Motherboard out to amplifier…is that good enough?

dirtychinchilla

dirtychinchilla

dirtychinchilla

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As per title really, at the moment I have a 2.1 Logitech speaker setup. I’m replacing it with a Cambridge Audio amp and a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 9s.

I’m just taking the 3.5 mm out to RCA from my monitor. Is that good though? I’m trying to keep the setup flexible as I connect my work laptop sometimes, but as I’m writing this I realise I could use the channel selector on the amp and take audio from the motherboard.

I’m no audiophile, but I don’t want to be shouting myself in the foot either.
 
Avr is a audio/video amp, it has HDMI inputs and outputs, dolby Pro logic, DTS,Dolby digital decoding, bass management, room eq , several power amplifiers and multi channel pre amp.

A stereo amp what you have has analogue inputs and outputs, two power amplifiers, and a stereo analogue pre amp.

To get better sound use digital audio out from your pc, either from optical, or coaxial into a stereo dac. Then output that into a input on your amplifier
 
hornetstinger said:
Avr is a audio/video amp, it has HDMI inputs and outputs, dolby Pro logic, DTS,Dolby digital decoding, bass management, room eq , several power amplifiers and multi channel pre amp.

A stereo amp what you have has analogue inputs and outputs, two power amplifiers, and a stereo analogue pre amp.

To get better sound use digital audio out from your pc, either from optical, or coaxial into a stereo dac. Then output that into a input on your amplifier
Click to expand...

hmm ok thanks for that. Need to find a DAC then, I had been thinking the same. I’m sure I can get optical out from the pc though.

is just getting a USB one realistic?
 
What motherboard? If it is normal ‘onboard’ sound then the inbuilt DAC probably won’t be very good and there is often quite a lot of interference/noise introduced using PC sound. An external DAC will be better, even on a basic setup like yours.

Do you ever use headphones? There are some great external DAC/AMPs out there for headphones that you can also run a connection out of for your CA amp as well. They are often similar price to a separate DAC on its own. I’ve been personally looking at the iFi Zen as an upgrade to my little Cambridge audio dacmagic xs for a while but the man maths didn’t work out yet.

Do you have a budget in mind for this?
 
Thanks for the advice. I think I know what I’m going to do now.

I’m looking to buy a Topping D10S I think, and then I’ll connect that by USB to my PC setup and into my amp. That should get me closest to where I want to be without spending lots of money. My budget doesn’t exist, but when I can afford it I’ll get the DAC.

I only use headphones when I’m out of the house or playing games, so no not really.
 
To round this out, I had some stuff for sale on eBay which sold, so I was able to actually buy something.

I already had a Cambridge AM5 on the way and some Wharfedale Diamond 9.0s, which is what I had downstairs already and like (though AM1, which is being replaced).

I know these bits of kit aren't wonderful but they sound good enough to me. But I bought a DAC, the Topping D10S, which arrived yesterday. I think it sounds good, particularly combined with Apple's lossless files. I'm hearing a lot more high frequency noises which are in the sort of annoying range, but everything also sounds very clear and I like it.

It also transpired that my dad was selling a NAD C320, so I'm going to switch out the AM5 attached to my computer for the NAD, and put the AM5 in the living room. Having said that, the NAD is more powerful so it might be better suited downstairs where the room is much bigger. I'll have to see, but I have very little demand for loud volumes in my PC room.

Btw, I'm using USB out for the Topping, so not using any in-built sound from the PC. When I can afford it, I'll have to get a different DAC for the living room as the TV doesn't have USB out, and that is all that the Topping has for inputs.
 
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