Is there a difference in sound quality in connection 6ch direct (analog) vs Optical (digital)?

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Ladic

[H]ard|Gawd
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I have Soundblaster Z and Logitech z906 speakers. I use the 6 ch direct method, 3 aux cables to the sound card to #1 input (3aux cable in) on the Z906 speakers.
I know that 6ch direct way lets the sound card do the work and if I use the optical then the speakers will do the work.
However for gaming/music, etc, is there really a difference in audio quality of one over the other?
I always had the impression that Optical (digital) should be better?
 
These things are subjective.Your original method is analog and that sound is typically considered to be warmer. Optical is a digital recreation that is sharp but sometimes is incorrectly designed and chops off highs and lows like Vinyl vs CD. So it depends on the source and the range of the digital signal. If it meets or exceeds the source then it will be very clear and nearly indistinguishable from the analog..
 
Vader1975 said:
These things are subjective.Your original method is analog and that sound is typically considered to be warmer. Optical is a digital recreation that is sharp but sometimes is incorrectly designed and chops off highs and lows like Vinyl vs CD. So it depends on the source and the range of the digital signal. If it meets or exceeds the source then it will be very clear and nearly indistinguishable from the analog..
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A digital signal is either perfect or not working. It doesn't clip. It isn't "sharper". Early CDs sounded like crap because of mastering, not the format.

There's a decent chance your Soundblaster Z has a better DAC than the speakers, so sending a digital signal to the speakers might sound worse. That and I'm not sure how many channels optical connections support (I've only ever used it for stereo sources). But it doesn't cost anything to hook it up both ways, I'd try it out and see if you notice any differences.
 
capt_cope said:
A digital signal is either perfect or not working. It doesn't clip. It isn't "sharper". Early CDs sounded like crap because of mastering, not the format.

There's a decent chance your Soundblaster Z has a better DAC than the speakers, so sending a digital signal to the speakers might sound worse. That and I'm not sure how many channels optical connections support (I've only ever used it for stereo sources). But it doesn't cost anything to hook it up both ways, I'd try it out and see if you notice any differences.
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I see you know very little about how CD's were made and what they did with the digital signal sources. Good try though. I said incorrectly designed. Then you wrote out what that design was Incorrectly mastered for the digital format. I have listened to DAC's that make the music sound sharper and cut off the highs and lows with the source signal being excellent. Not everything is as cut and dry as you seem to like. Which is why I also suggested he attempt it and I mentioned the quality of the source material being key to the digital output. Are you confused as to what that meant?
 
Vader1975 said:
These things are subjective.Your original method is analog and that sound is typically considered to be warmer. Optical is a digital recreation that is sharp but sometimes is incorrectly designed and chops off highs and lows like Vinyl vs CD. So it depends on the source and the range of the digital signal. If it meets or exceeds the source then it will be very clear and nearly indistinguishable from the analog..
Click to expand...
What are you on about?

Ladic said:
I have Soundblaster Z and Logitech z906 speakers. I use the 6 ch direct method, 3 aux cables to the sound card to #1 input (3aux cable in) on the Z906 speakers.
I know that 6ch direct way lets the sound card do the work and if I use the optical then the speakers will do the work.
However for gaming/music, etc, is there really a difference in audio quality of one over the other?
I always had the impression that Optical (digital) should be better?
Click to expand...
Your SoundBlaster has much better components than the Logitech speakers. If there is a difference, the analog out from SB would probably be the one sounding better. Plus, you'll be able to use its various processing options, especially for games.
 
Because Toslink was designed for 2 channels, it supports uncompressed PCM (up to 24/96) for stereo. To put 6 channels in the same bandwidth, Dolby & DTS use lossy compression. Will this make an audible difference? That's basically the same as asking if MP3 coding is audible. IMO, the chances are fairly small (especially with computer speakers), and the differences would be minor as well.

If you experience issues with hum & noise, the optical connection could help.

