I run 2.1 - soundcard goes out into 12" powered sub which goes onto NAD. I have zero interest in 5.1 or 7.1 so I don't really know much about it. I hadn't thought about the dolby stuff - i was just thinking of signal processing.
Yes - this is true - some cards will output DD5.1 with on-the-fly encoding, BUT (and this is a big one), those which don't WILL output PCM 5.1 which any decoder will happily route to the appropriate channels on an AV amp/decoder without the need for (lossy) encoding into DD5.1 and the subsequent decoding into the discrete channels. In sum, your best bet, if you are running an AV amp or multichannel decoder, is to output raw digital audio out of the PC via Optical/Coax/HDMI and let the amp do the work, and I (in my personal opinion) wouldn't bother with DD5.1 encoding at the sound card end - it nobbles the bass and top end. DD5.1 (or AC-3 as it was) was designed to be a media format to deliver movie soundtracks on optical disc, and as such, is lossy like MP3. Some decoders on multichannel speaker setups are fussy about taking a PCM input from a PC, so if you've got one of these decoders, then DD5.1 (or better, DTS (less lossy)) is your option. Else, raw audio which hasn't been lossy encoded will deliver a better audio quality (and most games will output multichannel non-lossy-encoded audio for best fidelity). BUT - if you are running an analogue speaker set, connected with RCAs or jacks, then you want the best DAC and op-amps you can find on a sound card. I'm a bit out of the loop here these days as to the best (as I run my audio either through an Onkyo AV amp for 7.1 (REL sub goodness - yum) or through my audio production converters and via balanced output into my KRK monitors). I'll now revert to someone who has tried many analogue soundcard outputs...
I agree, that you should let your AV receiver/Decoder do the decoding, as it will be, like you say less lossy. I use Optical S/PDIF to my Z5500, but I still have to select Dolby Digital or DTS on my Soundcard UIF, to get the Z5500 Decoder to decode it to AC3 or DTS 96/24. Going to my living room with my Pioneer VSX AV Receiver, and running a BD Player, with sound getting pass-through to the AV AMP by HDMI to decode at the AV Amps end. I can hear the differences (Big difference!), when running DTS HD Master Audio, when decoded from the AV Amp, rather than the BD built in Decoder and then sent to the AV Amp. Now I'm more for decoding at the AV Amps end too. People do rate PCM, but I just find it flat, maybe just me, but on my Cambridge Floorstanders, I can hear the difference compared to AC3 - DTS etc. Now if your just playing Music, then you can't beat Stereo. Games and Films, 5.1+ is where it's at. Though I can't wait till games can output DTS HD Master Audio! Because that sounds incredible!
You'll find that decoding at your BD player in your living room and streaming in PCM will likely sound 'flat' - the decoding algorithms in your BD player won't be as good as those in your AV amp Games are never 'encoded' in the first place though - they output raw audio, which is PCM audio - so it shouldn't matter with games Sorry if I've drawn this off topic - audio/music is my passion - I like to help people get the best out of their gear As regards the OP - if you're outputting directly to a pair of headphones using the headphone amp on a sound card, make sure you get the best you can. The Xonar STX is supposed to be excellent... @OP - are you running 5.1 headphones?
Thanks for your comment I am actually considering getting an amp in the future, however I must output the sound from my PC anyway, and I want to switch from my 5.1 to headphones 2.0. For that I think I need a soundcard. Both Auzentech and Creative allow DD but a Ciberlink software is required How should I output the sound and make this switch without changing the cables? Thanks in advance for your help.
OP is using Sennheiser 360 headphones. It's always helpful to others to understand how to get the best out of their gear. I think the OP needs, the best of both worlds from his soundcard.
I actually bought one before I started working here... The sound coming out of the Sabertooth was a bit too low so decided to bite the bullet. Don't regret it.. You can have your freebies once I've had mine
That is true. I would like to understand why it is so complicated to get a single solution that works perfectly with 2.0 and 5.1 Thanks for all the help that you are giving me.
I know. Nope, I can never go back to on board sound... Well, if you posted in my Games giveaway threads, you may have had a chance. Glad to help in some way. Right, the only way you can really get the best of both worlds, is to get the Creative ZXR, and a AV Receiver, which you would connect via S/PDIF whilst the headphones connect straight to the soundcard. It's going to be expensive, but it's the only real solution without having to sacrifice one or the other.
It's a shame that the speaker system doesn't have a headphone output! As far as I can tell from the Edifier website, the speakers connect via an analogue connection to the sound card? If that's the case, then why not get a reasonable sound card for the multichannel output and then a USB DAC headphone amp for the headphones - that's where you'll notice the increase in audio quality most. EDIT: Simon - you ninja'd me. I'd say that those speakers probably aren't worth investing in an AV amp for - they're active, so you would only be getting the benefit of the DACs in the AV amp and not the amps. For the speakers, just a decent sound card, and then for the headphones, a lovely DAC headphone amp
If I am not mistaken both the sound cards have a DAC do I get any additional advantage using an USB DAC? The Edifier are only Analogue, only the Logitech have digital input, but I do not see any advantages on that.
Well - a USB DAC is in general way better than a DAC on an internal sound card, and headphones is where you'll hear the difference at this stage
So that implies that 5.1 will benefit from an external amp and a headphones from DAC rather than outputs specially designed for headphones? Thanks again for your help, I am just trying to get a good sound system that fits my needs and my 2.0 and 5.1 systems.
Well - some internal soundcards have a dedicated headphone amp, but I haven't tested enough to give a decent opinion (and I prefer outboard gear, as I'm old school), so I'd probably go for an external USB job for your headphones, and a half-decent multichannel card for your speakers (until you upgrade them - of course, if you're buying a set of speakers with a digital input, then just use the digital out on your onboard sound)
You're supposed to be proving your ridiculous statement - Come on provide evidence as to how every asus card is better than it's comparative creative card.
Ok thanks for your feedback. Sorry to bother you with all my questions, but I do not understand the advantage of having speakers with digital input, since analogue is better and the amp does better conversion than speakers. Thanks for your patience.
So - speakers with a digital input have an inboard decoder for DD5.1/DTS/DD-EX/DTS HD and the like, and also a selection of DACs. The beauty of this is that, generally, the DACs and amps are matched to the speakers. Analogue outs from a sound card have an inboard decoder and a selection of DACs, but then the audio is passed out from the sound card to the input of the speakers in the analogue domain, which is subject to noise/degradation/general detritus from a PC audio card. Both approaches are perfectly valid (and indeed are used in high end setups). My suggestion really was to use a more cost-effective setup for your multichannel speakers, as you won't really tell the difference between a £50 sound card and a £250 sound card with an all-in-one analogue 5.1 speaker system (it might be possible, but is it worth it?) It doesn't look, from the OP, that you will be looking to upgrade the speakers, but my comment about a digitally-connected speaker system was there to illustrate that if you were thinking about upgrading your speakers, you'd not need (really) to get another internal sound card, but instead run a digital out straight to the decoder of the speakers. However - given that you have a speaker system, I'd get a middle-of-the-road internal sound card to drive these (and make sure you use decent interconnects to hook them up), and then run the headphones (through which you almost certainly will hear the difference) from a USB DAC/headphone amp (perhaps like this - I know the price is high, but I can't think of the actual DAC I mean which is cheaper) for your headphones.
