New Soundcard or HDMI GFX Audio

Moldiver

Moldiver

Moldiver

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I currently have an ATI HD5870 and run the HDMI cable from that to my Harman Kardon AVR 255 AV Reciever, i am just wondering if will see an improvement in sound if i buy an ASUS Xonar D2X.

Ive read some stuf where people say that because it is a digital signal it will not get any better where others have said that when they tested it, that it sounds so much better than the onboard gfx card sound, just can't make up my mind as the people who talk about digital signal don't mention that they have actually tested where as the people who seem to have tested it say a dedicated soundcard is better.

Many thanks :)
 
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Digital doesn't produce a sound, it has to be converted by the DAC at some point. Most people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the 2 DACs so really all you have to go on is your ears. It's worth noting that using a digital cable and letting the amp decode the signal rather than the sound card cuts out a lot of cabling where signal can deteriorate, if you use even half decent cables over a short distance you shouldn't be able to notice this though, just a consideration, likewise using HDMI to the amp rather than a cable for every channel vastly reduces the number of cables you'll have lying around.
 
I have a 6950 and run HDMI from my PC into my Onkyo 876 amp for DTS audio when watching movies.

For MP3 and music playback its a different story.

I added a Xonar D2 for gaming and music playback as it has dolby digital live and DTS connect so converts on the fly for music.

If you are just watching movies though HDMI out using the ATI HD HDMI interface is fine.
 
Why would you want to convert music or games to DTS when the HDMI can send mutli-channel audio? Why would you want to encode music into DTS at all? Admittedly I know very little about DTS but I can't see it making games or music sound any better than their original source.
 
Yeah the 5870 seems fine for movies just wondering if switching device for when i am gaming was worth the upgrade. I have seen people mention that it does make a diffarence when using gaming and also using the analogue outs for music.

Hard to decide without having the actual hardware to test, and blowing £90 to find out it's exaclty the same would be pretty painful lol.
 
Moldiver said:
Yeah the 5870 seems fine for movies just wondering if switching device for when i am gaming was worth the upgrade. I have seen people mention that it does make a diffarence when using gaming and also using the analogue outs for music.

Hard to decide without having the actual hardware to test, and blowing £90 to find out it's exaclty the same would be pretty painful lol.
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For gaming and music having a sound card will yield better results.

Get a Xonar DG for gaming and music ( £20) and just have a seperate input for the amp when you watch a film.

Music sounds far better coming rom the D2 into my amp than it does coming from the ATI HD audio on the GFX card.

Movies with DTS audio sound the same with both. Thats one of the resasons I got a sound card. Music and Gaming
 
easyrider said:
For gaming and music having a sound card will yield better results.

Get a Xonar DG for gaming and music ( £20) and just have a seperate input for the amp when you watch a film.

Music sounds far better coming rom the D2 into my amp than it does coming from the ATI HD audio on the GFX card.

Movies with DTS audio sound the same with both. Thats one of the resasons I got a sound card. Music and Gaming
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Yeah i think that is the best option, what is the best soundcard for gaming that is under £90.

Also wonder if anyone can help with this, my soud atm goes out over HDMI and when using XBMC (Xbox Media Centre) my AV reciever changes to say DD of DTS when playing a file with that audio format but when using VLC player it just sits at Multi-CH PCM. With medai player classic i have got it displaying DTS by seeting it up in the ffdshow icon in my tray and thats all fine, just can't seem to get it with VLC

I downloaded AC3 Filter but it has done nothing and i allready had the Combined Community Codec pack installed.
 
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You need a sound card in order to encode to DTS or DD on the fly (check my thread slightly lower down). I don't think there is any advantage to having your audio encoded into DTS or DD over PCM, as far as I'm aware those formats are only designed to send multi-channel audio where transfer rates are slow (I.E. coaxial/digital S/PDIF).

In the case of the DG the sound quality in comparison with my AVR (Harman/Kardon 2550) the DAC just isn't up to the same standard, my DG is relegated to supplying 5.1 and I use my AVR to play music as the sound quality difference if phenomenal, I'd pick my AVR over my soundcard for music any day. Mine is an older model so I'd expect the 255 to have a better DAC in any respect.

