6870 Audio and Dolby

[r0b0ts]

This is a graphics card question, technically, but it has to do with how the 6870 processes audio. I've searched around but can't find the answer to this so any help would be great.

I currently have a 6870 (two actually) and am outputting through hdmi to my monitor. I tested out the sound through the monitor's speakers and everything works fine.

What I'm wondering is if it is possible to process dolby surround on the card, run audio from the 6870 to the monitor over hdmi and out the headphone out of the monitor into a pair of headphones - keeping the dolby surround working correctly. Will this actually work? Does the dolby HD on the card translate through the chain and into the headphones correctly?

Also, how is the overall quality of the 6870's audio? Is it better than the realtech onboard sound?

I'm new to this crazy world of sound through a graphics card so please excuse my ignorance.

Thanks,

r0b0ts

 

[JohnnyGrey86]

If I am correct, I don't believe graphics cards do any audio processing at all. Usually they pass through from the onboard soundcard, or whatever device you are using.

I don't think you would get any sort of surround sound via the monitors headphone jack, because the monitor would only be outputting sound via two channels, same thing for the monitors speakers. I don't think monitors have the capability to process audio input as virtual surround. To get true surround sound, I think the audio signal being fed through the HDMI cable would have to be processed by a surround sound receiver. There would be no point in actually doing that, and instead you would use whatever digital output your onboard has and feed that straight to your receiver.

I would suggest sticking to your onboard headphone jack. Are your headphones capable of surround sound, virtual or otherwise?

What model monitor do you have?