help me finally get rid of soundcard, need passthrough/ATMOS to AVR

slim01 · 8 Jun 2025 at 05:54

Hi all, sorry to just disappear on you all, work and life took over

7.1 via the dual display setup works however as Hornetstinger mentioned there are in fact issues with this.
I haven't had mouse roll off issue (as my 2nd "screen is like 640x480) and most games you can "lock the mouse to the main screen". nor main display going to 1080p however I do have some other annoying issues:

1) When my TV or windows goes into standby, audio drops. which happens ALL the damn time (my OLED TV constantly force's this, even when I game I have to keep the remote next to me to press something every 30-45 mins). Annoying if listening to an album or youtube vid/podcast etc.
2) If my amp goes into standby/off, eg a lot of websites and pretty much anything with audio will not even load the video feed due to an error. Even if I say want just my TV speakers on instead of ya know, paying electric for 8+ speakers and an amp, I can't.
3) Performance hit, albeit small, around 2%.

My mobo has an SPDIF out, so maybe will just use that for the scenarios where I dont want 7.1 or my amp on... so might still be able to finally take the sound card out once and for all!!

slim01 · 8 Jun 2025 at 06:06

Bluecube said:
I’m struggling to understand your setup. You say your previous Onkyo AVR had switching issues so you’ve replaced it with a Marantz AVR which I’m assuming doesn’t?

I don’t use an EQ on my PC and my soundbar doesn’t have one. All good here. You have set up the sound output correctly in Windows? When I used Windows, it was forever changing the sound setting from Atmos to 2.0

No the Onkyo I had never did, however other peoples had a massive re-call due to HDMI switching. The Marantz I have now does, and it's not even heard of, and too old for warranty replace etc. I say Marantz but not sure if issue with the TV or fire cube tbh.
The fire cube is pretty trash, it's probably that. Trash because, well, I bought it for voice control but you still need to use a damn remote anyway eg:
1) "Alexa open season 5 episode one on Disney plus" - Just opens disney+...
2) "Alexa turn on/off my TV" turns on/off my TV AND my amp. Amp should not need to be on for passthrough signals apparently.
3) or flat out ignores me 50% of the time.

Did try running the second "screen" to my amp method.
For EQ software I found something called "Equalizer APO 1.3 configuration editor". Not as nice/simple as the xonar but it does the job.

Personal opinion I guess but to me most music/audio sounds dreadful (very flat/muffled to my ears) with no EQ. Even on a soundbar I'd probably do like treble +3 and bass+2 or something.

And despite what KEF audiophiles told me, I can hear no difference between DD Live compressed and now lossless audio. I tested with WAV files at like 1400kbps, they sound identical despite some initial placebo effects!

slim01 · 8 Jun 2025 at 06:20

hornetstinger said:
I don't use any EQ, sounds great.

Although for "EQ" that differs to AVR /subwoofer room correction, or using DSU/DTS X sound expansion I don't use any party or disco modes.

PC to AVR should sound good, if you are using DD Live it will be converting CD audio to Dolby Digital. So no wonder it'll sound crap.

Do as I suggested, set output in Asus CP to PCM, 100% output. I think Windows 11 mixer is bit perfect now, but if you use foobar 32 bit then install the wsapi plugin, change the sound output in foobar to wsapi (exclusive) then test 44.1khz and 48khz flac audio.

Then set DD/DTS in MPC HC. You'll get the standard DD/DTS 5.1 mixes. You won't get any 7.1 or greater, or DTS X/Atmos/HD codecs

If that is your priority just get a amlogic media box for your movies and TV shows those will do multi channel bitstream HD.

Yeah I'm after 7.1 bud, in games. Not sure what an amlogic media box is or why I'd need one? The fire cube is like a media box no?

If your'e using room correction/audyssey I believe that IS like an EQ setting, no? To my knowledge, Auddysey doesn't just change speaker volumes it measures/compensates/adjusts tones as well; I loved Audyssey on my Onkyo (made everything sound a bit crisper) but on the Marantz treble becomes too harsh, so I have set speaker distances manually and leave it off. I also leave all the Marantz/Audyssey EQ settings off. Weird though, I'm usually one for turning all the bells and whistles on

hornetstinger · 8 Jun 2025 at 19:56

slim01 said:
Yeah I'm after 7.1 bud, in games. Not sure what an amlogic media box is or why I'd need one? The fire cube is like a media box no?

