Wanted to do this myself from Windows7 -> RaspberryPi (OpenElec) and stumbled over your question.
After quite some research I still did not find a satisfying solution for OpenElec but had enough info to come up with one that is very simple and really works with high quality and only about ~1sec delay!

You need:


VLC Media Player (I used v2.1.3 Rincewind on my Win7 x64)
A soundcard that provides a "Stereo Mix" recording device (I
was fortunate enough to have one on-board)
A Raspberry Pi (I use OpenElec 4.0.5, although it should work for XBMC in general)


Note: If you do not have a soundcard that supports this you could try to use VAC (http://www.virtualaudiocable.net/), although I am tellin' you it did not work properly for me, poor audio quality and buffer problems all the way...but maybe it's just me.

Step 1)

Create a batch file which starts a VLC http streaming service in background and captures audio from the "Stereo Mix" recording device:

@echo off

set vlc="C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe"
start "" %vlc% --qt-start-minimized dshow:// :dshow-vdev=none :dshow-adev="Stereo Mix (Realtek High Defini" :live-caching=10 :sout=#transcode{vcodec=none,acodec=vorb,ab=500,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:http{dst=:8080/audiostream.ogg} :sout-keep


Notes:


You might have to change the recording device if yours has a different name, I used Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) to check the names of my capture devices since I already had it installed
Yes, the audio bitrate is very high (maximum for Vorbis), but the higher the bitrate the quicker the buffer is filled and hence the shorter the delay :-) (you cannot change the buffer size explicity for music on XBMC, I use 5MB buffer on mine in general)
I tried FLAC, MP3 and even WAV and apart from the fact that only MP3 and Vorbis worked at all with my Pi, I had the quickest loading time on the Pi (basically instantly) and the least delay with Vorbis


Step 2)

Navigate to 


  \\rapsberrypi\Userdata\playlists\music


and create a .strm file with a name of your choice there (I called mine VLC.strm) which contains the plain link to your VLC stream: (change IP to IP of your PC :p)

http://192.168.0.1:8080/audiostream.ogg


Step 3)

You can now either set the audio device which is captured by "Stereo Mix" to default in the windows sound settings or open a player like VLC and manually use the non-default device to play music on your RaspberryPi:

Open your VLC (in addition to the one minimized in your tray which is streaming your "Stereo Mix") and perform the following steps:


Tools -> Preferences
Audio
Output module: "WaveOut audio output"
Device: - your (analog) device which is captured by the "Stereo Mix" recording device-
Save
Restart VLC
Play Music


Step 4)

On your RaspberryPi:


In XBMC navigate to Music -> Playlists
Select VLC.strm (or whatever you called it)
ENJOY MUSIC!


Troubleshooting

If you have troubles getting your "Stereo Mix" to work or capture, play around in Windows first by e.g. recording it with Audacity and trying some forum suggestions
like:

this one:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/39532/how-to-enable-stereo-mix-in-windows-7-to-record-audio/


or this one:

http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/104497-stereo-mix-enabled-but-no-sound.html


Right, enough typing for today, hope this was helpful to someone!

BR, Deads

Using Pi to stream all audio output from my pc to my stereo
I typically use a little white vinegar to hold my poached eggs together better while cooking (plus, I like vinegar).

Recently, I ran out of white vinegar and swapped in red wine vinegar instead. The egg white nearly dissolved while cooking, leaving behind only the yolk.

Is this due to the change in vinegar? Or might there be other issues at play (heat, pot, egg quality, etc.)?
