yamaha receiver and Xonar d2 sound problem...please help

Captain Carling

Captain Carling

Captain Carling

Associate
Joined
22 Sep 2011
Posts
152
I have been using the onboard sound from my Asus p5q deluxe to send the signals to my Yamaha DSP-AX759SE and it's been working well for some time (Media centre set up for blu-ray etc and 5.1)
It's connected via optical cable.
I thought I would treat myself and buy an Asus Xonar D2, but now I have inherited a problem as it will only play in stereo.
I've installed the latest driver, and the software control suite, and I have noticed that my receiver is showing 'straight' on the display.
Have I missed something?
Please help :)
 
How long ago did you buy the soundcard dude?

I would consider either a) Sending it back or b) Selling it as what you have done (by the sounds of things) will in NO WAY improve your sonic quality.

Let me explain, if you are sending digital 1s and 0s from a computer (over optical cable) to your receiver then the digital - > analogue conversion is happening on the DAC within your receiver right?

Therefore, buying a soundcard in order to ouput digital 1s and 0s from your computer is pointless in this scenario as your onboard sound is just as good as your Asus Xonar D2 at this task.

If however you wanted to connect some analogue book shelf speakers to your PC then yes the Asus Xonar would be worth keeping but it sounds like this is not your setup. Its all about WHERE the conversion happens dude.

I would actually recommend sending your digital audio over HDMI from your graphics card as this has the benefit of being lossless multi-channel in order for your receiver to output decent quality audio.

I output multi-channel 5.1 audio from my Radeon 7970 over Mini-Displayport to HDMI into my Denon AVR-1910 receiver for 5.1 in games & movies.

When I use the optical out on the motherboard I am limited to the Dolby Digital formats which are inherently lossy (unless you go for Dolby True-HD or whatever the hell its called). Personally, I'm more of a pro audio kinda guy so these formats are kinda lost on me as I work primarily in stereo!

Has your graphics card got an HDMI out on it mate? That would definitely be your best bet!

Sorry to break this to you man but I too had to learn the hard way!
 
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Doesn't Power DVD have SPDIF pass through? That would be the setting to use, whatever the software is. That allows the software to take control of the SPDIF output to pass any 5.1 DD/AC3/DTS tracks found on the media being played.

If the receiver displays DTS, then setting PDVD to stereo is obviously working, so maybe best to leave it at that.

What Tom said is correct; buying a sound card offers no gain in quality. Digital is data, not sound. The DAC (digital to analogue converter) converts that data into sound, which is analogue. This will be done by the DAC in the receiver. The sound card is just acting as a digital transport, a way to transfer the 1 and 0 to the receiver, just as the connection on the motherboard would do. The sound quality is purely down to the receiver.
 
Sorted, downstairs pc back to mobo optical out, and my main rig upstairs has had the Creative extreme audio removed and ive put the new one in that ha ha.
I have Creative surround speakers on the main rig so this card is doing it's job now.
Thanks for the help guys ;-)
 
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