Advice on HTPC/Gaming Rig Sound Setup

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clarkkent333

Gawd
Joined
Nov 23, 2003
Messages
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Alright guys Im in need of some serious advice here because I can't seem to pick a solution to my audio problem. Here is my current gear:

Acoustic Research HC6 5.1 Speaker Setup
Panasonic XR25 Digital Receiver
Either an ABIT NF7-s or an ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe

Ill be using the setup to mostly listen to music and watch DVD's and AVI's. Some intermittent gaming will occur as well.

The size of the room is about 11X12, about your average size den

My problem is that since my receiver doesn't have analog inputs, from what I understand, Im not able to get true 5.1 in games. If this is so, do I need to bother with a soundcard.

Also, since the budget permits it, I can spring for a set of computer speakers if necessary. I know they won't match the regular speakers in quality but if they offer me more connection options would they be worth it?
 
Both of those motherboards have Soundstorm, which means they can encode anything with 5.1 channels into Dolby Digital. This means you will get surround sound in games by connecting the SPDIF on the motherboard (optical on the Abit, coax on the Asus) to your receiver.
I have the NF7-S connected to an old Sony receiver and I think it's great.
 
clarkkent333 said:
My problem is that since my receiver doesn't have analog inputs, from what I understand, Im not able to get true 5.1 in games. If this is so, do I need to bother with a soundcard.
Click to expand...

Your receiver DOESN'T have analog inputs? I've never seen a receiver that only had digital in's. Otherwise, you'd never be able to hook up a tape player/laserdisc player/VHS/TV/shit-ton-load-of-other-things to it.
 
The SA-XR25 is equipped with six channel discrete inputs to deliver the enhanced sound quality of DVD-Audio music. ;)
 
Good find X!

I know those are the 'digital' amps, but they must have some analog inputs.

I looked it up, it's got 4 sets of analog, which is a lot more than none =]
 
Maybe Im confused here. I thought you needed individual RCA inputs for each channel. Something like thisHarmon Kardon 430

The row on top are standard RCA's. These work things like VCR's and non digital sources.

You see the Direct Inputs on the middle left side. I thought that was what you needed for the surround from a soundcard. I was also under the belief that you needed them for DVD-Audio as well.
 
Son of a bitch. I always thought those were RCA's. Maybe I should have hooked it up before I posted this.

So do I still need a soundcard or should I just stick with the Soundstorm. Will I get surround in movies and games from either one or do I need both.
 
You don't need to get another sound card and you shouldn't use the analogs when you have soundstorm, analog outs on SS boards are noisy (digital is nice though) :p. You can save the discrete analog inputs for DVD-A or SACD. You'll get 5.1 gaming/dvd/avi/etc over spdif with SS.
 
How's the quality of the SS vs something like an Audigy ZS Platinum?

Does 1 SS board differ from the other as far as sound goes?
 
With an Audigy you'll have to use analogs (for games). The sound quality between different SS boards should be pretty consistent. I haven't heard of any board standing out as better or worse then other SS board, they all pretty much use the same things. Since the Audigy is good for 5.1 gaming w/analogs and SS is good for 5.1 gaming w/spdif it's not a good comparison. For DVDs there really isn't much of a difference between Audigy and SS if you're using spdif, via analogs the Audigy is probably better (can say for certain as the last creative card I had was an SBLive). Since you already have an SS board you should just try it out. If you're not satisfied then look into a sound card.
 
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