I'm Using Home Audio System For My PC

[royfrosty]

Hi guys, I got a mixture of answers pertaining to whether if my converted HTS on PC needs
a sound card to improve the sound quality or not. Some said yes and some said no. And each
has their reason to backup their claim. Well, I think there is no right or wrong answer here.
Basically, the bottomline is whether the money is well spent for a sound card with the quality
it produces or not. I'm quite curious to find out thinking that it doesn't cost much anyway.

Any advice for a compatible SC that costs around $200-300 to kill my itch?

I'm considering creative products, worth or not?

TIA

I think you are a bit confused here.

As long as you are connecting to a hts you will need either a hdmi, optical or coaxial digital output from your pc. Digital signals comes in binary 1 or 0. You cant physically change the bits and adjust to it.

A sound card is good for people whom wanna connect speakers direct using an analogue cable like rca 3.5mm cable etc.

 

[yeobt]

I think you are a bit confused here.

As long as you are connecting to a hts you will need either a hdmi, optical or coaxial digital output from your pc. Digital signals comes in binary 1 or 0. You cant physically change the bits and adjust to it.

A sound card is good for people whom wanna connect speakers direct using an analogue cable like rca 3.5mm cable etc.

Perhaps i'M confused. Really paiseh.

Ok, want SC, use analogue. Digital doesn't need SC. But which output is better?

Well, my current connection is a RCA 3.5 jack from PC to an analogue on my receiver.
I juz bought an optical cable from SLS this afternoon n going to connect it to the digital.

So, I hv both output? Is digital output producing better sound quality than analogue?
Some said analogue onboard sounds produce only 2 channels. My setup is 5.1, would
digital output makes any diff.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[royfrosty]

Perhaps i'M confused. Really paiseh.

Ok, want SC, use analogue. Digital doesn't need SC. But which output is better?

Well, my current connection is a RCA 3.5 jack from PC to an analogue on my receiver.
I juz bought an optical cable from SLS this afternoon n going to connect it to the digital.

So, I hv both output? Is digital output producing better sound quality than analogue?
Some said analogue onboard sounds produce only 2 channels. My setup is 5.1, would
digital output makes any diff.

Thanks for all the replies.

Digital sounds are different from analogue. You can fine tune an analogue sinal using things like an equalizer. Digital cant do.

Digital will sound better. With a optical cable or HDMI or even coaxial cable. It can be used to carry signals like DTS and Dolby suround and let your HTS do the decoding from PC. It is so call "bypass"

HDMI on the other hand is still the best digital output. Cause it supports DTS HD and Dolby true HD. But that requires your HTS to be able to decode it.

 

[wacko]

the question of whether digital or analogue is better is irrelevant, all sound data originating from your PC is digital, and at some point in time, gets converted to analogue, because that is what the final output device (speakers, headphones, earphones) must have in order to produce sound. so the question that is important is which digital to analogue conversion is the best? is it on a soundcard, or on an AVR? this is also not straightforward, I'm pretty sure the best of soundcards will better the worst of AVRs, and vice versa. but at the same price point, there is where the important answer lies. unfortunately, i think at $200 to $300, there aren't that many AVRs available for comparison. but of course, you need to bear in mind that an AVR does more than what a soundcard does, it also primarily serves as an amp to drive the speakers.

 

[yeobt]

alamak! juz when i was about to pluck my newly bought optical cable to my PC,

only then i realised my MB doesn't support optical cable output.

knn, need to upgrade my system soon. any specific good MB for music or movie?

my receiver is actually my woofer.

TIA

 

[wacko]

you don't have to change motherboard, all you need now is a simple USB to Optical device, plenty on eBay.

 

[yeobt]

you don't have to change motherboard, all you need now is a simple USB to Optical device, plenty on eBay.

oh, that's some saving for me. great!
is the USB to optical device be available in SLS?

TIA

 

[wacko]

oh, that's some saving for me. great!
is the USB to optical device be available in SLS?

TIA

Creative has a Christmas sale going on, Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB Sound Card - Creative Technology (Singapore) seems like a good price.