAID10 but you'll need four drives.

Tim

07-01-2012, 12:23

I'd like to know what case you chose and why. Components, os, tweaks, if you know it, please share it with me!
I have just bought a Wesena Mini ITX2 (http://www.wesena.co.uk/product.php/5/2/itx2) case and am in the process of building my second music server based around an Atom CPU and 2.5" SSD drive.
Not sure why you would want to run RAID0 in a music server mind you :scratch: come to think of it any RAID, the less you have going on in there the better IMO, but each to their own ;)

There might be some useful info here if you are just starting out Music Server (http://www.bluedive.co.uk/musicserver/index.htm)

realysm42

07-01-2012, 12:42

Cheers for the link Tim.

Guys, what do you use for sound output; onboard sound run into a DAC?

dave2010

07-01-2012, 12:54

I've heard a few people say they've got a PC setup solely for music playback, this is what I want to achieve. I currently have a moster gaming rig and I hate the noise of the fans (I know they can be told to behave) but I don't want or need the power anymore.

I've been looking at desktop micro atx cases, because I want my pc to fit on my rack, along with my amp and dac. If you've got experience building these or own one, please can you share some tips with me?

I'd like to know what case you chose and why. Components, os, tweaks, if you know it, please share it with me!I've not done this yet. Currently I'm more and more listening to music streamed from my iMac, which is a LAN solution. If you have a decent LAN then you can put the server away from the kit, and size, heat and noise problems may be less important.

I am thinking of getting a Mac Mini for audio, as it should have low power consumption and take up little space. Older models are available from time to time on eBay, and may be good enough for audio. On the other hand the latest models are pretty powerful, and should do audio and video, and in my case could tuck away under the TV. This might seem like an expensive solution, but I think it's probably going to be a good one.

One issue is whether to push the data from the computer - for example using one of the many audio players and feed the output to a DAC, or whether to treat the computer simply as controller for disc storage, managed via the network. My configuration should allow both these possibilities as I'm already using streaming over my LAN.

I have an Asus eee laptop, which I don't use much, but I have driven a DAC before using USB. The Atom processor is pretty low powered - at least using Windows. It might work a lot better with Linux. Atom boards should be quite easy to get, or canibalise an old laptop.

DIY enthusiasts may prefer to roll their own, and could probably shave a few hundreds of pounds off the cost, but if the fun is only in listening to the music, then a ready made solution may be better. When (if) I finally give up work I might be tempted into DIY projects, but then some of the fun (and frustration?) will be in the design and construction rather than music.

brian2957

07-01-2012, 13:03

Tim , I didn't have the time to read this properly before now . This is a fantastic guide to setting up a file based audio system . Can I please ask if WASAPI is already built into the OS or does it need to be downloaded and installed . Does one use it by itself or do I need to use another programme with it.
Thanks
Brian.

bobbasrah

07-01-2012, 13:19

WASAPI is in Win 7 as standard. It allows exclusive routing of the audio.

Your media player should be able to use WASAPI or ASIO to feed the audio to your DAC.

brian2957

07-01-2012, 13:21

Thanks Bob , I'm using XP , can I use it on that.

Brian.

bobbasrah

07-01-2012, 13:27

That's some really useful input guys - I've got some food for thought now.

One thing I will be recycling from my current setup is mt Xonar essence st; I love it!

Shuggie (or anyone else), what do you use for sound output if you're using such a small case?

The Asus E45M1-I DELUXE doesn't look like it's gor a pci connector for one?

This is where you will hit problems Martin, as there are so many incompatibilities between generations of motherboards, and once you shrink from ATX, the type of slots reduce.:doh:
eg - My old XP desktop (on the list for last 6 months for rebuild) is an old Athlon with AGP etc. I did not use it for video, only audio, using Asio out via usb to a cheap chinese DAC that blew the Essence in the quality stakes.
Currently watching how the Linux thread here develops instead of the XP route....:scratch:

PS - XP can use ASIO, not WASAPI. Win 7 can use either.

brian2957

07-01-2012, 13:31

Thanks Bob .
Brian.

