Advice on AV setup

Krono5 · 1 Sep 2019 at 13:15

Hi all,

I'm trying to improve my AV setup for my new build and am really lost atm.
Currently I have:
AKG K702's
Yamaha RX-V673 AV Receiver
Speakers (they're fine)
No Soundcard
and will be getting a relatively decent X570 motherboard.

I currently have hdmi going GFX card > AV Receiver > monitor
and headphones/speakers plugged directly into the AV receiver as well.

This seems like a bad solution but idk what would be ideal. My guess would be the video is ok but I should get an amp to power the headphones and maybe a soundcard? If so I could really use recommendations. Also the AV Receiver is nearing EOL so might replace that soon.

Thanks for any and all help.

Krono5 · 1 Sep 2019 at 19:48

ToTheMax said:
- What speaker setup are you running, 5.1 or 2.0?
- Do you want biaural sound simulation for headphones or do you only want stereo?
- Any requirement for Dolby ATMOS?
- Thoughts on using Dolby Digital over optical into your AV?

2.0
Sure, that would just require toggling on Windows Sonic would it not?
Nope.
I have no idea.

@Radox-0 Yeah, using Displayport as well would probably lower any delay to the monitor.

Krono5 · 1 Sep 2019 at 19:59

Ah, Biaural sound would require a soundcard instead of onboard, sorry I’m completely in the dark on sound side of things for PC. That'd be preferable but depends on cost I guess.

Krono5 · 2 Sep 2019 at 16:43

ToTheMax said:
OK this makes it very easy to recomend then as similar setup to me, would highly recomend the Creative G6 external USB headphone DAC/AMP. Loads of features and more than enough power to shatter your ear drums with those headphones you got. Connect to PC over USB and then run optical out to your AV amp.

You've given me a lot to think about that I didn't know I'd be considering lol
Been doing some googling on this today and the G6 does look the best option for a gaming focus. The other option that allegedly provide better sound quality is a dac/amp combo like the LDS labs Atom and Topping D10 which is more Audiophile focused for music or w/e.

The difference appears to be the creative software with the D6 for virtual surround, footsteps and so on. So I guess is there standalone software that's just as accessible to get the best of both worlds?