Hi, got my HTPC up and running but will soon have my speakers/receiver too but the end of this week likely and I want to have my PC running in 7.1 surround sound

what is a good card to buy? my receiver is 7.1 but currently i'm only planning on 5.1 for the next few months and then i'll add accordingly when my budget lets me

for pc i game (though im on and off) and would mostly be using it for music. coaxial or optical output supported by my receiver.

tips? help?

thanks in advance :)

Exactly the question I had! Let me add an example though. I'm thinking about getting an Audigy SE, but I'm thinking it doesn't support DD or DTS. That would be my minimum requirement. Cheaper is better! Thus far I have $0 invested in this! All spare parts. Preferably something that I could get from Newegg as I'm ordering a Lightscribe drive from them for my primary machine. But if it's something I could get locally, that would be great too. Would be going to my HTR (obviously) so optical or coaxial output (again, obviously.)

spdif only supports 2 channel stereo PCM or pre-encoded DD or DTS.

To get full discrete 7.1 you'll need to use analog connections.

You can get discrete 5.1 with one of the cards that support DTS-connect (prefered) or Dolby Digital Live, this will encode a 5.1 soundstream to DTS or DD respectively for playback.

You sound card does not need to support DD or DTS decoding natively as that can be done just as effectively in software.

The quality of sound from a coaxial or optical output will be nearly identical from soundcard to soundcard, only very minor differences from jitter or if the drivers bypass kmixer (also are you running XP or vista?).

If you really want discrete surround for games and want to use a digital interconnect this would be a great choice
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829156001

And if you ever want to go discrete 7.1 you could also switch to analog interconnect.

That's excellent information. I wanted something that did hardware DD or DTS because I'll be using it with an old P4 2.8HT. I'm not opposed to software encoding, but worried about how much processor time it's going to eat up. And I'm using an old GeForce 6200 AGP card in it, so I'll need as much as I can get for video. That is a very nice card, but a little more than I was wanting to spend. I have copies of Vista home premium and MCE, could go either way with this one. Will primarily be used for music, but also want to be able to watch DVDs. I'm all set for software, preserving the digital surround sound is my last hurdle. Analog 5.1 isn't really a possibility as I'm using that for my SACD player, so it's gotta be optical or coax.

I guess the big question is how much of a sound card do I need to get DD or DTS from a DVD to receiver via optical or coax if I'm using something like Power DVD or Windows Media Center (or even WMP for that matter, if that's even possible.)

start with the motherboard and see if that suits your needs, since you are using optical/coax digital. You won't need hardware acceleration of DD/DTS decoding since you'll be using pass-through to send it to your reciever. If you're big into music consider a Chaintech AV-710 ($22) and research bit-perfect output and lossless audio codecs.

That's excellent information. I wanted something that did hardware DD or DTS because I'll be using it with an old P4 2.8HT. I'm not opposed to software encoding, but worried about how much processor time it's going to eat up. And I'm using an old GeForce 6200 AGP card in it, so I'll need as much as I can get for video. That is a very nice card, but a little more than I was wanting to spend. I have copies of Vista home premium and MCE, could go either way with this one. Will primarily be used for music, but also want to be able to watch DVDs. I'm all set for software, preserving the digital surround sound is my last hurdle. Analog 5.1 isn't really a possibility as I'm using that for my SACD player, so it's gotta be optical or coax.

I guess the big question is how much of a sound card do I need to get DD or DTS from a DVD to receiver via optical or coax if I'm using something like Power DVD or Windows Media Center (or even WMP for that matter, if that's even possible.)

I have a Sound Blaster X-Fi card which has DD/DTS built into it, and I use it with these cables from SB store. There are 2 ways to go through them CABLES (http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=16&product=14309&nav=features#)
or OPITCAL (http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=13&subcategory=55&product=1780&nav=features)
I am using the cables so far so good. I think the OPTICAL would work if you are using the onboard sound from your motherboard. Just use the OPTICAL to your receiver via OPTICAL CABLE as a pass thru to your receiver, and let your receiver decode the DD/DTS signal from your computer. I think that would work.

if i forgot to mention or if it's relevant, my receiver is a Pioneer 816

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/product/details/0,,2076_310069809_299915436,00.html

Hi, got my HTPC up and running but will soon have my speakers/receiver too but the end of this week likely and I want to have my PC running in 7.1 surround sound

what is a good card to buy? my receiver is 7.1 but currently i'm only planning on 5.1 for the next few months and then i'll add accordingly when my budget lets me

for pc i game (though im on and off) and would mostly be using it for music. coaxial or optical output supported by my receiver.

tips? help?

thanks in advance :)

What motherboard are you using??

