Should i get better sound card? optical

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Kosmo1982

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Aug 16, 2017
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Hi,
I have some onboard Realtek sound card. Im using optical cable to hook it to my amplifier which is some Pioneer (average quality 7.1 amplifier) then i have it connected to normal regular Koda stereo speakers (not some cheap pc speakers). My question is will it help me to get better sound if i buy better standalone sound card?
Im using my pc mainly to listen music through Tidal.

I have also Koss stereo headphones which sound really quiet when hooked into my pc realtek sound card. If i plug them through adapter into Pioneer amplifier i get strong sound distortion, not sure why. So there would be probably some gain with headphones but i dont use them too much with my pc so it wouldnt be deciding factor.

Thanks in advance for advices:)
cheers,
Kosmo
 
Connecting to your receiver via digital means that you are using the DAC in your receiver. Any different soundcard that you get, if it's still hooked up via digital, it will still be using the same DAC in the receiver. Many newer receivers use digital processing internally, so even if you hook it up analog to the receiver, there is a good chance it will simply be using an ADC to convert it to digital anyway and ultimately using the same DAC in the receiver, worse due to the double processing.

Only advantage to a better sound card, assuming that you are still going to use digital, is any processing that the sound card can provide. Down-mixing 7.1 sources to stereo with virtual surround for example.

If your receiver supports HDMI, you could potentially just connect HDMI from your GPU to your receiver instead of using optical from the realtek. Regular digital only supports 2 channels unless you encode with Dolby Digital or DTS which adds lag. HDMI can send 7.1 channels fully uncompressed from your PC to your Receiver. It will still be using the DAC(s) in your receiver of course but if you have a surround sound setup that can be beneficial.
 
Well im not understanding. I thought that optical cable is the best way to hook your pc to your stereo. I tried to find something on internet how to get analog sound on pc but couldnt find anything i would understand.
First of all im not using 7.1 mode. It is in stereo mode with stereo speakers and my amplifier shows it is playing in "PCM 96" when im using optical cable.

So basicaly what you are saying is that i should hook sound through hdmi from my GPU to my amplifier? it has no such imput.

Hmm im a bit lost here.
Edit: i have found switch on my amplifier that changes from digital to analog ,but then i get no sound from my pc when in analog mode.
 
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I think he is saying that if you have HDMI on your receiver and you own a surround sound speaker setup, then you can use that as an option. :) He was just giving you options to think about for the future.
 
i dont like surround sound. Had 5.1 setup but i find stereo better.

So i hooked up my sound card to amplifier with simple stereo jack cable and it says im playing in analog format...is it it? the best sound quality? Its max settings are 24 bits and 48000 Hz while on optical i have 24 bits, 96000 HZ. So basicaly i need to listen and find which is better

Edit: it sounds basically the same to me:)
 
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Kosmo1982 said:
So i hooked up my sound card to amplifier with simple stereo jack cable and it says im playing in analog format...is it it? the best sound quality?
Click to expand...

This is going to depend mostly on how your receiver is setup.

The sound that you hear is created by a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter). If you connect from your PC to your receiver via digital, then it is the DAC in your receiver that is creating the sound that you hear. If you connect from your PC to your receiver via analog, then you are hearing the sound as created by the DAC in your soundcard, but your receiver might be doing bad things to the analog signal. It depends on how your receiver processes analog input. Many receivers only do processing in digital mode. If you feed digital in to your receiver, then the signal is already in a form that the receiver can process. If you feed analog in to a receiver, then it may have no choice but to re-convert it back in to digital so that it can process the signal, after which it is then re-converted back in to analog using the receiver's DAC. If your receiver is converting analog input into digital for processing purposes, then there will be NO advantage whatsoever to sending analog input to your receiver. If your receiver keeps analog input as analog, as is the case with older receivers and some newer receivers, then it will come down to whichever DAC you think sounds better (the one in your soundcard or the one in your receiver).

Also keep in mind that running 24/96 to your receiver via digital, as opposed to standard 16/44.1, will only be an advantage if you have a source that can take advantage of that (unlikely). Regular CDs, and almost all downloadable music, are 16/44.1. Using more than that, it's like talking about the difference between a 3 or 4 lane freeway when you are the only car on the road. HDMI is of no benefit over regular digital either if you are only doing stereo.
 
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Hi ,
Thank you for explaining everything GotNoRice.
I think i will stay with digital, i have 24 bit 192 khz over my headphones and 24 bit 96khz over my amnlifier to speakers and i listen to music from Tidal which has HI-FI option which i think is FLAC format and i have been told its the best one right now.
 
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