But Toslink cables are dirt cheap. Try it for yourself.
 
Vader1975 said:
I see you know very little about how CD's were made and what they did with the digital signal sources. Good try though. I said incorrectly designed. Then you wrote out what that design was Incorrectly mastered for the digital format. I have listened to DAC's that make the music sound sharper and cut off the highs and lows with the source signal being excellent. Not everything is as cut and dry as you seem to like. Which is why I also suggested he attempt it and I mentioned the quality of the source material being key to the digital output. Are you confused as to what that meant?
Click to expand...

Those would be faulty/shitty DACs then.
 
If you're gaming, stick with analog, there will be significantly less compatibility issues. If you want to listen to bit-perfect 44.1 or 48 kHz stereo music, go with SPDIF.
 
Vader1975 said:
I see you know very little about how CD's were made and what they did with the digital signal sources. Good try though. I said incorrectly designed. Then you wrote out what that design was Incorrectly mastered for the digital format. I have listened to DAC's that make the music sound sharper and cut off the highs and lows with the source signal being excellent. Not everything is as cut and dry as you seem to like. Which is why I also suggested he attempt it and I mentioned the quality of the source material being key to the digital output. Are you confused as to what that meant?
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I see you know very little about how computers process audio. By definition you can not get analog sound out of your computer. The 'analog' outputs of the soundblaster differ from the external DAC only by the fact that it's been DA converted inside the soundblaster instead of an external DAC.

A 20 dollar(ish) Soundblaster may not have as good quality components as a 200 dollar dedicated DAC and there the differences may occur. Also whenever you connect a computer galvanically to an amplifier or external DAC, ground loop problems and voltage leak (from PSU) problems _will_ occur.

So if anyone imagines that the analog out would sonically be any different to an external dac (by definition) is sorely mistaken. That does leave room for differences between the qualities of the DAC though.

The galvanic problems I mentioned are far bigger a problem than the quality of the DAC usually so for that reason alone I would use an optical connection and an external DAC for any serious listening.
 
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B00nie said:
The galvanic problems I mentioned are far bigger a problem than the quality of the DAC usually so for that reason alone I would use an optical connection and an external DAC for any serious listening.
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This.

Unless you have a Xonar Essence STX or similar type of card that has REALLY good analog outs on their own dedicated circuitry I wouldn't bother with analog out.
 
By using optical/coax, it's giving the processing of the surround sound to Logitech z906 speakers. By using RCA cables, you are putting the processing the in the sound card.

Theoretically, the analogue output is more future proof at the amplification side, because it doesn't matter what codec is used, only that it can reproduce the analogue signal. So someday when Dolby 9000 128bit Colossal format comes out, your Logitech speakers will still be ok if something else can decode it.

There are also static and ground loop concerns with analog cables, but no one can predict if it will happen. Just have to try and see. (and don't think that optical will mean zero static.....static comes from all steps of the chain).
 
My $0.02: I am a regular reasonably tech savy person, but no audiophile by any stretch of the imagination. This thread caught my attention because I have a very similar setup. I am using an onboard Realtek audio on an ASUS ROG Maximus Ranger VIII board. It has both analog and digital optical out. I have the Logitech Z906 system as well (picked it up recently when my 10 year old creative labs 5.1 gave up the ghost and Amazon had a flash sale on the Z906).

I have both the analog and optical connected to the Z906 and have painfully pissed off my wife by constantly switching between the two while performing various audio related tasks (Netflix, Youtube, Megadeth....).

Bottom line: There is an audible difference, but for the life of me, I can't decide which is better. The difference is there, but it is not distinct enough in either "camp" to provide, at least to me, a clear winner.

As a poster mentioned above, the optical does run into compatibility problems here and there. For example, I cannot get Witcher 3 to run 5.1 on the optical, but it runs 5.1 just fine over the analog. I have researched some "workarounds" by altering DLLs in this folder or that folder, but frankly, it is not worth tinkering since the analog 5.1 works.

