PC Audio questions, op-amp, dac, hdmi, vr

[bluesynk]

There is at least 4 ways to get sound out of my motherboard. Realtek ALC1150 with swappable op-amp over analog, dac usb port, optical, and via hdmi which I currently use. I connect to a Yamaha AVR. I figure the dac in the avr is pretty good but I haven't looked into it since the external DAC has become popular. So what is the progression in quality in this case? I would also get more functional control of the sound using the analog out. I'm not a purist in any one area so I would want to balance Surround quality, sound control, and music quality.

Im also looking into a vive. From what I can tell my whole sound system will be pretty much useless. I there anything in the works to get vr sound to work right in surround? But in the meantime Ill need a headphone setup. Is the onboard with the whole op-amp and isolated usb port thing good enough to use the money on a good headset or would i be better splitting it up between cans and a dac?

I have some time so I'll be doing some reading but it would be nice to get a good starting direction.

 

[GotNoRice]

You can't make generalizations about this that will work in all cases.

Analog output is going to depend heavily on the DAC that is being used. But depending on what you are connecting it to, it's possible that it will be converted back into digital. You always want there to only be one digital to analog conversion. If there is any possibility of it being converted back into digital, then simply pass along the digital signal instead of using analog output.

Using USB means that your onboard sound won't be involved in any way, shape, or form. You're basically just talking about an external USB DAC or "external soundcard" at that point.

Optical output means that you can still use any features that the optical source (soundcard, onboard, etc) has but it won't be involved in the digital to analog conversion in any way. This is great when wanting to use the features on a gaming soundcard while also using some externally located DAC.

HDMI just means that your videocard is acting as a very very basic soundcard that does nothing but pass the digital signal. Only advantage here is that you can pass full 7.1 lossless surround (lossless meaning not using Dolby digital, DTS, etc) over HDMI. Regular digital such as a traditional optical connection is limited to two lossless channels, and has to use codecs like Dolby Digital or DTS to output more.

The ultimate quality that will result will depend heavily on the DAC at the end of the chain. How that signal is passed along in digital form before that, or what is used as the digital source at the beginning, doesn't really have much impact for 2 channel music. The key variables other than the DAC is if you use any features that some cards might have (virtual surround on gaming sound cards, etc) or if you need to pass more than 2 channels of lossless audio (HDMI).