Best Soundcard for Digital Audio Quality

PCRHitman · 14 Feb 2011 at 12:58

If anyone has any advice on what soundcard gives the best digital audio quality (if that sentence even means anything) than i would be very grateful!

My latest project has been my living room pc and home cinema system. I have a Yamaha RX-667 http://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/audio-visual/av-receivers-amps/rx-v667__g/ which takes in my PS3, Xbox, and TV as well as my MediaPC via Optical. And for any audiophiles among you I have the Acoustic Energy AE100 Series 5.1 (AE120 Front, AE107C and AE100 Rear).

Any way, I’m currently using the onboard soundcard's optical SPIDF out to connect it the AV Receiver. Obviously because all music coming from the PC starts its life in digital I don't want it to do any pointless Analogue-Digital conversion until it reaches the AV Receiver whose job is to convert the signal to a very high standard.

So my question is; is there any point in me getting a better sound card if I’m using an optical connection, would there be any benefit from it. Logically if the onboard soundcard is just pumping the audio out in its original digital format (either stereo for music or Dolby Digital / DTS etc for films) then having a different soundcard would be pointless. But if it isn't what would you says is the best one to go for?

Thanks

Auraomega · 14 Feb 2011 at 13:20

No point what so ever, as you rightly said all the conversion is being done in your AVR, so a £150 soundcard is still sending the exact same signal as onboard is. You only really buy a soundcard to use with optical if you want to encode things into DTS on the fly, which is fast becoming moot because of HDMI

Uriel · 14 Feb 2011 at 13:50

Digital is digital really. Quality doesn't change.

It's all about features when it comes to soundcard digital out comparison.

Best for pure quality would be a HDMI capable card, which can put out uncompressed multi-channel digital audio (optical connections only allow multichannel audio in compressed formats). An up-to-date AMD graphics card would do this so possibly no need for a soundcard at all.

For legacy gaming (pre-2007), I would advise an X-Fi or possibly Xonar though. Again, something HDMI 1.3+ capable would be the best option. Failing that you want something with Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect.

Have you tried the SilentCinema feature on the receiver by the way?

PCRHitman · 14 Feb 2011 at 23:02

Hi, Thanks for the reply, my media pc is an i3 on an ASUS P7H55-M motherboard which has an HDMI out. I first tried to set things up using just HDMI, but i have had resolution detection issues in Windows 7 (haven't tried any other operating system though tbh). When connected to my TV via HDMI (with or without the receiver) windows detects it as an HDTV and sets the resolution to 720 or 1080p which distorts the image and you don't get that crisp DVI feel you get with a standard monitor. however when i use my old 7800GT with a DVI to HDMI converter the computer sets the resolution to 1360x768 and everything is peachy. which is as you can imagine quite irritating as to get the best picture i have to have my computer plugged up outside the receiver. have you come across this problem before? I don't think its the tv because i've tried it on both of mine (granted they aren't particularly expensive ones) and my friend gets the same issue. if your just watching films its fine, but i use it as a music centre and an Internet access point to.

As for legacy gaming, i have a water cooled i7 rig with an x-fi fatality pro and the Logitech Z 5500. although win 7 support for the x-fi is despicable! very tempted to replace it with a Xonar.

As for the SilentCinema, i haven't yet, only had the receiver a few months and haven't discovered half of what it can do. stumbled across the 7channel stereo the other day, sitting in the sweet spot it sounds amazing.