The board uses an ESS ES9023P DAC, but honestly, I wouldn't know the difference between a good and bad DAC from model numbers and specifications alone. I have no idea if the onboard DAC is any better or worse than the DAC in the Z906.

At the end of the day, you can pick up a TOSLINK cable for next to nothing and have both and play with it to your liking. The Realtek Audio Manager has equalizer adjustments for both analog and digital outputs and by tinkering with those settings, I have obtained a sound quality that I am happy with. I can only presume your SoundBlaster Z has many more software settings.
 
MGV001 said:
My $0.02: I am a regular reasonably tech savy person, but no audiophile by any stretch of the imagination. This thread caught my attention because I have a very similar setup. I am using an onboard Realtek audio on an ASUS ROG Maximus Ranger VIII board. It has both analog and digital optical out. I have the Logitech Z906 system as well (picked it up recently when my 10 year old creative labs 5.1 gave up the ghost and Amazon had a flash sale on the Z906).

I have both the analog and optical connected to the Z906 and have painfully pissed off my wife by constantly switching between the two while performing various audio related tasks (Netflix, Youtube, Megadeth....).

Bottom line: There is an audible difference, but for the life of me, I can't decide which is better. The difference is there, but it is not distinct enough in either "camp" to provide, at least to me, a clear winner.

As a poster mentioned above, the optical does run into compatibility problems here and there. For example, I cannot get Witcher 3 to run 5.1 on the optical, but it runs 5.1 just fine over the analog. I have researched some "workarounds" by altering DLLs in this folder or that folder, but frankly, it is not worth tinkering since the analog 5.1 works.
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To get 5.1 through optical/coax with games, your sound device needs to support Dolby or DTS real-time encoding so that it can encode the game's 5.1 output into a compressed data stream that can be sent over the SPDIF cable and then decoded as Dolby/DTS on the receiver or Z906. This feature is supported by some PC audio devices, but it's not terribly common to find that functionality with onboard audio. I wouldn't call myself an audiophile, but game audio isn't typically lossless (it's already compressed one way or another), so I don't like the idea of having it then run through a Dolby/DTS codec; when you run with analog connections, you get the audio as-is without any additional unnecessary processing.
 
djoye said:
To get 5.1 through optical/coax with games, your sound device needs to support Dolby or DTS real-time encoding so that it can encode the game's 5.1 output into a compressed data stream that can be sent over the SPDIF cable and then decoded as Dolby/DTS on the receiver or Z906. This feature is supported by some PC audio devices, but it's not terribly common to find that functionality with onboard audio. I wouldn't call myself an audiophile, but game audio isn't typically lossless (it's already compressed one way or another), so I don't like the idea of having it then run through a Dolby/DTS codec; when you run with analog connections, you get the audio as-is without any additional unnecessary processing.
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Pardon my ignorance here, as I am not an expert on this issue, and I appreciate your response. Isn't that what DTS Connect and/or Dolby Digital Live are supposed to do? Real time encoding into a digital signal that can then be decoded by the Z906? The Realtek chip has DTS Connect (or at least did have that functionality until the latest Windows 10 updates).

And don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that the Dolby Digital or DTS for Witcher 3 would be any better, just that I could not get it to work so that I could, at least, make the comparison.
 
MGV001 said:
Pardon my ignorance here, as I am not an expert on this issue, and I appreciate your response. Isn't that what DTS Connect and/or Dolby Digital Live are supposed to do? Real time encoding into a digital signal that can then be decoded by the Z906? The Realtek chip has DTS Connect (or at least did have that functionality until the latest Windows 10 updates).

