Box suggestion for bit perfect audio output
#1
Hi All,

I'm Andrea from Italy.

Would you, please, suggest me a good box/platform to run Kodi with bit perfect audio output?
Windows, Raspberry, Openelec, Liibreelec...doesn't matter Wink I'm not very young so an out-of-the-box solution would be preferable Wink

Main use: play 2 channels FLAC backups of my CD collection. The box will be connected to an external DAC via USB or SPDIF.

I would use the Kodi station also for video/film viewing so it should support great 1080p decoding and multichannel audio passthough for AV receiver connection.

I had already run a lot of tests on a cheap MX Plus s905 Android box without success. First of all Android does sample rate conversion to 48KHz and this invalidates the first pre-requisite: bit perfect audio output.

Then Kodi has some passthrough issues on s905. Same issues with SMPC. No luck with Android Sad

Ideas? A Windows mini PC? Raspberry? .....?

Thanks in advance!
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#2
Here is the Android Audio problem you have...

Android Hi-res 16-bit/48kHz Audio limitation discussion found HERE

I would try LibreELEC Kodi with the MX Plus S905 you have there, and you will not run into those Android Audio limitations you have already encountered. Plus you will get Multichannel 24-bit/192kHz PCM audio over HDMI too with LE on a S905, decoded by Kodi to be output - bit perfect from your FLAC Audio content.

You should find a LibreELEC image for use on the S905 on this forum:
https://forum.libreelec.tv/forum-38.html

LibreELEC Kodi on these S905's will work a LOT better than Android. Ditch Android all together is my advice.
I would give that a try first and see if you can get 2 channel S/PDIF output working from your device.

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#3
Thank you!

(2016-10-05, 10:14)wrxtasy Wrote: Plus you will get Multichannel 24-bit/192kHz PCM audio over HDMI too with LE on a S905, decoded by Kodi to be output - bit perfect from your FLAC Audio content.

I would give that a try first and see if you can get 2 channel S/PDIF output working from your device.
I'll try it! Some questions to understand better. Can I get multichannel passthrough without Kodi decoding?
Then, I would use audio over HDMI for HT use with my AV receiver, but I should use SPDIF (or USB) for stereo music listening using a dedicated stereo amplifier and DAC (box SPDIF or USB --> DAC --> 2ch amp). So I need LibreELEC supports SPDIF port and Kodi does perfect PCM bitstream (after FLAC decoding) to it.

And what about LibreELEC USB ports, Gbit ethernet, IR receiver, bluetooth, etc support?

Thanks again for your help.
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#4
Yes, with well supported AMLogic S905 - LibreELEC (LE) Kodi boxes, you will get over HDMI:
  • + Passthrough of AC3/DD/DTS 5.1 (Lossy)
  • + Passthrough of DD+ (EAC3)
  • + Passthrough of Dolby True HD 5.1 and 7.1 / ATMOS (Lossless)
  • + Passthrough of DTS-HD MA/HRA 5.1 and 7.1 (Lossless)
  • + Passthrough of DTS 96/24
  • + Multichannel PCM - 24-bit/192kHz (Lossless)

S/PDIF by design, due to bandwidth constraints. Is limited to Passthrough of AC3/DD/DTS 5.1 (Lossy) or 2.0 Channels of 24bit/192kHz Audio.

For the rest, you will just have to head over to the LE forum and try and image and experiment a bit, most of the Hardware should work.
The LibreELEC users with those generic S905 boxes will be able to point you to the correct image.

This LibreELEC Kodi image is flashed (initially) to a micro SDHC card by the way. If you do not have one get a Samsung EVO (+) or Sandisk Class 10 one.

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#5
Thanks, it's very kind of you.

No problems for the S/PDIF constraints. It's only for 2chans audio. Mostly for audio CD backups. Multichannel audio goes over HDMI.

It should not be difficult to pick the correct image but I've already posted to the LE forum Wink

I will flash the image to a Samsung EVO (class 10). I have already got some of them.

In the meantime I will also "study" about alternatives like Raspberry, Minix Neo Z64 Windows 10, Beelink BT3 Windows 10,....Has anyone experience with these?
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