Canetoad

07-01-2012, 13:50

I'm starting to research building an HTPC. I want to be able to use the internet, play videos, Utube BBC iPlayer. I plan to store most data on a network so won't need a huge onboard HDD. I want to use it to run Squeezebox server to service my Touch and Duet. Later I will probably look at maybe using it for music directly. Basically, I want to be able to do "whatever" with it using the TV as a screen and sourcing media files from a NAS. :)

bobbasrah

07-01-2012, 15:25

Good luck Bernie, your concept sounds like my own system, excepting the NAS and Squeezebox.
I looked at NAS originally, but the advantage of reduced casing height was negated by the cpu cooler height, case side fans, and the facility to expand capabilities - eg full height graphics or PCIe cards etc.. So I stuck with ATX, 6 fast high capacity SATAs, and can expand via NAS or eSATA should that requirement ever arise.
There is absolutely no need for a 4 core device for video and audio, (nor SSD for that matter), but I needed the cpu power for other duties.
I have no Bluray or CD cases in the living room, just a big black near silent box, wireless keyboard and mouse, and a remote control. Selecting a video automatically switches the audio stream from usb (DAC) to optical out from the motherboard. It does not get any easier than Win7.

PS - This should really be in the DIY or AV forums

Ammonite Audio

07-01-2012, 15:29

I hope you mean RAID1, Hugo. Not a good idea to run RAID0 for valuable data. If you need the capacity (and performance), go with RAID10 but you'll need four drives.

I've probably used the wrong term! The two drives will simply mirror each other, thereby reducing the risk of data loss. The Asus board has the RAID controller on it, but I've only lightly scanned the instructions for HDD setup.

Ammonite Audio

07-01-2012, 15:33

Shuggie (or anyone else), what do you use for sound output if you're using such a small case?

I'm only interested in digital output from the PC, so that's not a problem for me. Normal sized sound cards can be accommodated in the slightly bulkier Wesena E6.

bobbasrah

07-01-2012, 16:21

I've probably used the wrong term! The two drives will simply mirror each other, thereby reducing the risk of data loss. The Asus board has the RAID controller on it, but I've only lightly scanned the instructions for HDD setup.

Hugo, it is entirely up to you of course :eyebrows:, but I have tried the RAID1 idea (simply because the motherboard supported it and another "featured" onboard backup system which was a disaster) and it ended up more a PIA than anything requiring me ultimately to reinstall the OS and use the 2 identical drives differently. :doh:
The OS can do a complete system image and regular backup very simply in the background, without the pain of the RAID solution. :cool:
If you are running a web server or a business network, then it's totally different.

Ammonite Audio

07-01-2012, 18:59

Hugo, it is entirely up to you of course :eyebrows:, but I have tried the RAID1 idea (simply because the motherboard supported it and another "featured" onboard backup system which was a disaster) and it ended up more a PIA than anything requiring me ultimately to reinstall the OS and use the 2 identical drives differently. :doh:
The OS can do a complete system image and regular backup very simply in the background, without the pain of the RAID solution. :cool:
If you are running a web server or a business network, then it's totally different.

Why exactly was the RAID solution a PIA? I want to have all the music files stored internally, rather than on a NAS, but with just the OS and essential program files on a small SSD, am I simply heading for trouble with an additional pair of HDDs in a RAID1 (hopefully that is the correct term, this time!) configuration for the music alone? Surely if I ask the OS to do a regular backup, it needs somewhere to store that backup and at least the RAID1 solution means that happens all the time, by default? I should add that the PC will be entirely standalone and not normally attached to a network or the internet, except for periodic updates and when ripping CDs which need artwork etc

I clearly need to find out if the Asus motherboard can manage one SSD for boot etc and a pair of HDDs for the music. Perhaps the answer is to have just the one HDD for music, and backup regularly, but I know I'm lazy and that probably won't happen often enough.

Can I ask the IT experts a different question about SSDs? Reading stuff on Toms Hardware, it seems that SATAIII SSDs are very much more energy efficient than SATAII ones; also I believe that SATAIII devices are backwards compatible with SATAII controllers, like those on my Asus motherboard. Do those energy efficiencies still apply if I use a SATAIII SSD with a SATAII motherboard? It's important because I may find that my Paul Hynes SR5 PSU is stretched a little in this application.

realysm42

07-01-2012, 19:05

I'm only interested in digital output from the PC, so that's not a problem for me. Normal sized sound cards can be accommodated in the slightly bulkier Wesena E6.

Either I'm missing a trick here or people are willing to sacrifice sound quality for aesthetics; I know a DAC improves the sound quality from source before it hits the amp, but surely having it come from a good source (IE sound card) before it hits the DAC is advantageous?

