Digital vs. Line Out

[lepard2k1]

Which of these two methods yields the best quality? I am looking for a receiver to test it myself, but for now, I figured I ask. I mainly use my PC for music and some gaming, specs are in sig.

*I have searched the forum, and could not find a definite answer.

 

[strid3r]

Line out is an analog signal while digital is well...digital. If you use the digital output, it is still being converted to an analog signal somewhere down the line. The quality depends on the hardware converting the digital signal. Hard to say without knowing what receiver/sound card you're using.

 

[Nenu]

That depends whether your soundcard has a better DAC (or Vice versa) than your amp.
Assuming you have an Audigy or X-Fi...
unless you have a decent hifi amp with a good DAC, you are most likely better off using analogue out as this will use the DAC on the soundcard.

Also note that with any of Creatives cards or modern onboard audio solutions, you will only get 2.0 sound for gaming when using digital.
Some old NForce 2 motherboards had the Soundstorm audio chipset that gave 5.1 DD/DTS encoding which was quite good.

If you really want to use digital, the new(ish) Auzentech cards support full surround sound encoding for everything. However the DAC and output stage on these cards are so good you will need a really expensive amp or external DAC to beat the quality of its DAC/Analogue out, so you will most likely get better sound using analogue out anyway!