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Should I use analog or digital cables to connect my PC to my receiver?

post #1 of 14
5/12/12 at 10:06am
Thread Starter 
I have an Asus Xonar D2X Sound Card. I just purchased Klipsch RB-41 (RC-42 for Center Channel) speakers with a Polk Audio PSW110 subwoofer.

I'm now stuck at deciding how much I should spend on a receiver, and whether I should use digital or analog cables.

I've read that the DAC on my sound card is better than any receiver so I should use analog cables to connect my PC to the receiver. Is this true even if I get a decent receiver? I was thinking of getting a Yamaha RX-A710.

And if I end up using analog cables, should I go for a less expensive receiver?
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post #2 of 14
5/12/12 at 11:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LXXIII View Post

I have an Asus Xonar D2X Sound Card. I just purchased Klipsch RB-41 (RC-42 for Center Channel) speakers with a Polk Audio PSW110 subwoofer.

I'm now stuck at deciding how much I should spend on a receiver, and whether I should use digital or analog cables.

I've read that the DAC on my sound card is better than any receiver so I should use analog cables to connect my PC to the receiver. Is this true even if I get a decent receiver? I was thinking of getting a Yamaha RX-A710.

And if I end up using analog cables, should I go for a less expensive receiver?

I wouldn't be going as far as saying a xonar has a better dac then what's on any aventage receiver. Your connection to the receiver will depend on what you plan to output. You have toslink, coax and analog. Toslink is out if you want 7.1 channel output. But, there isn't much 7.1 content in games or movies anyways. One cable makes hookup easy and clutter free.
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post #3 of 14
5/12/12 at 12:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Venomous View Post

I wouldn't be going as far as saying a xonar has a better dac then what's on any aventage receiver. Your connection to the receiver will depend on what you plan to output. You have toslink, coax and analog. Toslink is out if you want 7.1 channel output. But, there isn't much 7.1 content in games or movies anyways. One cable makes hookup easy and clutter free.

Thanks for the response. I'll be outputting movies and music. Gaming is very minor.
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post #4 of 14
5/12/12 at 12:41pm
If you go with analogue cables you'll get full resolution 7.1 audio from games and movies (assuming your media player can decode whatever multichannel format you're media uses). You'll need to run four cables to your receiver and it will need to have a multi-channel input.

If you go with digital coaxial/optical cables you'll get compressed 5.1 audio from games and movies. You'll only need one cable and you should be able to use any AV receiver.

Stereo music will be full resolution 2.0 audio in either case.

For movies and games sound quality will be worse with digital because of the lossy compression used, but you probably won't notice the difference. For music only the quality of the DACs matter, and you're even less likely to notice the difference.
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post #5 of 14
5/12/12 at 1:01pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross Ridge View Post

If you go with analogue cables you'll get full resolution 7.1 audio from games and movies (assuming your media player can decode whatever multichannel format you're media uses). You'll need to run four cables to your receiver and it will need to have a multi-channel input.

If you go with digital coaxial/optical cables you'll get compressed 5.1 audio from games and movies. You'll only need one cable and you should be able to use any AV receiver.

Stereo music will be full resolution 2.0 audio in either case.

For movies and games sound quality will be worse with digital because of the lossy compression used, but you probably won't notice the difference. For music only the quality of the DACs matter, and you're even less likely to notice the difference.

Thanks a lot for the clarification! I used a tutorial on avsforum to make sure my Media Player Classic uses the best filters out there to decode audio/video.

I just learned that both my sound card, and AVENTAGE receivers use Burr-Brown DACs (although I don't know the exact model DAC used by individual AVENTAGE receivers) so I could use either analog or digital.

But since I'd be getting uncompressed audio from analog, I think that's what I'm going to go with. I can put up with multiple cables.

But when you said I'd be using four analog cables; that's only if I have a 7.1 system, right? Because I currently only have 5.1.

EDIT: but you don't think I'll really notice a difference whether I use analog or digital cables, right?
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post #6 of 14
5/12/12 at 1:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LXXIII View Post

But when you said I'd be using four analog cables; that's only if I have a 7.1 system, right? Because I currently only have 5.1.

EDIT: but you don't think I'll really notice a difference whether I use analog or digital cables, right?

For a 5.1 system you'd only need to run 3 analogue cables.

Most people don't seem to notice the difference between lossy compressed and uncompressed audio. Unless you're expecting to critically listen to the audio from movies (eg. a concert film) I wouldn't worry too much about it. For DVD movies it's not going to make difference because the soundtrack is already compressed and should be passed to the receiver as is when using digital audio cables.
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post #7 of 14
5/12/12 at 1:53pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross Ridge View Post

For a 5.1 system you'd only need to run 3 analogue cables.

Most people don't seem to notice the difference between lossy compressed and uncompressed audio. Unless you're expecting to critically listen to the audio from movies (eg. a concert film) I wouldn't worry too much about it. For DVD movies it's not going to make difference because the soundtrack is already compressed and should be passed to the receiver as is when using digital audio cables.

