Do I need soundcard for 5.1 surround sound on this motherboard?

This X540 needs three outputs from your PC: Front L/R, Back L/R and center. Check with your motherboard whether you can reconfigure the jacks to provide for these signals.

As for add-on soundcard: Check reputable places (Amazon, NewEgg) for 5.1 soundcard with discrete outputs.

Although I couldn't see it in the picture, it claims it has 1 x S/PDIF Out header which is digital optical and would support 5.1 audio.

Here is some info.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1454902/using-spdif-header-on-motherboard-directly-to-rca-digital-out-for-receiver-input-ok

S/PDIF is digital audio link (over either coaxial or optical cable) which can carry surround sound. It was widely used before HDMI became popular to carry sound from DVD players to receivers.

From the picture you've posted, it looks that your motherboard does not support it, and neither do the chosen speakers. But if you go this way, you can buy "cheap" receiver with S/PDIF input, and look for soundcard with similar output.

closed your other thread... its pretty much a duplicate of this one.

this is what you had listed there in case anyone is curious

Hi! I'll get straight to the point:
- I know nothing about sound cards and requirements for 5.1/7.1 etc
- I have the Gigabyte 97A DS3P mother board and I see "three holes" in the back.
- One says "Mic", one says "Line IN" and the other says "Line Out". From what I've read I think I need Front LF, Rear LF and Sub/Center...
- Do I need a sound card for true 5.1 surround sound?
- If yes, what kind of sound card am I looking for? Can you please suggest one for like...super cheap?
- Also, please suggest any good 5.1 channel surround sound speakers for $120 or less. I know about the Logitech Z506 for $95 at Dell, but do you know about anything cheaper/better for that price?

Click to expand...

the specs for the motherboard say

2/4/5.1/7.1-channel

Click to expand...

BUT

the manual (not sure which version you have... but this is for ver3) http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-970a-ds3_v.3.x_e.pdf says

Line In Jack (Blue)
The default line in jack. Use this audio jack for line in devices such as an optical drive, walkman, etc.
Line Out Jack (Green)
The default line out jack. Use this audio jack for a headphone or 2-channel speaker. This jack can be used
to connect front speakers in a 4/5.1/7.1-channel audio configuration.
Mic In Jack (Pink)
The default Mic in jack. Microphones must be connected to this jack.
To configure 7.1-channel audio, you have to use an HD front panel audio module and enable the
multi-channel audio feature through the audio driver.

Click to expand...

so unless you had some sort of front panel module (not worth having really) the answer is no, it doesnt support surround and you DO need to buy a soundcard.

as for the spdif output jack... you can ignore that as you wont be using it for the x540 system. this is only used to connect to home theater receivers and some speakers like the expensive z906. 99% of computer 5.1 speakers hook up via 3x3.5mm jacks.

if all you wanted was 5.1 sound output and arent very picky then for $28 this would work for you to purchase http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132020&cm_re=asus_xonar-_-29-132-020-_-Product and connect up your speakers to. its not high end but it will get the job done for a decent price.

I don't think it was doing any harm. Does it violate the rules of Tom's Hardware? If so, which rule does it violate?

Click to expand...

while i agree you didnt mean any harm by it, we dont allow duplicate posts. this is why i closed it and linked your information here for others to read.

as for speakers... the z506 is a pretty good deal for the reasonable price.

-if you post something on the forums in a thread... anyone can read it. i only happened upon it because two posts with the same start of the title showed up in the forum feed. only mods can edit and close threads.

-yes, i am a moderator here at toms hardware. you can recognize mods by the gold star next to their name and the status of moderator below their avatars. there are a limited number of us and its by invitation only. i suppose you could call it prestigious but i consider it just an extension to what i already do here on toms which is helping others.

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-some surround sound headsets have just two speakers and use virtual surround. some actually have multiple speakers.

-virtual uses software to emulate surround. this can be dolby headphone or a few others. generally this muddies sound a bit though.

-multiple driver headsets arent as muddy however since you have smaller drivers the sound quality often is not as good and surround really isnt as good as speakers anyways.

-as for if they are worthwhile for you or not... thats up to you. you can game at higher volumes and not wake people up in a crowded house. a headset has a microphone on it and wont catch speaker echo. speakers have better positional audio (slightly) and have more powerful bass. some like speakers, some like headphones. with a good pair of headphones (typically not talking about gaming headsets here... but better stereo headphones) its quite possible to "feel" the bass but with your head not your whole body.

-i dont use headsets so cant recommend any. however, if you were to use some quality studio headphones instead... theres a few i could recommend in the $100-160 range. if you use a soundcard which has dolby headphone you could even get virtual surround on them.

...quite a few ways you could go.

-since it appears your onboard audio is pretty limited i would say that it doesnt support dolby headphone. you could however give razer surround http://www.razerzone.com/surround a try which would work with your current setup without buying anything. if you wanted "dolby headphone" though you would need to buy a soundcard which supports it.

