Multichannel LPCM audio playback Options

[arnymars]

Can someone suggest soft audio or media player that can directly play 5.1 LPCM audio? Pls don't tell that any player can, because in my experience NONE can. What plugins should I use to enable Foobar2000 play 5.1 LPCM?

Also, what utility can show media info data of a multichannel LPCM file? I tried MediaInfo and Gspot - they can't show any info about LPCM file.

What Media Server can transcode 5.1 Flac to 5.1 LPCM, and stream it to a Samsung BD Player over LAN?

This post has been edited by arnymars: Jun 1 2012, 06:21

[Ceniza]

foobar2000 can indeed play 5.1 audio. That's what I'm using to play 5.1 FLAC files. It should work with DirectSound, but I would recommend the WASAPI plugin if you have at least Windows Vista. It also depends on what playback device you select and your soundcard's capabilities.

For me it only works with Speakers as playback device. S/PDIF is limited to 2 channels, but depending on the specific sound card it is possible to use it for 5.1 (it needs S/PDIF to be internally HDMI). If your S/PDIF goes out through coax or toslink, then it's not possible to use it like that at all.

As a matter of fact, I'm trying to push the WASAPI plugin to be changed in such a way that it will be possible to use my sound card (Xonar HDAV1.3) to do multichannel pass-through. What sound card do you have? What error do you get when trying to play the file?

[JimH]

S/PDIF is limited to 2 channels, but ...

That's not quite accurate. S/PDIF has bandwidth that is insufficient to carry uncompressed 5.1, but DTS will provide compressed 5.1 over S/PDIF.

Normally, HDMI is a safer choice for 5.1 sound.