TABLE OF CONTENTS To obtain a level of audio fidelity commensurate with top-end consumer audio equipment, your budget for the audio components must be about the same for each. Put simply, you cannot get the same performance as a $300 preamp using $2 worth of components. While existing low-cost approaches may yet be able to serve PC market segments such as the server market where audio is not of much interest, now Media PCs must compete directly with other equipment in the living room and the home theater. As a result, the overall system cost must be increased to meet the expectations of discerning customers and reviewers.
To truly compete against the audio equipment present in most living rooms and home theatres today, your design must have these attributes:
RCA jacks for line-level inputs and outputs. They need to match existing equipment in the living room and provide a more reliable electrical contact that 3.5-millimeter miniature phone jack. Jack detection switches on the RCA jacks must be implemented in order to comply with the Windows Vista logo program. The Microsoft UAA class driver for Intel HD Audio sets the output to a fixed output level, with no master volume control, if the output jacks are specified as RCA jacks and the device type is set to line out.
2 volts RMS analog input and output levels. This attribute avoids perceived loss of quality due to lower playback level. Refer to the Fletcher Munson curves in...
