Now, I'm just a kid who wants to make the best out of what's available, 'cause I'm pretty short on funds, so go easy on me. I have this B85M-G mobo with a Realtek HDA ALC887 that supports 7.1. I also have this GTX960 with NVIDIA HD Audio. I have this 5.1 LG Home theatre that's ~600w that doesn't have any HDMI. Just 3.5mm, or AUX (L and R). I have 2 options: GTX960 >[GOLD HDMI]> MONITOR >[HEADPHONE JACK | 3.5MM to AUX]> [LG HT] or Realtek ALC887> [3.5MM TO AUX]> LG HT. Due to the crappy monitor, the 960 only outputs stereo audio in 24bit 48khz to my reciever which is 5.1, but monitor gives invalid data to the driver which sets the format to what I said above. However, the Realtek can output 5.1 and I've verified it correctly detects it. Which one of would provide better sound? I don't really care if the difference is tiny. I just want dem bass.
Option 2. Option 1 which puts monitor's DAC in between sounds silly. I mean what did you expect? "crappy monitor" with 5.1 DAC?
The second option. You could get an Asus Xonar DGX (or DGSI if you have PCI ports). It's cheap and spectacular compared with integrated audio.
Using option 2 now. I'm looking forward to get Xonar or a Creative X-Fi. Thank you very much for your time.
Having owned the ASUS Xonar D2/PM for years for my studio. I love it. Its built with high quality components and sounds perfect. No problems with highs being to high, or mids not right or a crummy bass. Get the DGX ASUS like the guru said. You won't be disappointed.
Proly not. 99% of users would be far better buying great speakers or cans, than investing in better dac
