Soundcard to Home Theater Amp? - Overclock.net

bentrinh · 2 Weeks Ago

I'm building a HTPC, and I need a sound card that can output 5.1 surround sound using S/PDIF (TOSLINK) or Coaxial. Some sort of front panel (just basic microphone/headphones) would be nice. Any suggestions?

lozanoa11 · 2 Weeks Ago

Low profile or regular?

rmp459 · 2 Weeks Ago

onboard is a safe bet.... Just toslink or coax out most any realtek chip will pass DTS and multi channel ac3 with the right decoder and filter setup....... I mean the ones that spit out ddl or dts connect are sort of overrated let the receiver handle the decoding if it can.... Start with a good onboard motherboard and go from there

Grumpel · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmp459

onboard is a safe bet.... Just toslink or coax out most any realtek chip will pass DTS and multi channel ac3 with the right decoder and filter setup....... I mean the ones that spit out ddl or dts connect are sort of overrated let the receiver handle the decoding if it can.... Start with a good onboard motherboard and go from there

What he said.

GoHigh · 2 Weeks Ago

When you are letting your receiver do the decoding, then any sound card with SPDIF will do. I bought a ROCKETFISH soundcard from BestBuy for like $35, and it works flawlessly.

bentrinh · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmp459

onboard is a safe bet.... Just toslink or coax out most any realtek chip will pass DTS and multi channel ac3 with the right decoder and filter setup....... I mean the ones that spit out ddl or dts connect are sort of overrated let the receiver handle the decoding if it can.... Start with a good onboard motherboard and go from there

So you're I should stick with onboard, instead of say, the Xi-Fi that's been going for $40? Won't there be much less noise on a actual sound card?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lozanoa11

Low profile or regular?

It's going to be a full build, so it doesn't matter.

bentrinh · 1 Week Ago

bump

**soloz2** · 1 Week Ago

If you're planning on connecting your HTPC to your HT with analog cables then you NEED to invest in a GOOD sound card, but if you're going to connect via digital then onboard is ok, unless you need something like DDL, in that case you'll want something like the Auzen X-Fi Prelude

bentrinh · 5 Days Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by soloz2

If you're planning on connecting your HTPC to your HT with analog cables then you NEED to invest in a GOOD sound card, but if you're going to connect via digital then onboard is ok, unless you need something like DDL, in that case you'll want something like the Auzen X-Fi Prelude

I'm not sure how it'd all work, especially the Dolby digital stuff. In fact, I didn't know I had to use a Toslink or coaxial cable to get surround sound from the DVD player to my receiver. I didn't even know your receiver had to support Dolby Digital. I'm not sure what DDL does. All I know is I will be playing videos with 5.1 audio, mostly MKV (with AC3 or DTS audio streams) on the machine. Also, I know my receiver can decode Dolby Digital (there's a led that lights up) but it has no such light for DTS.

Nick911 · 5 Days Ago

I can hook up a receiver to my PC via digital and it will still have same quality as me hoking it up to a sound card?

		Overclock.net - Overclocking.net > Components > Sound Cards and Computer Audio
Soundcard to Home Theater Amp?

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)