I just bought an X-Fi XtremeGamer card and the sound difference from the onboard sound is huge. The DACs in most onboard/cheapo sound cards are kind of trashy. I have analog cables connected to a 5.1 receiver that's basically acting as a passthrough while all signal processing is done on the PC. I believe the X-fi decodes just about everything... if not FFDShow can. :)

What motherboard are you using??

MSI K9A Platinum

So you do have a COAX digital out then and you can just run it to the COAX in on the far side of your reciever. I'd start there. Technically that's all you need to get up and running w/ music and surround sound in movies.

However, your reciever does have analog inputs and it's a very deep hole if you start treading down that path....X-Fi, X-Meridain, upgrading opamps, pro audio cards, etc...

If you plan to stick with the digital-in on your reciever there is no reason to put a lot of money into a sound card, almost everything on a sound card gets bypassed when using the digital out...DACs don't matter, opamps don't matter, it makes things a little simpler. Your reciever does all the work.

However, you could definitely get better sound then your A/V reciever offers by putting money into a good quality card with analog outs. This way...your reciever only amplifies (volume) and the pc/sound card do everything else. DACs become important, opamps get replaced, people start breaking out soldering irons....it can get a little crazy around here :) But it's a lot easier to swap different sound cards in and out of your pc then to swap A/V recievers all the time.

main reason for wanting a sound card is for gaming reasons. been told by others on a gaming forum that a dedicated sound card will help with my FPS and just give overall better sound. if it'll take stress off my cpu then I'm all for it

As long as it is a Sound Blaster X-Fi card. When I upgraded to this card I notice the sound on it was so much better vs other older SB cards. But you will have to pay around $100.00 for it. Personally I would save for this card if you can. I had the SB Audigy card before and I can hear really bad noise thru that card, and not to mention it would hang up on games and shut down my computer. Since the upgrade to this X-Fi card no sound problems, crystal clear sound, DD/DTS decoding, and no FPS lag.

X-Fi.

Mat what Video card are you using???
What is your computer specs:??

Amd 4400
MSI K9A Platinum Etc Etc...

I am a computer gamer I will let you know what you will need. If your Vidio card is really old you sould spend the money on the upgrade there vs a sound card that will save you 5fps average..

the x-fi will not offer you 5.1/7.1 surround in games if your using an optical/coaxial connection...as it does not have a dd/dts encoder, good info on the above threads

i just looked at your receiver, and the analog multichannel is only 6 channels (5.1), so you won't be able to run your future 7.1 setup if you're going to use analog...and any dsp modes are not available when using multi-channel in.

MSI K9A Platinum

The K9A has an integrate HD-Audio codec.

This will be GREAT for digital output, it will sound everybit as good as a creative card for music (via the digital out), but it does lack EAX 3.0+ support.

I would not upgrade to a discrete card based on perfomance benefits for games, it's usually very small in the order of 1-3% perfomance increase.

If you really want EAX 5 support than you need the X-Fi, but upgrading to a creative card is strictly about getting EAX support, especially when dealing with digital out.

the x-fi will not offer you 5.1/7.1 surround in games if your using an optical/coaxial connection...as it does not have a dd/dts encoder, good info on the above threads

i just looked at your receiver, and the analog multichannel is only 6 channels (5.1), so you won't be able to run your future 7.1 setup if you're going to use analog...and any dsp modes are not available when using multi-channel in.

FROM X-Fi SITE below:

Enjoy truly cinematic movie sound
The Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card delivers THX® certified surround sound and includes DTS™ and Dolby Digital®-EX decoding for an unbeatable DVD movie watching experience.