And don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that the Dolby Digital or DTS for Witcher 3 would be any better, just that I could not get it to work so that I could, at least, make the comparison.
Click to expand...
Heh, no problem. Yes, DTS Connect is supposed to do just that. Because you were able to get it working over analog, it sounds like your speakers are configured correctly, so Witcher 3 must have a problem detecting the speaker config when DTS Connect is active, Witcher then defaults to stereo. If you wanted to look into it, I'd confirm that your speaker config in Windows playback devices is still configured to 5.1 after enabling DTS Connect.
 
djoye said:
Heh, no problem. Yes, DTS Connect is supposed to do just that. Because you were able to get it working over analog, it sounds like your speakers are configured correctly, so Witcher 3 must have a problem detecting the speaker config when DTS Connect is active, Witcher then defaults to stereo. If you wanted to look into it, I'd confirm that your speaker config in Windows playback devices is still configured to 5.1 after enabling DTS Connect.
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Thanks for the reply. There seems to be an ongoing issue right now with the ASUS ROG line and the Realtek audio with respect to DTS Connect and Windows 10. ASUS has yet to offer a solution and I have read on the ROG boards some of the posts where buyers are mad because the latest audio drivers from Realtek (available on ASUS' site) do not support DTS Connect after a certain Windows 10 build. In fact, when I load the Realtek Audio Manager and click on the DTS tab, there is a text box that says something like "DTS Connect not supported after build ....."

Now, when I use the Windows 10 playback device settings, I can enable the digital out, but cannot select anything other than 2 channel stereo playback. Funny thing, though, is that under the same settings, I can test both Dolby and DTS and Windows 10 will play the test tones for all 5 speakers and the sub.

To confuse matters even further, when I use the Windows 10 Netflix app, I seem to be getting surround sound of some kind. My Z906 "Decode" light comes on and the Logitech system can decode DTS and DD. When playing YouTube videos, the 2.1 light comes on. All of this is using the optical in to the Logitech system.

My point to this, and I do apologize for rambling, is that after Build 1703 that was released earlier this year for Windows 10, the Realtek driver for DTS Connect seems to be having issues and there really is no way for me to select DTS Connect any longer in the Windows Playback Devices settings for the digital output - yet, the Logitech is decoding something when it receives a compressed 5.1 signal of some kind. So, perhaps the optical is passing through DTS or DD, but the Realtek cannot do "realtime" encoding for non-DTS or non-DD signals?
 
If you play existing DTS/DD content your Realtek can bitstream this compressed audio without fiddling any more with it. Which is why you see the decode light while watching Netflix. Then when you watch "regular" audio from Youtube (and other sources) you only get 2 channels because your computer no longer have the ability to encode uncompressed audio and spdif can only handle 2 channels uncompressed. Your Logitech calls this 2.1 since the .1 sub signal is taken from the main stereo channels.
 
MGV001 said:
Thanks for the reply. There seems to be an ongoing issue right now with the ASUS ROG line and the Realtek audio with respect to DTS Connect and Windows 10. ASUS has yet to offer a solution and I have read on the ROG boards some of the posts where buyers are mad because the latest audio drivers from Realtek (available on ASUS' site) do not support DTS Connect after a certain Windows 10 build. In fact, when I load the Realtek Audio Manager and click on the DTS tab, there is a text box that says something like "DTS Connect not supported after build ....."

Now, when I use the Windows 10 playback device settings, I can enable the digital out, but cannot select anything other than 2 channel stereo playback. Funny thing, though, is that under the same settings, I can test both Dolby and DTS and Windows 10 will play the test tones for all 5 speakers and the sub.

To confuse matters even further, when I use the Windows 10 Netflix app, I seem to be getting surround sound of some kind. My Z906 "Decode" light comes on and the Logitech system can decode DTS and DD. When playing YouTube videos, the 2.1 light comes on. All of this is using the optical in to the Logitech system.

