How Linux and XBMC handles audio

[phillyfan1138]

I have ubuntu 8.04. I output dd and dts via spdif to my receiver. However, I think there may be a difference in quality between passthrough on linux and passthrough on windows. Dialog and loud effects seem harsher in linux. I was wondering if there was something within linux and/or xbmc that resampled or reencoded the audio.

I accept that this quality difference may only be in my head, and that I am imagining the whole thing. However, I would like assurance that nothing is happening to my audio before it reaches my receiver.

I have a chaintech 7.10 sound card, and this post from a couple years ago scared me: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=830771&highlight=spdif

[althekiller]

If we were "resampling" or "reencoding" it wouldn't be "passthrough" now would it? :)

[phillyfan1138]

Be that as it may, the smoothvideo build of xbmc is able to drop packets...I was just wanting to ensure that nothing like that was happening by default. Still, your post made me feel better ;).

[althekiller]

Smoothvideo is still a branch (ie use at own risk don't complain unless the maintainer asks for complaints), none of its features are in mainline. When they are, you will need to enable them manually as each one has it's own possibilities for audio artifacts.