Laptop and Processor inputs: building from scratch

[mattxwill]

Just building my system from scratch and looking to Emotiva products based on reputation. I have some questions regarding separates and my laptop.

For the next year at least, I plan to only have a 2.1 system as 95% of my listening is music. (B&W 686s, an Emotiva 12 Ultra Sub, and a sonos connect) I currently do not even own a TV, BUT sometimes watch Netflix directly on my Laptop. One day I would get a center channel. Now….

1) For the Netflix thing, in order for me to hook up my laptop (and my sonos) to my sound system, it looks like the processor (UMC-200) is my best option. For the sonos I would use the optical input, but where do I hook in the laptop audio? There looks to be 2 USB plugs on it, but the specs say 1. “USB Input: Accepts Emotiva Bluetooth dongle only” There is no mention of the other one shown in the picture which I was hoping acted as the main DAC. OR do I use the Analog inputs and a Y cable and skip USB all together? But does this mean it passes through the UMC to the amp, and I am therefore using the crappy computer DAC? Please help clarify all this.

2) AMP: This is more subjective. For the sake of future upgradability, I was leaning towards the 5 channel amp (UPA-500), as one day I may add a center and rears. But that is so far down the road, the question I am wondering is for $200 more would the 3 channel (XPA-3) provide a significantly greater audio experience now given the fact I don’t plan to go surround for a long time? Or is this overkill? My speakers are fantastic IMO, but not Audiophile +1K great.

Thanks,
matt

[Deleted]

Hey Matt and welcome to the Lounge! I will not be as good as some on here answering your questions, but I will get the ball rolling here for you! Currently, I am also using a laptop as a music/media server, but it has an HDMI out that I run directly into my receiver and then from the receiver to the HDMI in on my TV. This uses the receiver's DAC's and greatly improved the sound. The receiver also upscales the computer's video so that it looks better on TV.

It would be helpful to know what gear you have right now, or are you just now accumulating it? But on most laptops though you will use the USB port to go into an external DAC like the XDA-2 and then out to your power amp or other gear. You can go USB from your computer into the UMC-200, but I am not sure it's DAC is as good for sound as whats in the XDA-2. Maybe someone here with experience on both will further direct you. The UMC will of course necessitate an external amp which can be a considerable expense. An external DAC going into a powered AVR from your computer is not a bad option at all and may possibly be less if you buy used. I used an AVR with it's own built in power at first, but then relegated it to just pre/pro duty and started moving things up to another level by adding external power amps. So, depending on your budget you can always start with a powered AVR and plug your computer into that, but you will eventually want to get an external DAC to take your computers sound to higher quality level. Just get the best you can afford right now and move up later. And believe me....you will be moving up the rest of your life as most of us around here are, lol. Anyway, I'm sure someone will chime in shortly. Welcome again!

[garbulky]

Hi matt. I may be wrong here but I don't think the UMC-200 has USB DAC capabilities in the way that you think.
If your laptop has an optical output it would accept that. Some laptops have their optical output embedded in the headphone jack. You have to check your computer to see if you have it.
But if you did not, you would be correct the DAC on the laptop would do the processing if you passed it via the analog inputs to the umc-200 - which would sound bad because laptop DACS are junk.

To overcome this if you do not have optical/coax/SPDIF output is to get a cheap USB to SPDIF converter.
These can be purchased for between $10 to $130. Most of them will do the job adequately.
www.crutchfield.com/p_778VLINKII/Musical-Fidelity-V-Link-II.html?tp=59309&kw=&org=pla&nw=g&crv=10368454585

For cheaper options search amazon for "USB to SPDIF"

[garbulky]

BTW, a cheaper alternative instead of buying a umc-200 and an amp is this upcoming product. It will take some time (lots) to come to the market though....
emotivalounge.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=amps&thread=28455&page=1
If it is the all in one system it will be $400 and if it is separate $500
For that you get a good USB DAC plus an amp and a subwoofer passthrough. However it will not do surround sound.

[knucklehead]

I haven't seen many laptops that have multi-channel audio ability. You might want to consider a DVD player that can handle the netflix audio and video if you are serious about multi-channel audio. Other than that it looks like a great system coming together.

[arthurz]

Jan 29, 2013 2:39:57 GMT -5 knucklehead said:

I haven't seen many laptops that have multi-channel audio ability. You might want to consider a DVD player that can handle the netflix audio and video if you are serious about multi-channel audio. Other than that it looks like a great system coming together.

All reasonably recent Macs can do it. There are two ways – one is to use HDMI into an AV pre; another is to create an aggregate output device in the "Audio MIDI Setup" app. This would allow you to use multiple DACs (+ the built-in line-out) to create an aggregate device. You can chose how to map any of the 5.1 or 7.1 channels of the logical device onto each of the DACs L and R channels.

[yves]

Hi and welcome! I am also using a laptop which has an HDMI output to connect to my TV. I have an outboard stereo USB DAC with an XPA-2 amp and a pair of big floorstanding speakers, for stereo music listening only.

I am currently waiting for Emotiva to ship an UMC-200 and a pair of Airmotiv 5 powered studio monitors to me. I plan to hook up the analog outputs of my USB DAC to the analog inputs of the UMC-200 so that I can switch the UMC-200 to "direct" mode, to bypass its internal DSP processing.

In "Home Theater processing mode", the USB DAC will be ignored and the UMC-200 will accept any type of digital surround sound from the laptop's HDMI, which it will then decode and downmix from 5.1 (or 7.1, or whatever) surround to analog 4-channel (using my two big floorstanding speakers as fronts, the Airmotiv 5s as sides). Add a subwoofer and it will be 4.1 channel. Add not only a subwoofer, but a center speaker too, and it will be true 5.1 channel instead of downmixed from 5.1 channel. The level of flexibility the UMC-200 has to offer in this regard is just too good to be true IMO. I caved. Agreed, the UMC-200 cannot do DLNA streaming, nor can it be used for playback via USB, but I will be happy because it supports HDMI so that it can be used as an external "surround soundcard" for my laptop and so that I will be able to hook it up to my Digital Cable TV Set Top Box, which also uses HDMI.

[bootman]

Tell us what laptop you are using and we can find out if you can use HDMI.
Since it is a 2ch system only not having multichannel HDMI out isn't a deal breaker at the moment.

[mattxwill]

All very useful insight. For what it is worth, I am using my Dell Latitude E6420 to to get my "The Walking Dead" fix. And....it does have an HDMI! So my Noob brain just figured out......instead of using the Headphone jack, I would use the HDMI right into the USB200, which would process the sound into 5 channel and if i understand correctly, I WILL NOT need a DAC.

Also, I do realize I can just go the AV receiver option, but: I like the idea of an entry level audiophile system, I think it looks super cool, and most importantly, I have the money. So why not.

So, Any advice on the AMP question? Will i notice a huge improvement using a 300 W amp over a 80 W per channel amp? Or does the 80W per channel actually deliver MORE clean Watts if the other channels are not being driven? If this is the case, i would still with the 5 channel.

[bootman]

Get the XPA-2 if that is what you are asking.