You're right, I probably won't notice a difference, but I went through so much trouble setting up my media player according to this tutorial to make my sound as lossless as possible that I think I can put up with running 3 cables where one would work.
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post #8 of 14
5/12/12 at 2:27pm
^^
It's unlikely you'll be able to tell the difference between the DACs in your sound card and any halfway decent receiver. AVRs offer room correction and other processing tools that can make for bigger differences than the DACs.

Meanwhile, what are your playback sources? Unless you are playing high resolution sources such as Blu-ray, DVD-A, and SACD, the simple S/PDIF connection is the way to go. Even with hires sources, the processing tools in a receiver may still outweigh any lossless advantages.
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post #9 of 14
5/12/12 at 3:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LXXIII View Post

I have an Asus Xonar D2X Sound Card. I just purchased Klipsch RB-41 (RC-42 for Center Channel) speakers with a Polk Audio PSW110 subwoofer.

I'm now stuck at deciding how much I should spend on a receiver, and whether I should use digital or analog cables.

I've read that the DAC on my sound card is better than any receiver so I should use analog cables to connect my PC to the receiver. Is this true even if I get a decent receiver? I was thinking of getting a Yamaha RX-A710.

And if I end up using analog cables, should I go for a less expensive receiver?

Keep in mind, many receivers these days do not have discrete analog inputs, particularly the lower cost receivers. Looks like the Yamaha RX-A710 receiver you mentioned does not have discrete analog inputs. To get the analog inputs, you might actually have to spend more on a current receiver, or purchase an older/used receiver.
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post #10 of 14
5/12/12 at 4:40pm
Yah, if you go with a current Yamaha you'll need to get at least an RX-A1010.

Using HDMI will also get you full resolution multichannel audio and works with any receiver.
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post #11 of 14
5/12/12 at 9:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by BIslander View Post

^^
It's unlikely you'll be able to tell the difference between the DACs in your sound card and any halfway decent receiver. AVRs offer room correction and other processing tools that can make for bigger differences than the DACs.

Meanwhile, what are your playback sources? Unless you are playing high resolution sources such as Blu-ray, DVD-A, and SACD, the simple S/PDIF connection is the way to go. Even with hires sources, the processing tools in a receiver may still outweigh any lossless advantages.

My PC has 8TB of uncompressed full Blu-rays. That's why I'd really like to send an uncompressed signal to my AVR.

You make a good point though, there are more things to consider than just the DACs...


Quote:
Originally Posted by indio22 View Post

Keep in mind, many receivers these days do not have discrete analog inputs, particularly the lower cost receivers. Looks like the Yamaha RX-A710 receiver you mentioned does not have discrete analog inputs. To get the analog inputs, you might actually have to spend more on a current receiver, or purchase an older/used receiver.

Oh wow.. well this is starting to make my question pretty moot...

EDIT: are you sure? I see this on the specs for the RX-A710: "Analog Audio Input/Output: 5 (front 1) / 1"


Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross Ridge View Post

Yah, if you go with a current Yamaha you'll need to get at least an RX-A1010.

Using HDMI will also get you full resolution multichannel audio and works with any receiver.

Yeah... the RX-A1010 is definitely out of my price range.. so you're saying I get totally uncompressed 5.1 sound for my Blu-rays if I bypass my sound card altogether and route the sound through my video card's HDMI cable?
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post #12 of 14
5/12/12 at 10:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LXXIII View Post

EDIT: are you sure? I see this on the specs for the RX-A710: "Analog Audio Input/Output: 5 (front 1) / 1"

Yeah... the RX-A1010 is definitely out of my price range.. so you're saying I get totally uncompressed 5.1 sound for my Blu-rays if I bypass my sound card altogether and route the sound through my video card's HDMI cable?

The specs you quoted indicate that the receiver has five sets of stereo inputs. The feature you're looking for in a receiver is called a multi-channel input, and like indio22 said you need to be looking at the higher end receivers to find it.

Using HDMI will give you up to 7.1 uncompressed digital audio without using your soundcard at all. It can also bitstream DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD lossless soundtracks. You'll have to extend or duplicate your desktop over that HDMI output to get it to work though since HDMI requires video.
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post #13 of 14
5/12/12 at 10:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross Ridge View Post

The specs you quoted indicate that the receiver has five sets of stereo inputs. The feature you're looking for in a receiver is called a multi-channel input, and like indio22 said you need to be looking at the higher end receivers to find it.

Using HDMI will give you up to 7.1 uncompressed digital audio without using your soundcard at all. It can also bitstream DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD lossless soundtracks. You'll have to extend or duplicate your desktop over that HDMI output to get it to work though since HDMI requires video.

Alright then, I guess I'm using HDMI for my audio! I already duplicate my desktop over that HDMI cable so that's no problem. It's too bad that I have this kickass sound card and I won't even be using it for my kickass sound system, but oh well.. it's served my well over the years.
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post #14 of 14
5/13/12 at 8:25pm
Yes, HDMI is the way to go. You get lossless audio and the processing tools of an AVR.
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