'evening all!
I have a few questions concerning audio output over HDMI. They're not all strictly about hardware but I've preferred to group them in a single post and here would be the best place (or so I hope).
I currently have a Win7 HP transportable as a main source to our AV amp, running Foobar2000 over HDMI for almost exclusively stereo content (that does have variable sampling and bit rates). This gives very nice results (thanks also to a pair of Klipsch RF52-mkIIs ).
I'm also considering to buy either a recent netbook (think Asus 1225B or Acer Aspire 722) or possibly a tablet (think Asus TF300) though the rumours about a "mini" iPad make me hesitant to go for an Android tablet now. It'd be nice though if whatever I buy could also serve as a source to the AV amp because the HP isn't always available.
Any suggestions? From what I understand recent (AMD-based) netbooks should allow the kind of playback over HDMI that I'm looking for (and offer decent performance), but this is not so sure for tablets?
Also, what kind of alternatives to Foobar2000 are there that have a similar feature set (at least having 'capture mode' output to hdmi), for Android but also for Linux as I'd be very tempted to ditch Win7 if I should get a netbook?
I've spent a few hours on google already investigating but there's just too much info to sift through....
The last question concerns Mac OS X. I'm looking for ways to avoid CoreAudio's fixed audio output settings (esp. the sample rate), to achieve what even MSWin allows via WASAPI: sending audio files to my audiophile AV amp without conversion (resampling). Is there any chance that this will be possible when sending the audio over HDMI, or will that output also be governed by CoreAudio and Audio Midi Setup?
Thanks in advance!
René