If you don't mind going second hand then occasionally a D2 or D2X appears on the MM for a decent price and if you aren't happy with it you can sell it for what you paid for it.

EDIT:
I think I misread that post above, you need to change VLC to the audio passthrough I believe, at least I have to do the same thing in XBMC to send DTS to my AVR over optical.
 
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Auraomega said:
You need a sound card in order to encode to DTS or DD on the fly (check my thread slightly lower down). I don't think there is any advantage to having your audio encoded into DTS or DD over PCM, as far as I'm aware those formats are only designed to send multi-channel audio where transfer rates are slow (I.E. coaxial/digital S/PDIF).

In the case of the DG the sound quality in comparison with my AVR (Harman/Kardon 2550) the DAC just isn't up to the same standard, my DG is relegated to supplying 5.1 and I use my AVR to play music as the sound quality difference if phenomenal, I'd pick my AVR over my soundcard for music any day. Mine is an older model so I'd expect the 255 to have a better DAC in any respect.

If you don't mind going second hand then occasionally a D2 or D2X appears on the MM for a decent price and if you aren't happy with it you can sell it for what you paid for it.

EDIT:
I think I misread that post above, you need to change VLC to the audio passthrough I believe, at least I have to do the same thing in XBMC to send DTS to my AVR over optical.
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Think i get what you saying alothouhg noy sure what DG is short for.

Ive heard the D2X is best for movies and not games, so if i am going to be using it for gaming i might switch to the CREATIVE LABS Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium 7.1 Ch PCIe Sound Card. Is that worth a purchase?

DTS working fine no with Media player classic, my avreicver changes everytime and picks it up perfect. Just wish i could get VLC to do the same.
 
And thats another problem sorted, changed VLC player output mode to Win32 waveOUT extension output and ticked use S/PDIF when available. AV reciever now changes to DTS :)

Last thing is the sound card, would anyone recommened the one i mentionedd and is there one cheaper that will give me just as good audio for games.
 
Oh I didn't notice your post count haha. I managed to get around 500 posts in my first 3 months, granted I had lots of spare time and no job, but those posts do increase quick.

The DG is the cheapest Xonar card available, aimed more at headphones and at only £20 you can't expect wonders but it really is head and shoulders over onboard and at it's price it's a bargin.

You know, if there comes a D2X on the MM for £35 I'll snap it up as soon as I see it, that's an excellent price!
 
absolutely zero difference between my old d2 and my 5850 for music. have to make sure the 5850 isnt set to 48khz though - for some reason something weird happens at 48k although i havent figured out why - i only use 96khz.

I cant see the point in using dts connect to convert music to dts and then back again at the amp end, it can only ever make it sound worse. I just use straight pcm, though i am guilty of resampling to 96khz, and this was the same when i had the d2. There's no logical reason why DTS conect makes stereo music any better and to buy a card for that reason is a waste of time and money.


proper soundcards are a big advantage for games, not for anything else.
 
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james.miller said:
absolutely zero difference between my old d2 and my 5850 for music. have to make sure the 5850 isnt set to 48khz though - for some reason something weird happens at 48k although i havent figured out why - i only use 96khz.

I cant see the point in using dts connect to convert music to dts and then back again at the amp end, it can only ever make it sound worse. I just use straight pcm, though i am guilty of resampling to 96khz, and this was the same when i had the d2. There's no logical reason why DTS conect makes stereo music any better and to buy a card for that reason is a waste of time and money.


proper soundcards are a big advantage for games, not for anything else.
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I think gaming is what i'm going for just need to find the best card, any clear winners?
 
james.miller said:
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Depends on your receivers' DAC, if you buy a D2/X and use analogue connections and your amp is cheap and has a poor quality DAC the card will sound better. But I agree completely, I see absolutely no reason to compress to DTS to decompress at the AVR stage when you can just send the signal decompressed at the beginning.
 
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