• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

standalone digital decoder worth it??

R

rusty

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 9, 2002
Messages
380
i have the klipsch 5.1 ultra's runnin on my audigy 1 gamer. i was wondering what the difference would be if i hooked up my ultra's to the new audigy 2 zs and creative's DDTS-100 digital decoder. i watch a ton of movies on my computer and play plenty of games. any suggestions/advice are welcome. im def trying to make my computer a home theatre system (while staying on a budge, im a college kid who needs beer money) thanks

-rusty
 
No.
If you don't need to inference another device (like a Xbox) with your speakers the external decoder is a waste of cash
 
plus, you can only get stereo out of the digital out on that card unless the source is encoded in dd or dts.
 
rusty said:
i have the klipsch 5.1 ultra's runnin on my audigy 1 gamer. i was wondering what the difference would be if i hooked up my ultra's to the new audigy 2 zs and creative's DDTS-100 digital decoder. i watch a ton of movies on my computer and play plenty of games. any suggestions/advice are welcome. im def trying to make my computer a home theatre system (while staying on a budge, im a college kid who needs beer money) thanks

-rusty
Click to expand...

You've got a pretty nice set of analog speakers and a capable decoder already built into your Audigy2, there would be no benefit to getting an external decoder if your computer is your only audio source. In fact, you would lose some functionality because you would'nt get surround in games if you only had a digital connection between your computer and the decoder.

The only benefit to having an external decoder would be if you had multiple digital devices, like an XBOX, DVD player, or CD player that you wanted to connected at the same time as your computer. At that point, it would almost be better to get a real Home Theater receiver. There is very little bang:buck value in a standalone decoder, you get a lot more features out of an entry-level receiver for about the same price.
 
so would there be a better way to have a digital signal sent to my speakers, cause doesnt that have better quality?
 
hey rusty, are you running analog mode in the audigy 1/2?

so does digital offer better quality?
 
im using analog.. i wouldnt know, if im not mistaken ive never used digitial
 
yea you want to explain to me too the difference between analog and digital and how i would know if i am using one or the other? :confused:
 
rusty said:
so would there be a better way to have a digital signal sent to my speakers, cause doesnt that have better quality?
Click to expand...

The Audigy2's Digital to Analog Converters (DACs) are probably better than those on any sub-$300 decoder you'll be able to find. In addition to that, you'll still have an analog connection from the decoder to your Klipsch's amps.

Right now your setup is:
Audigy2 ---analog--> Klipsch Amp & Speakers
Your proposed setup is:
Audigy2 ---digital---> Decoder ---analog--> Klipsch Amp & Speakers

Basically, you'll gain nothing from adding a decoder and lose functionality because the Audigy2 can only speak to the decoder in 2-channel (stereo) PCM mode if the content has not already been authored in Dolby Digital or DTS (like on DVDs). This is the reason why nVidia's SoundStorm is a big deal, its the only solution that can encode anything on your computer to Dolby Digital, on the fly, because of the hardware Dolby Interactive Content Encoder (Dolby ICE) chip. It lets you connect to a receiver and have multichannel, digital sound no matter what you're listening to.

A digital connection will sound better if you're connecting to a receiver because the DACs are usually of higher quality, and the power amplifiers are right there, eliminating that last analog connection to your Klipsch's amps. But that means you'd have to buy a new set of unamplified speakers.
 
ranger0900 said:
yea you want to explain to me too the difference between analog and digital and how i would know if i am using one or the other? :confused:
Click to expand...

What kind of sound card and speakers do you have? Are you using a decoder or receiver?

I need more info before I can answer your question.
 
audigy 1 gamer, Klipsche 5.1 computer speakers

goign to upgrade to the audigy 2zs plat. here soon (maybe an emu)
 
klipsch 5.1's are analog speakers.

You're using the connectors that came with them right? plugging into each channel on the back of your Audigy? Those are analog connections. You could use digital if you were using a single optical or digital coaxial cable, but you'd run into the same limitations that I pointed out above. I don't recommend it.
 
Digital with your speakers = random noise
Analog = music.
Simple as that. :D
 
Besides, for the money that might be spent on a that Creative standalone decoder box, one can get a entry-level A/V surround receiver. It will do decoding, speaker amplification, radio tuning, A/V switching and lots more. For ~$150, it's a much more flexible piece of hardware, and more futureproof. Be sure to get one with analog multichannel inputs.
 
I love my SoundStorm ---Optical---> Receiver setup at home. It sounds much better than any other setup I've tried over the years.

The thing to keep in mind is that digital audio was designed for movies and home theaters, it sounds f#cking awesome if you've got the right equipment. PC-based implementations of this technology are still immature, SoundStorm is as close as you can get to digitally integrating your PC into a home theater, but there's still a ways to go. I don't know if the market is big enough for companies like Creative to invest any R&D time into this, especially when cheaper analog solutions are available.

If you want the best sound you can get out of your analog PC speaker setup, get the best analog cables you can afford. It DOES make a difference.
 
joethemole said:
so digital is overrated really...
Click to expand...

Pretty much. Given a basic level of quality, speakers & amplification quality >> connection quality. This isn't to say that cables aren't important, just that they aren't the mont important thing to throw money at at $100-$300 budget levels.
 
dolby digital is lossy compression, so quality analog gear is superior. Id assume the realtime version is worse. People like it because they get to use only 1 digital cable, and the dolby digital light on their reciever/speakers turns on so they feel good. Sony recievers sometimes have a large blue bling bling dolby digital indicator to match your bling bling case.
 
At the budget level that most computer speaker purcases are made, the money that is spent on the digital decoder is more wisely spent on better analog components.
 
GodsMadClown said:
At the budget level that most computer speaker purcases are made, the money that is spent on the digital decoder is more wisely spent on better analog components.
Click to expand...


purcases ? :confused:

Did anyone ever mention the thing about throwing stones to you? :p :p
 
ambientZ said:
dolby digital is lossy compression, so quality analog gear is superior. Id assume the realtime version is worse. People like it because they get to use only 1 digital cable, and the dolby digital light on their reciever/speakers turns on so they feel good. Sony recievers sometimes have a large blue bling bling dolby digital indicator to match your bling bling case.
Click to expand...

Yes, DD is a lossy compression scheme, but only in a very minute way; you'd need thousands of dollars of audio equipment to identify a perceptable difference between a 2-channel DD stream and an uncompressed PCM stream.

Also, the DACs and 48-bit DSP on my receiver will do an infinately better job of processing the audio information than the crappy Realtek codec built into my motherboard, and like likely a lot better than any of the consumer-level soundcards on the market (besides the pro-level specialty cards).

I agree that digital is not for everyone. Most PC's are better served by getting a good soundcard and quality analog speakers, but this is not to say that analog > digital, just that digital was not designed with computers in mind. Just wait till the technology matures and decoders/encoders become cheaper and more accessible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top