MMmmmm ----------->Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series (http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=209&subcategory=669&product=15854)

FROM X-Fi SITE below:

Enjoy truly cinematic movie sound
The Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card delivers THX® certified surround sound and includes DTS™ and Dolby Digital®-EX decoding for an unbeatable DVD movie watching experience.

MMmmmm ----------->Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series (http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=209&subcategory=669&product=15854)

Yay,

they have hardware "DECODE" this means they can turn a soundtrack from a movie to 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 analog out if the software DVD player has it's setting to passthrough.

this is very different from ENCODING, which is the only way to get discrete multichannel audio from games to your reciever via a digital cable.

Yay,

they have hardware "DECODE" this means they can turn a soundtrack from a movie to 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 analog out if the software DVD player has it's setting to passthrough.

this is very different from ENCODING, which is the only way to get discrete multichannel audio from games to your reciever via a digital cable.

I understand that. ;) I thought he was saying it didnt have it.. The digital thru motherboard would be his best bet. I need to S L o w down when reading...

I'm using a onboard POS via S/PDIF and it works fine. The motherboard support DTS-Live but it only comes into play on my system with games (rare, and it's hit and miss on how well it works).

Mat what Video card are you using???
What is your computer specs:??

Amd 4400
MSI K9A Platinum Etc Etc...

I am a computer gamer I will let you know what you will need. If your Vidio card is really old you sould spend the money on the upgrade there vs a sound card that will save you 5fps average..


amd 5000+
8800gts 640
k9a platinum

im pretty much set in terms of hardware, save for the sound card at this point

Auzentech has announced release of an X-Fi based card next month. Might be worth waiting to see the reviews. It'll support up to EAX 5.0 and apparently support for Dolby Digital Live encoding is coming for it also. Might be worth considering. You can certainly build your computer without the sound card and add it later when you have an idea of what features you might use the most.

I have a Sound Blaster X-Fi card which has DD/DTS built into it, and I use it with these cables from SB store. There are 2 ways to go through them CABLES (http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=16&product=14309&nav=features#)
or OPITCAL (http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=13&subcategory=55&product=1780&nav=features)
I am using the cables so far so good. I think the OPTICAL would work if you are using the onboard sound from your motherboard. Just use the OPTICAL to your receiver via OPTICAL CABLE as a pass thru to your receiver, and let your receiver decode the DD/DTS signal from your computer. I think that would work.

I'm thinking that the optical breakout you mentioned would be the way to go for me. Although I think for about the same price as the card and the breakout cable, I saw a base model Auzentech sound card that had optical and coax built in. Was hoping to keep it under $50, but oh well. It's only money. There's also this Diamond sound card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829111001) which has a coax output and supposedly with the right drivers allows DD and DTS passthrough. Any thoughts on it. And there's the Auzentech XMystique (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829127001) which has the optical and coax outs and supports DD Live. To be perfectly honest, in all my years of PC experience, I've never really looked at anything sound related, at least as far as DD and DTS passthrough or encoding. I'm sure it shows :)

On a side note, that's a nice set up you got Mat, but why did you go with the K9A Platinum with the Crossfire support and get an Nvidia card? Why not go with the K9N Platinum or Diamond? They're both NForce 590 SLi boards. Speaking of those boards and sound, I recently got a K9N Diamond board for my main PC. It has the built in hardware SB Audigy too!

Okay, sorry to be a pain, but this will probably be the last one I ask about (at least until I get off work at 3.) Was poking around the Auzentec site and stumbled across the Sondigo Callisto (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829272001). From what I can tell, it seems to be a USB sound card with just an optical connection. Says it supports DD Live and DTS Connect. And for the price, this seems like it would be the ideal solution. Does anybody know anything about it?

BTW, sorry about all the links to Newegg :)

On a side note, that's a nice set up you got Mat, but why did you go with the K9A Platinum with the Crossfire support and get an Nvidia card? Why not go with the K9N Platinum or Diamond? They're both NForce 590 SLi boards. Speaking of those boards and sound, I recently got a K9N Diamond board for my main PC. It has the built in hardware SB Audigy too!

I bought it in anticipation of R600, when it was announced to be further delayed earlier in the year I gave up and just got the Nvidia card


if R600 is as long as they say though, it ownt fit in my htpc so looks like the entire ATI thing will be scrapped..