If your'e using room correction/audyssey I believe that IS like an EQ setting, no? To my knowledge, Auddysey doesn't just change speaker volumes it measures/compensates/adjusts tones as well; I loved Audyssey on my Onkyo (made everything sound a bit crisper) but on the Marantz treble becomes too harsh, so I have set speaker distances manually and leave it off. I also leave all the Marantz/Audyssey EQ settings off. Weird though, I'm usually one for turning all the bells and whistles on

it's basically a Kodi box yeah

I use subwoofer EQ with minidsp but not for my speakers. But my streamer has room EQ , Wiim Ultra and allows presets from the wiim remote.

You should allow the AVR to do the speaker distance and levels. Speakers sounding harsh could be one of the correction modes, flat, reference try both. Also maybe set correction limit upto 300hz

slim01 · 9 Jun 2025 at 09:50

hornetstinger said:
it's basically a Kodi box yeah

I use subwoofer EQ with minidsp but not for my speakers. But my streamer has room EQ , Wiim Ultra and allows presets from the wiim remote.

You should allow the AVR to do the speaker distance and levels. Speakers sounding harsh could be one of the correction modes, flat, reference try both. Also maybe set correction limit upto 300hz

Well that's what i thought, but nope, audyssey on = adjusts the treble for sure. Turned off all the adjustments I could and I just wrote down the speaker levels and input them manually. my speakers arent moving anywhere so happy it's kind of still been calibrated.

Having a sub EQ sounds awesome but then don't you have shed loads of eq settings on the sub itself? I have a cheapy 8" B&W (asw608) sub and even that has a load of settings, the same amount as my £1200 odd KEF sub (r400b) which I still haven't figured out how to get sounding right, albeit in a tiny room (maybe twin 9" force cancelling drivers a bit much for my tiny room is why I'm still loving the B&W, the KEF is a bit of a beast despite being "compact").

henson0115 · 9 Jun 2025 at 09:59

https://www.smsl-audio.com/portal/product/detail/id/895.html this does what your asking

edit scratch that i missed the bit where you said to AVR, i was thinking you wanted to get audio from hdmi from pc to a device..

hornetstinger · 9 Jun 2025 at 10:28

slim01 said:
Well that's what i thought, but nope, audyssey on = adjusts the treble for sure. Turned off all the adjustments I could and I just wrote down the speaker levels and input them manually. my speakers arent moving anywhere so happy it's kind of still been calibrated.

Having a sub EQ sounds awesome but then don't you have shed loads of eq settings on the sub itself? I have a cheapy 8" B&W (asw608) sub and even that has a load of settings, the same amount as my £1200 odd KEF sub (r400b) which I still haven't figured out how to get sounding right, albeit in a tiny room (maybe twin 9" force cancelling drivers a bit much for my tiny room is why I'm still loving the B&W, the KEF is a bit of a beast despite being "compact").

You can set correction range with the £20 app IE max 300 Hz so it won't effect hf.

You need to let avr do distance itself as manual wont be accurate IE mine says 8m for subs but theytr 4m in use because dsp in the subs and delay

subs have no eq. Just minidsp hd aligns each sub then eq the summed subs. Goes down to about 10hz after correction

My subs are 15" ported with 2000w plate amp 70kg each. About the size of clothes chest.

hornetstinger · 9 Jun 2025 at 10:33

Distance calibration measures phaee over time so let avr do that.

Unless you have measurement equipment rew and umik1 you can't set distance correctly.

Let the avr do it's calibration , use midrange compensation set 300hz max correction and you're good to go.

There is flat and reference mode so try each one.

Your kef subs heavy amount of eq correction to keep them under control.

slim01 · 24 Jun 2025 at 14:45

Hey guys, encountered a new question lol...

My new 5080 only has 1 x HDMI output, and 3 x Displayport.
Both my TV and Receiver only take HMDI.

Are there any issues with using a Displayport to HDMI cable I should be aware of? I need to use one for either the TV receiver, I wonder what will cause less issues?

Honestly thinking of sending this 5080 back, costing a lot more than I thought (looks like I'm gonna have to buy a new PSU along with all the other cables and adapters I'd need in my HTPC case).

slim01 · 24 Jun 2025 at 14:46

hornetstinger said:
Distance calibration measures phaee over time so let avr do that.

Unless you have measurement equipment rew and umik1 you can't set distance correctly.

Let the avr do it's calibration , use midrange compensation set 300hz max correction and you're good to go.

There is flat and reference mode so try each one.

Your kef subs heavy amount of eq correction to keep them under control.

What do you mean heavy control on the KEF sub mate? It needs a lot to sound right?