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How to connect onkyo receiver to pc?

J

juventuscadillac

Gawd
Joined
Feb 9, 2008
Messages
808
I just got a onkyo tx-sr304 receiver and would like to connect it to a x-fi soundcard, how do I do that? The receiver has no cables and i really don't know how to connect it and what cables to buy, any help would be appreciated, thanks.

I have a x-fi xtremegamer and also a X-Fi Platinum and would be using a pair of Polk Audio R50's.
 
Get a RCA Jack to 1/8" Mono MiniPlug then run that to the Digital IN on the receiver via RCA cable.

Adpt-RcfMmm.jpg

+
rca-cable.jpg

=
win
 
SPDIF, optical or analogue will be fine for stereo.
A stereo 3.5mm to RCA stereo lead is all you need.
 
Nenu said:
Only if the DAC in your amp is better than the one in your soundcard.
Click to expand...

Note that if they're equal or nearly so, external wins just because it has less crap to deal with.

If we're talking something like a receiver, it would need to be a really good sound card or a really bad receiver, if only because there is way more room (and heat dissipation) for the power stage of a receiver to work with compared to any sound card. The cleanliness of the power signal is very critical to the DAC, and its power affects the amplification (for headphones that actually have significant amplification requirements, almost all sound cards underamplify). But it does happen sometimes.
 
Optical S/PDIF, coax S/PDIF...it's more or less the same thing. Digital is digital.
 
Best option depends on how good the DAC in your amp is compared to the DAC in your sound card.
 
Nenu said:
Best option depends on how good the DAC in your amp is compared to the DAC in your sound card.
Click to expand...

and are the dacs any good? I got the onkyo tx-sr304 because it was the cheapest and had good reviews and I have two x-fi's. can someone please post a link to the cables that i will need(like to monoprice) .
 
juventuscadillac said:
and are the dacs any good? I got the onkyo tx-sr304 because it was the cheapest and had good reviews and I have two x-fi's. can someone please post a link to the cables that i will need(like to monoprice) .
Click to expand...

Onkyos are fine and relatively problem-free but not outstanding. X-Fis are for the most part, also "fine"...I would tend to expect better of the receiver.

You could use that for a coax interconnect, or this for an optical one. Optical is more prone to damage if you bend it too much, but immune to the interference from monitors, speakers, power supplies etc that can affect signals over copper wire. Digital signals are naturally a bit protected already, so this only really matters if there is pretty severe interference (which you could usually deal with by just rerouting the cable...).
 
Assuming you have an appropriate jack, you take the protective cap off the cable & jack and then just snap it in. If you have a mini jack or something, you'll need a different cable or an adapter.
 
Those black covered jacks at the top left that say Optical are the optical S/PDIF inputs. I was more worried about your sound card's outputs, though.
 
The orange Coaxial socket is for the wired SPDIF.
Cheaper, cables can be longer and less prone to breaking.

You can use any of the analogue inputs, whichever is convenient.
 
ashmedai said:
Onkyos are fine and relatively problem-free but not outstanding. X-Fis are for the most part, also "fine"...I would tend to expect better of the receiver.
Click to expand...

A bit of a blanket statement, not all Onkyos are the same.
My Onlyo 875 uses the same grade DACs as those in the Auzentech Prelude and sounds just as good on digital as analogue.

OP, the easiest way to tell which is best is to try analogue and digital and see which sounds best.
 
Nenu said:
A bit of a blanket statement, not all Onkyos are the same.
My Onlyo 875 uses the same grade DACs as those in the Auzentech Prelude and sounds just as good on digital as analogue.

OP, the easiest way to tell which is best is to try analogue and digital and see which sounds best.
Click to expand...

the thing is that i don't know which connection is analogue or digital. :( i seen that most of you guys use receivers but how do you connect them to your pc? I really want to use the best option, i think the x-fi platinum has that SPDIF connection.
 
Digital is coaxial or optical.
The rest are analogue.
 
Nenu said:
A bit of a blanket statement, not all Onkyos are the same.
Click to expand...

True, but I think the 875 is well above that budget. In fact, far enough above that a comparison to a $175 sound card is...well...not terribly flattering.
 
We've been over this. Use either the optical or coax cables discussed to connect it to one of those jacks on your receiver that says "Digital In."
 
Honestly, with the X-Fi, I would just go analog, since your receiver seems to have multi channel analog in

http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=16&product=14309


That way, you also get surround sound in games.



---------------------

At risk of confusing things more, you technically could get the dolby digital live encoder for the X-Fi, and then run digital out to get multichannel digital surround in games, but I've read people complaining about lag.
 
I think i got it already.

1. buy a coaxial cable and a 1/8" Mono Plug.
2. buy a Optical Toslink Cable

what i want to know is which one is the best option and can you guys please link to a particular cable.
 
juventuscadillac said:
I think i got it already.

1. buy a coaxial cable and a 1/8" Mono Plug.
2. buy a Optical Toslink Cable

what i want to know is which one is the best option and can you guys please link to a particular cable.
Click to expand...
Will you be doing any gaming on this setup? If so then you may want to begin with poster #30's suggestion. It's probably the most hassle-free way of gaming in 5.1 surround.

Afterwards when you're more familiar with setting things up you can branch out to digital/coaxial/spdif.

Just a suggestion anyway :)
 
SJetski71 said:
Will you be doing any gaming on this setup? If so then you may want to begin with poster #30's suggestion. It's probably the most hassle-free way of gaming in 5.1 surround.

Afterwards when you're more familiar with setting things up you can branch out to digital/coaxial/spdif.

Just a suggestion anyway :)
Click to expand...

yes, i will be doing some gaming ,but I'll have 2.1 system two polk r50 and latter add a 12" sub, thats why I am asking for the best connection. I really don't want to go cheap on this.
 
juventuscadillac said:
yes, i will be doing some gaming ,but I'll have 2.1 system two polk r50 and latter add a 12" sub, thats why I am asking for the best connection. I really don't want to go cheap on this.
Click to expand...
ahh, i see now.

The creative cables definitely aren't the cheap solution though, nor is it the worst way to connect. There are certain situations where those creative cables are ideal. But since you are going 2.1 then you may as well go digital.

In addition to the other digital cables and adapters mentioned, you can also consider this option:
Link 1: http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?product=1780
Link 2: http://www.google.com/products?q=30SB000200003&scoring=p

Note that it has both optical and coaxial inputs and outputs, and you'd still need a regular optical or coaxial spdif cable to connect the module to your receiver.
 
I think i need to ask my questions in a more simpler way:

How are you guys connecting your receivers to your pcs? and can you please link to that particular cable.
 
I'm using either
SPDIF (orange coaxial) with a single RCA to RCA lead or
Analogue with 3 x 3.5mm jack plug to 3 x stereo RCA

Got the analogue through ebay, the digital lead is any old hifi lead you have laying around.
 
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