What is bitstreaming audio

[andrewcutter]

hello. I have a question that is wanted to ask. What is bitstreaming audio. I have still not understood this. secondly how is this different from say outputing the sound to the speaker through your normal anaog sound output.
I hope i have not made an embaressesment of myself by asking such a question.
thanks in advance for all the replys

 

[MEgamer]

a flow of BInary digiTS (bits), a digital form of imformation transport. most things are bitstreamed, like sending imfomation around a computer, or even bigger such as wireless connections or the internet.

^
basically digital connection.

 

[andrewcutter]

so is bitstraming through say hdmi better or is optical spdif (i think or toslink) better as far as data is concerned?

 

[MEgamer]

neiter differ in quality is used in right way, although noises can be built in poor wires.

the difference is for SPDIF (optical) there is no electrical interference.
SPDIF can only transfer 2.0 signals, any higher and compression will have to be used, the most popular is the dolby and the dts signals.

HDMI can transport HD audio, with up to 7 channels. but only with teh HDMI 1.3 or higher plus good HDMI cables are quite expensive.

but these are both digital forms of signal transport, analogue is still much preffered today, but it is slowly dying with the increasing popularity of HDMI.

 

[andrewcutter]

ohh i had been under the impression that the optical link was superior and the preferred link used over analog. thanks for clearing that out

 

[MEgamer]

you could kinda say its superior if it was just transporting 2.0-stereo signals, but then u will need a DAC to convert.

u only really need to use digital connections if u have a better quality electronic at the input end. or if u care about noise, which is still somewhat minimal even with very long analogue cables.

 

[andrewcutter]

so if i go for a 2 speaker with a sub option with a receiver , are you saying that i cannot use optical as it will only carry 2 stereo channel? (the speakers and sub is lets say for example one of thoses yamaha ones, not normal logitec ones)

 

[MEgamer]

well most receivers will still allow it by cross over and sending it to the .1 output. check the receiver b4, if u want this option.

 

[andrewcutter]

ahh ok i think im getting the hang of it thanks. One final question. i was talking about 2.1 above. lets say i go for say 7.1. would it still be alright. optical to reciever and then from reciever to all speakers.

 

[MEgamer]

well its only 5.1 signal that the optical carries, then the receiver applies the dolby prologic IIx or z which will alow u to listen in 7.1, but standard of dolby is still 5.1 even on bluray, but 7.1 one is increasingly becoming popular.

^
this is using dolby or dts with optical.

if u want an easier way of getting 7.1 it is better to use HDMI 1.3, which allows HD audio of 7.1 channels. for this u can use the newer format of dolby and dts, such as dolby trueHD. at thsi point if the movie track has LPCM format use this, this is the highest quality track u can listen to , where no effect filtering and additional proccessing is applied. its PURE sound.