My point to this, and I do apologize for rambling, is that after Build 1703 that was released earlier this year for Windows 10, the Realtek driver for DTS Connect seems to be having issues and there really is no way for me to select DTS Connect any longer in the Windows Playback Devices settings for the digital output - yet, the Logitech is decoding something when it receives a compressed 5.1 signal of some kind. So, perhaps the optical is passing through DTS or DD, but the Realtek cannot do "realtime" encoding for non-DTS or non-DD signals?
Click to expand...

this has been an issue since 2015. its something to do with the dolby licensing in windows 10. there were hacked drivers but they stopped working early this year. check this thread, see if anyones made headway: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...ital-live-and-dts-interactive.193148/page-104
 
Alternatively if you have a good AVR, just run audio out from your Video Card's HDMI to your AVR.
 
Stanley Pain said:
If heard some audiophiles argue that EM could affect the sound in an optical connection. I didn't have a big enough image of a roll eyes for that one :D
Click to expand...

It wouldn't affect the signal while being transported through the optical cable but EMI could definately affect the components on either side of it.
 
Stanley Pain said:
If heard some audiophiles argue that EM could affect the sound in an optical connection. I didn't have a big enough image of a roll eyes for that one :D
Click to expand...

I don't know about EMI being the cause, but optical isn't perfect and as I'm finding right now, a poor transceiver or cable or possibly other issues can add audible static and noise into the supposedly "clean" digital and electrically decoupled optical setup. I'm currently debating whether I should spend $20 on a glass fiber cable (I need a 15ft cable and the only other ones around the house are 6ft)

I wouldn't use optical for surround if you can use analog - the latency in the encoder/decoder cycle is horrible and seems to be ~500ms in a good system - I found it unusable for gaming.
 
DoubleTap said:
I don't know about EMI being the cause, but optical isn't perfect and as I'm finding right now, a poor transceiver or cable or possibly other issues can add audible static and noise into the supposedly "clean" digital and electrically decoupled optical setup. I'm currently debating whether I should spend $20 on a glass fiber cable (I need a 15ft cable and the only other ones around the house are 6ft)

I wouldn't use optical for surround if you can use analog - the latency in the encoder/decoder cycle is horrible and seems to be ~500ms in a good system - I found it unusable for gaming.
Click to expand...

Well duh of course if you don't use optical you're going to get the normal ground loops and other PC to amp related problems. You have to have galvanic separation.

If you're referring to having a bad quality optical cable - that shouldn't give you static. You should get audio drop-outs. Be careful with the glass cables - they can crack and then cause again problems. The static may be an issue with your amps DA converter - check that the sampling ratio and bit depth you use in the computer is supported with your amp / DAC. In some cases 48khz works fine and higher sampling rates won't.
 
B00nie said:
Well duh of course if you don't use optical you're going to get the normal ground loops and other PC to amp related problems. You have to have galvanic separation.

If you're referring to having a bad quality optical cable - that shouldn't give you static. You should get audio drop-outs. Be careful with the glass cables - they can crack and then cause again problems. The static may be an issue with your amps DA converter - check that the sampling ratio and bit depth you use in the computer is supported with your amp / DAC. In some cases 48khz works fine and higher sampling rates won't.
Click to expand...

My optical out was set to 48k which should be fine. If you google "toslink static" you can find many, many instances of people using an optical connection and having significant noise/static issues.

It could be my receiver but the issue is only present when there is an optical signal - if I disable the optical out on the PC, the noise disappears immediately. I don't have a lot of optical sources to test but at the moment, I'm assuming it's on the PC side but it could just as easily be my receiver which is 7 years old.

So far my strategy of buying older, high end, refurbished receivers has not really panned out: I've given up on surround sound and I'd be very happy with my 2.1 system if it were not for this optical noise issue.

Edit:

Just dug out my old Samsung BD Player with an optical out and hooked it up with a 6ft cable and wow - it sounds amazing. Zero noise.

So it's either my PC or the 15ft cable...

15ft cable (formerly attached to the PC) to the BD player is also perfectly clean.

Looks like it's my motherboard.

Awesome.
 
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The toslink static implies that your motherboard optical out is not compatible with your receiver. Some receivers create static noise if the carrier signal is lost.

