Question on how to hook up my Edifier 760D 5.1 System to my PC

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w35t

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Ok so I have this 5.1 system coming in here: http://www.edifier.com/us/en/speakers/s760d-5.1-gaming-speakers

At the time I bought it when I read analog 5.1 inputs I initially thought it'd be the same as my current Z5300e Logitech speakers use (similar to Z5500), which is the orange, black, and green 3.5mm plugs, but this has red and white RCA connectors. Does that mean I'll need to be using the adapters or should I use optical? Does optical fully support 5.1? I seem to remember trying to run a receiver using optical and having a hard time to get it play souround from my PC. I'm starting to wonder if made the right choice buying this set for my PC. =\
 
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Brian_B said:
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-3-5mm-2-Male-Adapter-Cable/dp/B01D5H8JW0/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1508286685&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=RCA+to+1/8"+adapter&psc=1

That would be my first suggestion. You can get a sound card, RCA is just a plug, the cable isn't any different from a 3.5mm or anything else (unless your using grounded connections, like XLR).

Apart from that - yes, Optical supports 5.1.
Click to expand...

An optical cable would be so much more convenient though, any reason not to?
 
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Optical TOSLINK would be a lot easier, I agree. It can do basic 5.1. It isn't going to support some of the higher resolution codecs (like Dolby TrueHD) - probably not an issue with on board sound.
 
After a quick look at the manual I'd say you didn't make a mistake analog or optical input let the wired controller do all the processing. The bundle includes 3.5mm to RCA and optical cables so the choice is yours obviously optical would be best and you will have three optical inputs for two additional digital devices and one analog device. That said I see no way to not use the wired controller in the event you want or need DTS, Atmos, THX, etc but if all you need is Dolby Pro Logic II then you are good to go.
 
Two pieces of information:

If you need surround support on the PC, you can let software do it, and continue to use analog cables, with Y-splitters.

If you want to use optical on the control board, you need to be able to encode DTS, or the only 'surround' you'll be getting would be premixed stuff like movies or streams. Your onboard sound says that it supports DTS Connect, which should be able to take care of this for you.

Second piece: Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 are both lossy codecs. You may or not be able to tell the difference between using analog from your computer (so the onboard sound is the DAC) with no compression and using DTS with compression, but in theory, using analog with high-quality components should be superior.


[all of this mess is avoided with HDMI, which streams multichannel audio losslessly alongside video, so this knowledge is becoming irrelevant]
 
I bought these same speakers about 6 months ago. Don't worry you just need a little adapter to hook up your green 3.5mm plug to the white/red RCA connectors. I believe it even comes with it as someone else has mentioned.

Got a question though - I returned these speakers because they sounded WORSE than my Logitech Z906's (which as you know is probably slightly worse than the old Logitech Z-5500's). Technically on paper and physically looking at these speakers, they should DESTROY the Z906's in every way but again they sounded worse. The problem was the 3d positioning in games hardly outputted any sound out of any speaker besides the center speaker. Everything coming out of the center just sound muddy and lifeless. I tested several games and even got my wife and friends to listen to the difference just to make sure I wasn't going crazy. I had both speakers hooked up to my PC at the same time and all I did was swap out the green/black/orange plugs to use the different speakers. I also used a high-end Creative ZXR sound card. Yes I know about changing individual speaker level volume and other manual tweaking but nothing I could do made them sound even "just as good" as my Z906's. This was even apparent on stuff like YouTube and MP3's. I didn't test any DOLBY content or anything I don't have a blu-ray drive in my PC or anything. Such a shame because I spent like $130 in shipping just to return them....
 
Get three of these (6-foot as an example, find longer if necessary): https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=665

DON'T use the TOSLINK/SPDIF/coax.; if you were using Z5300e with 3.5 mm plugs, you simply need a 3.5 mm male -> RCA male connector for this case.

Games are mostly compatible with analog connections, movies with Dolby or DTS soundtracks can be decoded using MPC-HC and/or something like the Shark007 codec pack.
 
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