-razer surround, dolby headphone and cmss-3d are different software ways of creating virtual surround on two speakers.

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-if you ever see suspicious activity you can always use the "report abuse" button below a post. this is the triangle with the exclaimation point. this gets sent directly to the mods for review. while we can pretty easily catch duplicate posts, it helps when users use this feature to report others who are acting out of line (flame wars, insults, trolling, innapropriate usernames, profanity, etcetera).

-typically the mods here are very good at catching such things. while it would have been caught by one of us, i took the liberty of closing the inactive post. some users do it accidentally (clicking twice) while some do it to try and gain attention (posting in multiple sections). as long as its not excessive or a recurring offense we typically just close or delete the inactive post and keep the active one which is what i did with yours.

similar to dolby headphone and razer virtual surround... its a way to emulate surround sound. they all do it a little bit different and all sound a little bit different. there are other different technologies i did not mention as well.

razer surround has its issues... but its also free. generally i think out of the common choices we have for pc people prefer dolby headphone the most. cmss-3d is said to be okay but not as good as DH.

to be honest, i probably dont get 100% performance out of my m50s.

i use them mostly with my cell phone, mp3 player and laptop without any special amplifiers or dacs. if i'm at home i can use my receiver as an amp (which isnt bad) but still not as good as i could be using. i bought them because i wanted good sound which didnt need any special equipment and they work nicely for that.

i used to use ipod in-ears, sony in-ears and gummy in-ears with my phone and i can tell you for a fact that all headphones do NOT sound the same on phones. the difference is staggering. i could literally hear notes that i didnt even know where there in music i've heard hundreds of times.

if you dont like the onboard sound in phones (smartphones) you can always use a dac which can connect up to an android phone to completely bypass it. one of the fiio dac-amps is meant for android. if i cared i could probably go this route but i'm perfectly fine with the sound out on my older droid incredible 1 running miui rom.

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the m50x is a newer version with detachable cable. i've heard it might be a slight improvement but its similar. considering you can get the m50s as cheap as $99 open-box but brand new... its hard to recommend the new version unless you wanted the detatchable cable for some reason.

for the price m50s are very hard to beat in terms of quality and sound. they do sound a bit warmer toned, and dont have the depth that some larger soundstaged headphones have and they may be a bit more focused on highs and lows than mids but they are a solid choice and very good set of headphones. what i like about them is how they can hit pretty low but still sound clean and still manage to produce some clear highs at the same time as hitting hard with bass. vocals&bass such as those by evanescence are wonderful. if i ran them with a dac-amp and with flac... i'm sure it would sound a bit better but i'm not a complete audiophile.

the dt770 is a direct competitor with the m50s and boasts a bit of a wider soundstage even though its also a closed design. the m50 has more bass but the 770 is more mids centered. there are 3 versions (32, 80 and 250ohm). the 80 has the most bass (still less than the m50) while the 250 is most neutral sounding. the first two can be driven unamped normally (80 may be an issue for some devices though) but the 250 requires an amp. (a soundcard can power any if its good but for portable devices you need an amp).

the hd598 might lack bass however it has a huge soundstage and gives music and games lots of depth. as long as you arent a basshead you might like it. quite a few people who want something better than headsets use it for gaming.

the q701 is also a really nice set however its also lacking any substantial bass at all.

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there are some really nice speakers available in the mid 100's however they are 2.0 or 2.1 such as the soundsticks iii, creature iii, t40, t20... in that budget its going to be hard to get any sort of "high end" 5.1 speakers the z906 is double that. for your likely budget the z506 and similar sets are all you will find and i dont think the sound quality is up there with a good set of cans (although it certainly isnt bad for the price... remember you ARE getting 5 speakers and a sub for that money).

i would say you can get a better sounding pair of headphones than speakers if you go with a 5.1.... however if you went with 2.0/2.1 speakers its closer but i still say the headphones might be better.

as for which you prefer... that depends on what you want. if you dont like headphones on your head then go with speakers. if you want great quality at a lower price then perhaps headphones.

as for which headphones to go with... that depends on your listening preferences.

oh and i wouldnt really consider your $14 headphones too much into the equation. while i'm sure you think they sound good... the truth is that they arent even in the same league. i thought my ipod in-ears sounded nice too you might want to keep them for now and use razer surround until you can save up money for something better though.

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ultimately the decision is yours to make with what you prefer.

if you have an audio store like guitarcenter near you then you can likely find and test out these headphones. best buy and other stores might have a few of them.

while sound is going to be distorted by whatever speakers you play them over... this listing can give you a general idea of how headphones sound in relation to one another http://www.sonicsense.com/blog/headphone-shootouts/which-headphones-are-best-listen-here-for-yourself