Bobbasrah - what do you mean by "Asio out via usb to a cheap chinese DAC that blew the Essence in the quality stakes" it was superior to the sound card?

Ammonite Audio

07-01-2012, 19:22

realysm42

07-01-2012, 19:32

Ammonite Audio

07-01-2012, 20:27

Lol now I'm really confused, what's a true digitial amplifier and what model do you have please?

I've got a Asus sound card running to a Caspian M2 amp, I want to add a DAC to improve the sound quality. I don't have a need need to do so, more a desire for better quality sound.

My amplifier is a Lyngdord TDA2200, which takes digital inputs of various frequencies (up to 192kHz) and bit depths (16, 24 bit), and internally resamples them to 400kHz PWM (Pulse Width Modulation), which directly drives the switching amplification stage. Only at the output of the switching amplifier is the PWM stream reconstructed as analogue, so that's why Lyngdorf call it a "true digital amplifier". There is no digital volume control - that function is achieved by altering the power rail voltage at the switching amplifier stage. The power supply is based around an old-fashioned big toroidal transformer, so no SMPS here. It's complicated and sounds like an audiophile's digital nightmare, but the result is a very powerful, delicate and musically lucid amplifier that is efficient, easy to use, and which has seen off many pretenders, most notably a Leben CS600. My amplifier has the optional 24bit 96kHz analogue-to-digital input card, which allows me to play vinyl through it - I rather like the notion of playing an antique source medium, via a valve phono amp, through such a starkly modern amplifier.

If you want to add a DAC, and I reckon you should if you care about sound quality, do get one that has an asynchronous USB interface. Plain USB is otherwise a pretty unpromising means of conveying digital audio, but with a decent asynchronous converter, the results can be stunning. My HiFace Evo (modded by Paul Hynes) is a truly high end little gadget, but you can get DACs with equivalent circuitry built in. You will then need to understand WASAPI, ASIO and all sorts of computer stuff, but it's worth it. J River Media Center does at least present such geekery in a straightforward interface.

Reid Malenfant

07-01-2012, 20:40

My amplifier is a Lyngdord TDA2200, which takes digital inputs of various frequencies (up to 192kHz) and bit depths (16, 24 bit), and internally resamples them to 400kHz PWM (Pulse Width Modulation), which directly drives the switching amplification stage. Only at the output of the switching amplifier is the PWM stream reconstructed as analogue, so that's why Lyngdorf call it a "true digital amplifier". There is no digital volume control - that function is achieved by altering the power rail voltage at the switching amplifier stage. The power supply is based around an old-fashioned big toroidal transformer, so no SMPS here.
Fascinating, I was wondering how volume was taken care of. You say no SMPS, but there must be some kind of regulation to control the rail voltages & unless there is substantial heatsinking I'd guess this is done by some kind of high frequency bucking regulator (for each rail) or SMPS :scratch:

realysm42

07-01-2012, 20:42

Thanks for taking the time to explain that to me; looks like I've got some reading to do :)

Welder

07-01-2012, 20:47

Either I'm missing a trick here or people are willing to sacrifice sound quality for aesthetics; I know a DAC improves the sound quality from source before it hits the amp, but surely having it come from a good source (IE sound card) before it hits the DAC is advantageous?

Bobbasrah - what do you mean by "Asio out via usb to a cheap chinese DAC that blew the Essence in the quality stakes" it was superior to the sound card?

I hope i haven't misunderstood here....

Hi Martin.
There is no advantage in having both a Dac and sound card; they do the same job.
Audiophile wisdom has it an external Dac has an advantage because it's not subject to all the electrical interference you get in a PC case.
So, one or the other.
Most mother boards can output digital data over S/PDIF and USB without resorting to an on-board sound card.
What tends to get forgotten is until your music reaches a digital to analogue converter its data.

Reid Malenfant

07-01-2012, 20:54

Fascinating, I was wondering how volume was taken care of. You say no SMPS, but there must be some kind of regulation to control the rail voltages & unless there is substantial heatsinking I'd guess this is done by some kind of high frequency bucking regulator (for each rail) or SMPS :scratch:
:doh: Didn't have my thinking head on :eyebrows: No SMPS needed & naff all heatsinking. All that's needed is a pair of mosfets in between the DC outputs of the rectifier & the main storage capacitors. These are switched off when the desired DC rail voltage is reached :) More volume means a higher voltage on the cap & turning off the mosfets later...

