Couple questions, HDMI vid audio vs Blaster Z

Discussion in 'Soundcards, Speakers HiFI & File formats' started by Morpheous416, Feb 22, 2017.

  1. Morpheous416

    Morpheous416 Ancient Guru

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    Ok gurus...

    I've been reading up on sound quality differences and quality questions from the forum here, and a few others around the net... but, as some of you may know, I'll only ask for a final verdict here!

    Ok.. as of now, I am using the cheap 750Ti, but I am going to assume that the sound device on the card isn't going to reign anymore supreme on say that present on a 1080.

    Currently, I have the Yamaha HTR-5940 receiver for my HTPC, I run from a laptop.. via HDMI. There's no HDMI inputs, so I run the HDMI to the TV, then the audio output to the receiver for sound.

    The receiver does, however.. have 6.1 audio input.. which matches up perfectly with the Blaster Z's 6.1 audio output.. albeit, I'd have to purchase some 1/8 audio jack to RCA adapters.

    Questions are:
    Are the sound devices on video cards worth using HDMI over analog 6.1 output?
    If the audio driver is not installed for the video card, and the onboard audio disabled because I use the sound card.. does the audio processing still managed by the sound card, and sent thru video via HDMI? (question stems in my mind, the quality of the processing being done via Blaster, and then sent thru HDMI instead of the generic sound chip on graphics)

    Thanks for the support folks!
    :)
     
  2. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    Whichever device you are using, only that should process the audio stream.
    You can use a pass through method so no processing occurs.
    ie feeding SPDIF to the amp from a soundcard (will be compressed audio [lower quality] if using more than 2 channels).

    If you are interested in sound quality, using analogue out from your TV is not the way to go, that will be probably the worst method.
    Either an AV receiver with a high quality DAC using HDMI is the best way (for more than stereo) or a decent sound card (with decent DAC) feeding analague directly to the amp should be used.

    When taking the HDMI route, all processing will be performed by the AV amp.
    When taking the soundcard analogue out route, all processing will be performed by the soundcard.

    Although....
    Some AV amps that allow analogue in can still do heavy processing on the audio and this is not necessarily a good thing. If this is happening, it could be being converted back to digital, processed and then converted back to analogue.
    Thats 2 extra lossy stages and the AV amps processing may not be clean either.


    There are some AV amps with DACs far superior to those in any PC soundcard but they cost a fair bit.
    But PC soundcards can easily beat the DAC quality in cheap AV amps.
    So its not clean cut.
     
  3. Morpheous416

    Morpheous416 Ancient Guru

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    Thanks.. I appreciate the reply, Mufflore.

    So.. for this particular setup, without having to spend any more than around $20 or so, for the adapters.. looks like 6.1 output from the sound card, to the 6.1 input analog on the receiver would be the best option.

    and folks.. that's why I come here for the straight answers!
     
  4. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    Yes, that will likely satisfy you and will be easy to use.
     

  5. alanm

    alanm Ancient Guru

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    I'm in a similar situation, but feeding an AV receiver via optical from my Zx (since modern day AV receivers dont have multi-channel analogue inputs anymore). Planning to order a small dedicated 2ch amp to feed the front LR from analogue out on Zx and the rear LR analogue out to AV receiver (CD or Aux input). Sub out from Zx as well.

    This way I get full 5.1 channel lossless Dolby/DTS. But this means my AV receiver will be under-utilized, serving as just a regular 2 ch amp. I'm wondering what sort of improvement it will make overall.
     

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