The developers of XBMC, an open source media front-end, have finally made their new AudioEngine a part of the official codebase. Consisting of over 22,000 lines of code, the AudioEngine is a complete overhaul of the existing XBMC audio renderer. Work on the new audio core began all the way back in 2009, and the focus on high-quality audio is sure to please both home theater enthusiasts and audiophiles alike.

The most compelling new features of the AudioEngine include the lossless DTS-HD "Master Audio" and Dolby TrueHD codecs, as well as support for 24-bit audio. Furthermore, the AudioEngine works to reduce "quantization noise," which takes places as analog waves are converted to digital signals, and works with both lossy and lossless audio files. The XBMC team isn't stopping here, however — they plan on introducing a slew of DSPs and dynamic range controls as development goes on. It might be a while before a stable release includes the AudioEngine, but you can download one of the XBMC nightlies that includes it — just keep in mind that these haven't been extensively tested.