Do I need a sound card?

hibeesmad

hibeesmad

hibeesmad

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I am going to buy the Yamaha AV63 package (amp supports DTS and DD live).

However I am a little unsure if I need a sound card or not. Will my amp not produce DTS and DD Live via coaxial from a P45 motherboard, or will a dedicated sound card, a Xonar perhaps, be needed to send the raw signal which carries the DTS or DD Live signal, or will the amp produce this itself without the need of a dedicated sound card?

What I am asking is that will my amp not produce these features from the signal sent from onboard sound or will a sound card be needed to ensure I get DTS and DD while playing a game or watching a DVD?

Thanks,

Johnny.
 
What is your exact motherboard? Sound hardware depends on vendor. You may already have somthing with DTS connect or DDL. These endode DTS and Dolby Digital for the amp to decode.

Most motherboards with coaxial or optical out will pass a dolby digital or dts signal to an AV receiver to give you 5.1. This works for DVDs or other pre-encoded content, even if your onboard sound doesn't support DDL or DTS Connect.

If you're hoping for surround sound in older games in vista you may require a soundcard. Realtek (onboard sound provider) have recently released a beta program that allows surround sound in older games for Vista. Most motherboards with DTS Connect and DDL will be fine for 5.1 gaming with XP.
 
I haven't decided which motherboard I am going to buy, which would you recommend in this case? (I prefer Gigabyte)

I just don't see the point in spending £100 on a sound card if I do not need it. As long as on board sound sends the DTS and DD live signal for my amp to decode.

Will this allow me to recieve DTS and DD Live while playing games and watching DVDs?

Thanks for your help,

Johnny.
 
A clarification on DD Live. The signal is just Dolby Digital (DD). DD Live is a feature on pc audio chips that allows the computer to encode Dolby Digital in realtime. DTS Connect does the same thing for DTS signals.

You should not need DD Live or DTS Connect on your motherboard sound to get DD or DTS for DVDs as they are pre-encoded. Your PC should be able to pass the signal straight to the reciever via an optical or coaxial cable.

DD Live or DTS connect are required if you want surround sound over optical or coaxial from other sources like games. If you are happy to use analogue cables then you don't need them.

If you want a P45 motherboard, look for the Realtek ALC889A soundchip, which is found on most of the Gigabyte boards. This is probably the best onboard audio solution for people playing games on Vista with an external DTS decoder. The chip does DTS Connect and because it's a Realtek HD codec you can download a program called 3D Soundback, which works like Creative's AlChemy to give surround sound in older games.

At the moment the only ways to play many older games with Surround Sound in Vista is via Realtek HD onboard (like the ALC889A), Creative X-Fi (Edit: nearly forgot Audigy as well and the X-Fi card made by Auzentech) cards and Asus Xonar cards.
 
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hibeesmad said:
So if I purchase a motherboard with Reaktek 889A, I will not need to purchase a sound card which supports DD Live and DTS to enjoy these fatures?
Click to expand...

Correct (Apart from it's ALC889A).

A quick word of caution. Realtek's 3D Soundback program (for surround sound in older games) is still in Beta and was only published recently. I've not heard much user feedback about how well it works yet. It's not needed for newer games though.
 
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