Does your static start immediately after you plug the computer in? Try setting your optical out to 16-bit 44.1khz and see if the problem continues.
 
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DoubleTap said:
I wouldn't use optical for surround if you can use analog - the latency in the encoder/decoder cycle is horrible and seems to be ~500ms in a good system - I found it unusable for gaming.
Click to expand...

Amen to this. I have found the same issue on my Z906 set up. Frankly, I seem to notice this latency even in regular analog 2 channel stereo, such as YouTube videos and the like. Not as bad as 500ms, but the sound does seem just a hair out of sync. Happens in both optical and analog and I am using the onboard Realtek from the ASUS board. I am wondering now if it would be better to get a discrete sound card?
 
capt_cope said:
A digital signal is either perfect or not working. It doesn't clip. It isn't "sharper". Early CDs sounded like crap because of mastering, not the format.

There's a decent chance your Soundblaster Z has a better DAC than the speakers, so sending a digital signal to the speakers might sound worse. That and I'm not sure how many channels optical connections support (I've only ever used it for stereo sources). But it doesn't cost anything to hook it up both ways, I'd try it out and see if you notice any differences.
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You are leaving out an important factor. Compression. optical toslink use the SPDIF standrd which can only transfer 2ch stereo in PCM for 6ch it has to use compression which reduced the quality of the sound ( unless the source is already compressed and can be transfered straight across the connection.)
 
The compression is hardly a factor since most audio tracks (DTS etc) are compressed anyway. The latency is purely a receiver issue.
 
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B00nie said:
The toslink static implies that your motherboard optical out is not compatible with your receiver. Some receivers create static noise if the carrier signal is lost.

Does your static start immediately after you plug the computer in? Try setting your optical out to 16-bit 44.1khz and see if the problem continues.
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It's not a constant level of static like white noise, it's "chirps" and "pops" - maybe sizzle is a better word? of static/noise (about .25 seconds each every .50-.75 seconds - roughly - there is no perceptible timing or rhythm) on a constant basis. Sampling rate does not affect it or change it (even 44.1) and it's not present on any other outputs or from any other sources. It sounds like what you would expect if you were using some kind of RF connection only you don't expect that from optical.


MGV001 said:
Amen to this. I have found the same issue on my Z906 set up. Frankly, I seem to notice this latency even in regular analog 2 channel stereo, such as YouTube videos and the like. Not as bad as 500ms, but the sound does seem just a hair out of sync. Happens in both optical and analog and I am using the onboard Realtek from the ASUS board. I am wondering now if it would be better to get a discrete sound card?
Click to expand...

When I was trying 5.1 over optical about 3 years ago, I tried the Xonar U7 and the SB Omni 5.1 - both gaming solutions and they both had unacceptable latency, I doubt any other product is going to perform better, I think the whole stack is just too inefficient.

SvenBent said:
You are leaving out an important factor. Compression. optical toslink use the SPDIF standrd which can only transfer 2ch stereo in PCM for 6ch it has to use compression which reduced the quality of the sound ( unless the source is already compressed and can be transfered straight across the connection.)
Click to expand...

I found the sound quality of 5.1 optical to be acceptable, but the latency was a deal breaker.


B00nie said:
The compression is hardly a factor since most audio tracks (DTS etc) are compressed anyway.
Click to expand...

I know B00nie knows this but for everyone else, the reason movies are acceptable over optical is because the content is pre-encoded and only has to be decoded which adds a little latency but not as much as encoding.

For gaming, your game has to send all your sound channel information to a virtualized sound card which is actually an encoder - this adds a whole layer of latency and I'm sure encoding is slower than decoding so your game sound is always way off and disorienting.
 
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Perhaps you should consider getting a good galvanic separator and run analog.
 
B00nie said:
Perhaps you should consider getting a good galvanic separator and run analog.
Click to expand...

No, I just figured it out.

I used to use my Amazon Echo Dot on the line-in so it would mix with the PC audio.

