Anyone using the vid card's HDMI for Audio?

[leSLIe]

I'd like to know if anyone is using their vid card's HDMI port for PC audio too. What's your setup? and your experiences dealing with it

 

[yourgrandma]

Pain in the ass for me. I output my main monitor to a 120hz that requires display port.

I output audio to my receiver from my videocard's hdmi and i have to use it as a second monitor otherwise it will not send anything to the receiver. So i have a annoying second monitor i can't see and my mouse can drag into.

At times it doesn't remember to set itself to 5.1 and will default back to stereo after the monitor goes to sleep and ill have to change it back.

Sometimes it will just stop working completely and i have to reboot.

I've had 3 video cards setup this way and all of them do this.

 

[Rizen]

Yes. I am using my 285 in my HTPC and it streams audio over to my receiver, which then outputs it as 7.1 sound on my home theater. Works fine. Dolby DTS/HD works great too.

 

[Nenu]

HDMI audio is always a pita for me.
It doesnt allow all the bitrates to be used so I either cant play certain music or have to resample it, which I'm not a fan of cos I like music fidelity.
I cant play any 192KHz audio via HDMI either, 96KHz max. So I cant max Blu Ray films out using PCM or play any Hi Def 192KHz music.
Lastly, the stereo audio quality for the bitrates that do work is not as good as USB or optical out.
As a result, I never use HDMI for music.

 

[deaedius]

I use a 290 with HDMI to a receiver and it works very well. Only problem I run into is I have set the default audio device every time I upgrade the graphics drivers.

 

[Domingo]

I've been using an HDMI-out audio set-up for years with no major issues. I've been doing it since the 8800GTX and have done it with 2 ATI cards along the way, too. Right now, both companies seem to do a fine job.

I just run the HDMI cable from my video card into my A/V receiver, which in turn decodes the audio and passes the video to my TV via an HDMI-out.

I just set the audio options in the Windows control panel and set my receiver (currently a Sony STR-DN1010) to "auto decode" and it just works. Everything from the HD codecs to normal multi-channel PCM for games.

I think most of the work is done by the A/V receiver. I had an Onkyo that was problematic, but Sony models have treated me well.

 

[XViper]

I actually had no idea HDMI passed the dolby digital signals on the video card. I'm going to try to see how DTS sounds on this this weekend.

 

[ashmelev75]

I have the same question as OP.
I wonder if this would work:
R9 290:
DVI 1 -> Monitor 1
DVI 2 -> Monitor 2
HDMI -> Audio Receiver -> 5.1 speakers

On-board realtek audio with DDL-> Receiver turned out to be garbage (no sound in some games)
Creative X-FI has issues under Win 8.1 with audio dissappearing randomly.

 

[deaedius]

I have the same question as OP.
I wonder if this would work:
R9 290:
DVI 1 -> Monitor 1
DVI 2 -> Monitor 2
HDMI -> Audio Receiver -> 5.1 speakers

On-board realtek audio with DDL-> Receiver turned out to be garbage (no sound in some games)
Creative X-FI has issues under Win 8.1 with audio dissappearing randomly.

That is my exact configuration actually DVI 1 and 2 for Monitor 1 and 2 and HDMI to audio reciever > TV, when the we all want to play on the TV rather than the desk.

 

[notarat]

I'm currently using the HDMI Audio with my Titans but, when I had my 5970,6970s,7970s I used it and have never really had any problems with it.

In fact, I actually prefer it since I'm using a 4K TV as my monitor. The audio out from the TV goes to my 5.1 setup and it works great.

 

[Domingo]

I have the same question as OP.
I wonder if this would work:
R9 290:
DVI 1 -> Monitor 1
DVI 2 -> Monitor 2
HDMI -> Audio Receiver -> 5.1 speakers

On-board realtek audio with DDL-> Receiver turned out to be garbage (no sound in some games)
Creative X-FI has issues under Win 8.1 with audio dissappearing randomly.

Based on my previous experiences that should work fine. I think you'll be really happy with that setup. HDMI audio is honestly somewhat mindless once you set it up correctly. Programs like PowerDVD automatically send the various multi-channel codecs and games just use whatever configuration you have selected in the Windows control panel.