Does a Soundcard make any difference if you connect through digital optical

JaFFa · 20 Nov 2009 at 15:35

basically as title, is there any difference in the end quality if I use the realtek onboard audio via optical as opposed toa dedicated solution through optical. It seems to me that the audio decoder is doing the work and then it's the same digital information going to the speaker set.

Essentially would Dolby digital , DTS etc on a movie sound different from a dedicated card than form the m/b output ?

To clarify I'm not talking about gaming at all.

Theguy · 20 Nov 2009 at 17:40

technically it shouldn't.. iam sure people will come along and say that different sound cards give the sound a different warmth or feel..

p4radox · 20 Nov 2009 at 18:05

That would depend on what DAC you're using.

If you have a very good soundcard, its DAC is likely to be better than some in-built DAC in a set of Creative speakers, for example. In this case you're best off using the soundcard's analog outputs.

But if you have a decent external DAC, then it makes absolutely no difference what the digital source is.

JaFFa · 20 Nov 2009 at 20:07

OK thats pretty much what I thought. I have the ubiquitous z5500's and a choice of either using 3 channel analogue from an xfi or s/pdif from the realtek HD on my Gigabyte DS3. The X-fi like all creative cards of a certain age has started behaving oddly so I took it out, I was wondering if it was worth getting a replacement (with optical out) but by the sounds of it, no.

Buckster · 20 Nov 2009 at 21:15

for a Z5500 no

even on high end av amplifiers unlikey

I think for d.digital/dts the av amplifier re-clocks the data - so jitter is not an issue - so if you're getting hte signal its as good as it can be

Uriel · 21 Nov 2009 at 18:44

For gaming - yes. For films and music I would say onboard with optical is fine.

Headphone use is a different matter. Would definately recommend a soundcard if headphones are involved.

JaFFa · 23 Nov 2009 at 14:35

When I use headphones I plug them into the speakers so that's taken care of. Great, haven't played a pc game for a while, at least that's one less thing to worry about.