My Amazon Dot died a few weeks ago but I still had the 3.5mm cable connected to the input jack (the Dot was removed) and still had the system mixing that input - which was adding just enough noise to drive me crazy.

I looked up problems with optical connections and put that in my head so that's all I was thinking about....
 
But what would be the case if the components in the loop are upgraded significantly and a wattage twist added? I am copy/pasting my question on another forum and I really want to know the answer before I invest in some expensive RCA cables.

Right now my setup on my PC is:

Creative SoundBlaster ZXR sound card
Marantz NR1506 AV Receiver
B&W MT-50 speakers

I'm using DTS Connect to transfer audio via optical to my receiver. Everything is satisfactory. I am getting stereo sound from all stereo sources + emulated multi channel when I use SBX Pro Studio Surround, also surround encoded games / videos work without any emulation (I turn SBX surround off when playing games and I get directional audio from all 5 channels).

I also have an old Denon AVR 1910 which will be picked up from the repair shop after years of neglect.

If I were to use the Denon instead of Marantz and connect it using analog multichannel connections to my sound card:

Do I get improved sound quality on all sources encoded including and higher than 48 kHz, 24bit since optical via DTS Connect / Dolby Digital live is compressed anyway?
Also the channel wattage boost (90W/channel over 50W/channel) is absolutely worth it?
Or am I crazy in thinking comparing Marantz vs. Denon watts is not a blasphemy to the sound gods & my sound card's DAC will never sound better than a Marantz even though theoretically I will be getting unlimited bandwidth ?

Thank you all
 
capt_cope said:
A digital signal is either perfect or not working. It doesn't clip. It isn't "sharper". Early CDs sounded like crap because of mastering, not the format.
Click to expand...

Also early consumer CD players had only 14-bit DACs because 16-bit ones were prohibitively expensive.
 
Vader1975 said:
These things are subjective.Your original method is analog and that sound is typically considered to be warmer. Optical is a digital recreation that is sharp but sometimes is incorrectly designed and chops off highs and lows like Vinyl vs CD. So it depends on the source and the range of the digital signal. If it meets or exceeds the source then it will be very clear and nearly indistinguishable from the analog..
Click to expand...

The files you're trying to play off the PC are already in digital. Hell, all audio is recorded in some form of digital format, then converted back to analog at some later point in time. What device actually does this Digital to Analog conversion is the one that typically drives audio quality. And in most cases, any decent PC Soundcard will do a better job then whatever DAC is stuffed in your speakers.

Do I get improved sound quality on all sources encoded including and higher than 48 kHz, 24bit since optical via DTS Connect / Dolby Digital live is compressed anyway?
Click to expand...

Dolby Digital tops out at 48KHz @ 16-bit playback. The DTS specification tops out at 48KHz @ 24-bit playback. Regardless of what you set your output settings to, if you use DDL/DTS-C your audio is getting downconverted to fit Dolby/DTS spec. Also remember that setting a playback setting higher then the encoded source doesn't gain you anything; you can't output data that doesn't exist (granted, it doesn't hurt either).
 
What content are you trying to play?

In my opinion, the 6-8 channel analog setup is only appropriate for PC gaming surround (or maybe, possibly multi channel SACD but that's esotetic) due to issues with HDMI and if you're running "game sound" the number one issue isn't fidelity but latency. The analog setup will have virtually no latency compared to possibly game breaking latency from an optical 5.1 connection.

If you're trying to play movies, then you're probably better off using HDMI depending on the source. Most streaming companies seem to be using Dolby D+ which doesn't work over optical - no idea if it works over analog but I tend to doubt it as a lot of the new formats are designed to only offer surround sound in an HDCP environment.

HDMI will always give you the best content experience it's just a pain to use with certain system configurations, but those can be overcome.

Also, there is no rule that says you can't use multiple connections and formats and switch between them when it makes sense. It's not always ideal, but it will make you learn the ins and outs of your PC sound capabilities.
 
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