Sound Card to Receiver

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Floppington

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I picked up an old receiver, the Yamaha RX-V795a, which does not have any HDMI inputs. I've read that digital connections are preferred over analog ones for audio, so I'm looking to connect to it via an SPDIF optical cable. I currently don't have a sound card, so I'm shopping around for one. My motherboard does not have an SPDIF connection.

My main question is will any current generation sound card be capable of 5.1 surround sound when using an optical SPDIF? One of my google searches showed one user using an Creative SB card that did not support 5.1 with SPDIF.

The main ones I'm looking at now are the ASUS Xonar DX or ASUS Xonar DG. Are those sufficient for my needs?
 
When looking for a sound card make sure it has DDL and/or DTS which can send 5.1 via optical/coaxial to a receiver.
 
It looks like I'd have to go with a ASUS Xonar DSX, or the Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D THX PCIE Sound Card SB1350. Both these cards are in the $50 range. I'm leaning more towards the Recon3D, than the DSX.
 
Floppington said:
It looks like I'd have to go with a ASUS Xonar DSX, or the Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D THX PCIE Sound Card SB1350. Both these cards are in the $50 range. I'm leaning more towards the Recon3D, than the DSX.
Click to expand...

Uh no. Don't do that. Go Asus in this case. The recon is a pretty bad card.
 
Spaceman is right. Asus is superior. Something else to consider is PCI vs. PCIe. Make sure your mainboard has the right slot to match your card.
 
For that receiver, digital would not be preferred over analog.

That receiver has 6 channel analog inputs. You should connect it to the 6 channel analog outputs on your sound card.

If you use S/PDIF you will have to compress the audio with lossy compression which loses quality. With analog, the sound remains lossless which is better.

With a good DAC, analog can sound just as good as HDMI and better than lossy S/PDIF.

S/PDIF is only good for stereo or when you want 6 channel but don't have analog inputs.
 
Floppington said:
I picked up an old receiver, the Yamaha RX-V795a, which does not have any HDMI inputs. I've read that digital connections are preferred over analog ones for audio, so I'm looking to connect to it via an SPDIF optical cable. I currently don't have a sound card, so I'm shopping around for one. My motherboard does not have an SPDIF connection.

My main question is will any current generation sound card be capable of 5.1 surround sound when using an optical SPDIF? One of my google searches showed one user using an Creative SB card that did not support 5.1 with SPDIF.

The main ones I'm looking at now are the ASUS Xonar DX or ASUS Xonar DG. Are those sufficient for my needs?
Click to expand...

Yes those cards would be sufficient for your needs. You may want to use the analog out to the receiver. The SPDIF signal does get compressed with 5.1 sound output. Would you notice a difference? I do not know.
 
SirMaster said:
For that receiver, digital would not be preferred over analog.

That receiver has 6 channel analog inputs. You should connect it to the 6 channel analog outputs on your sound card.

If you use S/PDIF you will have to compress the audio with lossy compression which loses quality. With analog, the sound remains lossless which is better.

With a good DAC, analog can sound just as good as HDMI and better than lossy S/PDIF.

S/PDIF is only good for stereo or when you want 6 channel but don't have analog inputs.
Click to expand...

Seconding this. Buy or make three 3.5mm stereo to RCA cables, then use the external decorder input on your receiver.
 
Viper87227 said:
Seconding this. Buy or make three 3.5mm stereo to RCA cables, then use the external decorder input on your receiver.
Click to expand...

To be clear to OP, you need 3 of these:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...&cagpspn=pla&gclid=COPg0Jv17LMCFelFMgodhAQAwA

Green/Front goes to FR and FL.
Black/Rear goes to SR, SL.
Orange/Center-Sub goes to Center, Subwoofer.

Those are usually the colors on the analog outputs from a PC.

I'm not actually sure if red or black is the sub though when you connect the RCA to the receiver. You will have to try both probably. My guess is the red is the center.
 
Thanks so much for the response! I've purchased the ASUS Xonar DSX, which comes with 4 line-out outputs: front, rear, center, sub. It looks like I'll need to buy 4 of those 3.5mm to RCA cables, using only one RCA connection for the center and one for the sub, and connect to the external decoder input.

gmHiz.jpg
 
Floppington said:
Thanks so much for the response! I've purchased the ASUS Xonar DSX, which comes with 4 line-out outputs: front, rear, center, sub. It looks like I'll need to buy 4 of those 3.5mm to RCA cables, using only one RCA connection for the center and one for the sub, and connect to the external decoder input.

gmHiz.jpg
Click to expand...

I would suggest seeing if your motherboard has a coaxial or optical output as it appears the receiver has a coaxial input. That would let you only need 1 cable and be able to get 5.1 surround as well.

**edit** ignore me.
 
Also use you digital input for music listening. It will sound better than the analogue.
 
spaceman said:
Also use you digital input for music listening. It will sound better than the analogue.
Click to expand...

Would that really be true using an Asus Xonar analog output?

I doubt the difference would be noticeable. If he used the analog out on the xonar into the analog in on the receiver, it depends on how good the receiver is at amplifying and handling an analog input.
 
J Macker said:
Would that really be true using an Asus Xonar analog output?

I doubt the difference would be noticeable. If he used the analog out on the xonar into the analog in on the receiver, it depends on how good the receiver is at amplifying and handling an analog input.
Click to expand...

I find using both gives me the best options. Well, with my receiver having a REALLY good dac, it sounds better with optical than analogue. It better considering it was $3K new. With a lesser receiver maybe not. Still worth having both and trying them out. No penalty to that.
 
J Macker said:
Would that really be true using an Asus Xonar analog output?

I doubt the difference would be noticeable. If he used the analog out on the xonar into the analog in on the receiver, it depends on how good the receiver is at amplifying and handling an analog input.
Click to expand...

Personally it's cheaper to get a budget sound card that does optical or coaxial out over a sound card that does more. Also it's less cables (1) and its a digital one at that. I believe a receivers DACs will handle the digital to analog conversion better than using 3.5mm y splitters to send the analog signal out.

For decent surround sound playback from a reciever let it do all the decoding rather than your computer. I also personally believe that cheap analog cables can affect sound quality and therefore would rather be sending out a digital signal as long as possible before its converted.
 
EndersShadow said:
Personally it's cheaper to get a budget sound card that does optical or coaxial out over a sound card that does more. Also it's less cables (1) and its a digital one at that. I believe a receivers DACs will handle the digital to analog conversion better than using 3.5mm y splitters to send the analog signal out.

For decent surround sound playback from a reciever let it do all the decoding rather than your computer. I also personally believe that cheap analog cables can affect sound quality and therefore would rather be sending out a digital signal as long as possible before its converted.
Click to expand...

Yeah that too. The main issue I have with soundcards is that you have to use skinny, cheap cables bc of space constraints with the back of the soundcard. I have been pondering a good solution to that really. Need to find an alternative cable or splitter that would fit. Nothing fancy, just better than the standard.
 
Just pick up any cheap soundcard with SPDIF output. You'll be using your receiver's DAC and AMP to process the sound either way. No need to spend $100+ on Xonar STX/Titanium HD
 
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