No idea why the heck I didn't think of that as I have made similar in the past :doh:

Ammonite Audio

07-01-2012, 22:40

I'm presuming that there are no end of regulated supplies in there. The (huge) mains toroidal transformer has around 10 taps coming out of it, which feed different bits of the control motherboard, as well as the actual amplifier section. There's a photo of most of the amp's innards at http://www.lyngdorf.com/content/view/14/33/ , albeit the later version with the room correction system daughterboard installed.

Reid Malenfant

07-01-2012, 22:47

Lots of lovely Sanyo Oscons to from what I could see :)

I still reckon the simplest system would be to disconnect the main transformer secondaries post bridge rectifier at the correct voltage for the volume setting. At 100Hz it wouldn't be a problem & I quite like the simplicity of it :D Mosfets are fast...

Nice looking amp Hugo :)

bobbasrah

08-01-2012, 06:26

Why exactly was the RAID solution a PIA? I want to have all the music files stored internally, rather than on a NAS, but with just the OS and essential program files on a small SSD, am I simply heading for trouble with an additional pair of HDDs in a RAID1 (hopefully that is the correct term, this time!) configuration for the music alone? Surely if I ask the OS to do a regular backup, it needs somewhere to store that backup and at least the RAID1 solution means that happens all the time, by default? I should add that the PC will be entirely standalone and not normally attached to a network or the internet, except for periodic updates and when ripping CDs which need artwork etc

I clearly need to find out if the Asus motherboard can manage one SSD for boot etc and a pair of HDDs for the music. Perhaps the answer is to have just the one HDD for music, and backup regularly, but I know I'm lazy and that probably won't happen often enough.

Can I ask the IT experts a different question about SSDs? Reading stuff on Toms Hardware, it seems that SATAIII SSDs are very much more energy efficient than SATAII ones; also I believe that SATAIII devices are backwards compatible with SATAII controllers, like those on my Asus motherboard. Do those energy efficiencies still apply if I use a SATAIII SSD with a SATAII motherboard? It's important because I may find that my Paul Hynes SR5 PSU is stretched a little in this application.

Sorry for the delay in reply Hugo, I was socialising 2 hours ahead of you. RAID1 I think is correct for your intention.

PIA - The Gigabyte ATX board in my desktop has 6 SATA ports, any of which may be set as the boot disk. It has 2 SATA controllers which can be set up in a variety of RAID configurations, which I thought, like you, would automate the process of OS etc backup in the background. I bought 2 small very fast drives for that specific purpose.
The first problem I found was that the RAID1 solution was a pain to set up and was a step into unknown territory, RAID initialisation was slow at boot, and the drives (seemed to be constantly comparing), which seemed to slow drive read and write times. This was with standard SATA, and may not be so noticeable with SSD, I do not know.
Something I then did went awol on the system (think I was adding software), and I thought I could back up from the second RAID1 drive. What I had forgotten was that the second drive was a live copy, so my backup was identical. Back to square one, never to visit RAID configs again....

My system drive now backs up to the second identical drive automatically every week. Recommended backup is to external drive, but I do not run the external drives constantly, and the second drive was available anyway from the failed RAID1 idea.
The data drives are manually backed up to external drives over usb, and as this is dreadfully slow with 4 big drives, I set up a monthly reminder schedule on the desktop, back up changes only, and this speeds up the whole affair.

I hope the above makes sense.
:mental:

bobbasrah

08-01-2012, 06:54

Either I'm missing a trick here or people are willing to sacrifice sound quality for aesthetics; I know a DAC improves the sound quality from source before it hits the amp, but surely having it come from a good source (IE sound card) before it hits the DAC is advantageous?

Bobbasrah - what do you mean by "Asio out via usb to a cheap chinese DAC that blew the Essence in the quality stakes" it was superior to the sound card?

