Hi there,
I'm planning on building a new PC soon, with an ASUS H81M-PLUS motherboard.
I currently use an external USB DAC into my seperates system for sound - and its great. But I use a 2 channel amp with two sets of speakers wired up in parallel. It sounds fantastic for music, but for stuff like films and games it loses a lot of directional data - because its still just a 2 channel setup.
So I'm planning on getting a 5.1 surround amp, and then running the sound in through that - but I'm not very up to date with digital audio.
1. What is the best option?
Are modern motherboards better shielded, and presumeably digital outputs less effected by noise? My old PC, with a DP43TF motherboard, gave awful sound on the analog outputs, hence using the DAC.
2. If I use HDMI, will I be able to use the onboard sound HDMI output at the same time as using an standalone graphics card (960 GTX) for my graphics? If I have to use the graphics card output, will it still be routed through the motherboard sound circuits?
3. Finally, is it worth upgrading to 5 channel and getting a center speaker? Does anyone there use a 4 channel setup for gaming here - with decent speaker positioning, is the lack of a center speaker even that noticeable?
Thanks for the help!
Chris
I'm planning on building a new PC soon, with an ASUS H81M-PLUS motherboard.
I currently use an external USB DAC into my seperates system for sound - and its great. But I use a 2 channel amp with two sets of speakers wired up in parallel. It sounds fantastic for music, but for stuff like films and games it loses a lot of directional data - because its still just a 2 channel setup.
So I'm planning on getting a 5.1 surround amp, and then running the sound in through that - but I'm not very up to date with digital audio.
1. What is the best option?
- Optical Out
- HDMI Out
- USB DAC
Are modern motherboards better shielded, and presumeably digital outputs less effected by noise? My old PC, with a DP43TF motherboard, gave awful sound on the analog outputs, hence using the DAC.
2. If I use HDMI, will I be able to use the onboard sound HDMI output at the same time as using an standalone graphics card (960 GTX) for my graphics? If I have to use the graphics card output, will it still be routed through the motherboard sound circuits?
3. Finally, is it worth upgrading to 5 channel and getting a center speaker? Does anyone there use a 4 channel setup for gaming here - with decent speaker positioning, is the lack of a center speaker even that noticeable?
Thanks for the help!
Chris