Sorry Martin, exactly so. The digital signal can be fed from onboard optical or coaxial, or via USB. Adding a sound card to simply pass through the onboard signal to an external DAC is pointless IMHO.:D
The latest Essence (over a year ago) was compared to a Musiland 02US by a mate of mine, who promptly dumped his Essence, and recommended I forget my original Essence plan for the new desktop and get the 02US. I subsequently borrowed a couple of sound cards, one of which was the Essence, and was shocked to confirm his findings.
Bearing in mind the 02 was a very much cheaper DAC, this was a bit of a shock, and altered my opinion on the "it's all junk" status of some of the chinese gear. :ner:
Having said that, the search is now on for a better DAC so I can retire the 02 to the old desktop. :scratch:

Ammonite Audio

08-01-2012, 07:21

I hope the above makes sense.
:mental:

Yes, it does - thanks for taking the time to explain.

realysm42

08-01-2012, 12:49

Again, thank you all for the informative replies.

Especially to the chaps regarding the sound card, what you're saying makes sense; although it is odd because I was advised by someone in Sevenoaks to run the sound card into the DAC. Probably wanted to sell me a coax cable!

Welder

09-01-2012, 22:27

Rather than looking for a Motherboard to build a music server/player/streamer by form (ITX, ATX etc) it makes more sense to look at the audio drivers.

Not all boards support all drivers and one Realtek driver for example may well have a different algorithm for re -sampling to another, as do various other audio layers.
These considerations can have an influence on how your server sounds.

It seems to work something like this; audio data retrieved from file and re-sampled by the base audio layer, sent on to music player and possibly re-sampled again, then sent on to Dac and Possibly re-sampled yet again.

Each time the data is re-sampled some error is introduced and this results in distortion so the next re-sample re-samples the distortion from the last re-sample.
This one area the vinyl enthusiasts have an advantage. ;)
However, not all re-sampling is necessarily bad and vinyl has plenty of other problems to overcome.

One of the better sounds I've heard from XP was from using Realtek AC 97 on an ALC653 chipset and a rebuilt full size Motherboard with better quality components and using a proper asio driver in place of asio4all.

realysm42

09-01-2012, 22:40

Well, that's intimidating lol.

Why are you picky about drivers/chipsets if "it's just 1's and 0's" and the DAC does the magic for you?

Welder

09-01-2012, 22:48

Because if the data has been badly re-sampled at the beginning, then fed through a pile of cheap noise inducing components and on to a badly implemented audio player, all the NOS Dacs, audiophile power supplies, up-sapling, oversampling, digital amplification and blind faith wont sort the original errors out. ;)

realysm42

09-01-2012, 22:55

I hear you. So in your opinion, Realtek onboard is good.

Is it Creative that also offer on board solutions?

Welder

09-01-2012, 23:06

Not necessarily.

I think you'll find that Realtek make WMD drivers and that seems to be what you get with Windows based machines. It may say they're Windows core audio drivers but ....
I'm saying, don't buy an ITX Motherboard just because they're small, cheap and easy to keep cool and everyone else shoves them in servers because keeping a more powerful, larger and potentially easier board to work on cool can get more complicated and more expensive.
A board full of SMD components is a nightmare to work on for a start.

realysm42

09-01-2012, 23:18

SMD?

Reid Malenfant

09-01-2012, 23:24

surface mount

realysm42

09-01-2012, 23:27

:cool:

Welder

09-01-2012, 23:47

Sorry, Surface Mounted Components.

The “old” way of populating a circuit board was to drill holes in the board, plate them with solder and stuff the component leads through the hole and solder.
Modern production just put blobs of solder onto the track and solder to what they call pads.

bobbasrah

10-01-2012, 06:23

A few good observations there John, but the errors business is puzzling me..
Agreed that the various board manufacturers use different chipsets and drivers, albeit that Realtek are predominant, but surely this would only alter the sound IF processing of the audio stream is permitted?
Agreed that the audio is different to each chipset, but even identical chipsets and drivers from different board manufacturers sound "different" which somewhat defies logic.
If you divert the audio stream through WASAPI or ASIO to a outboard DAC, this should result in no re-sampling or processing on the motherboard leaving the DAC to deal with the audio stream exclusively.
This is how my music files are set up to be handled via a dedicated software player, with no effects, conversion, or manipulation. Is it the player where you consider the potential errors to arise?

Although the DAC is supposed to be able to pass through DD etc, I have left video audio to a separate route. When I play a video, the different player (VLC nesting under the same umbrella program) reverts audio to onboard optical out, which passes the stream to the receiver to do any decoding or processing, albeit that the player CAN convert the audio stream to stereo, etc., but these are set off. Here I can see where errors may occur, as the audio stream is handled by the player and the chipset, but for video, the audio purity it is of lesser importance.
Or am I missing something?