Ad

News

AMD eyes chip memory expansion

Advanced Micro Devices is exploring new types of onboard memory for its chips as a way to bump performance and squeeze more out of its manufacturing plants. Read more

ECS and NVIDIA Join AMD Phenomena

The MCP78M-A from ECS proves that NVIDIA hasn't given up the AMD market, regardless of competitive forces. Read more

Oxygen generator responsible for British submarine accident

An explosion aboard a Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarine at 0420 GMT yesterday which left two sailors dead and a third injured was caused by an oxygen "candle", US and British military sources have conformed. Read more

CES '09: Patriot's Nifty SSD RAID Enclosure

Patriot Memory has something interesting coming down the pipeline, so we've learned today at CES in Vegas. The company demonstrated a SSD RAID enclosure that takes two 2.5 inch SSD drives, marries it with a onboard RAID controller, and packs everything in Read more

Latest Reviews & Articles

GeForce 3D Vision: Gaming Goes Stereo

GeForce 3D Vision: Gaming Goes Stereo

Do you remember the stereo glasses that were around about 10 years ago? Now that 120 Hz LCDs are starting to pop up, Nvidia is teaching an old dog some new tricks with its GeForce 3D Vision shades. Read more

AMD Phenom II X4: 45nm Benchmarked

AMD Phenom II X4: 45nm Benchmarked

Can AMD finally recapture its former market lead with the Phenom II? We tested their new 45-nm CPU, which is compatible with AM2 motherboards. How do things look from performance, energy consumption and overclocking perspectives? Read more

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: Jan. '09

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: Jan. '09

Detailed graphics card specifications and reviews are great—that is, if you have the time to do the research. But at the end of the day, what a gamer needs is the best graphics card within a certain budget, and that’s what we’re going to show you. Read more

Scorpio Blue: Big Notebook HDDs Go Mainstream

Scorpio Blue: Big Notebook HDDs Go Mainstream

While two other 500 GB mobile hard drives have been available for a while, WD is the first to release this capacity in a model using the standard 9.5 mm height with two platters. Read more

All the Reviews & Articles
  Tom's Hardware Forums » CPU & Components » Sound Cards » Onboard good enough for an S/PDIF-only setup?
 

Onboard good enough for an S/PDIF-only setup?




Word :   Username :  
 
Bottom
Author
 Thread : Onboard good enough for an S/PDIF-only setup?
 
Profile: stranger
More Information

Hello everyone!

I currently have a media box hooked directly to my TV (DVI to HDMI) and optical S/PDIF to a 5.1 receiver.

The motherboard has onboard audio with an optical connector on it (Realtek ALC850 chipset). I figure that since I am just passing digital sound to my receiver, it really doesn't matter what D/A qualities are of the chipset and so there is no needfor a better soundcard (X-Fi, for example) since there would be absolutely no difference in the quality sent to the receiver.

So my question is, is there any benefit of going to a separate soundcard for this setup, in terms of audio quality? Or is the quality for this setup 1:1, since it is all digital?

The reason I ask is because I am kinda anal and want to ensure that there are no bottlenecks in this setup, in that nothing is degrading any potential quality there may be.

Thanks in advance!

Related Product

Register or log in to remove.

Profile: stranger
More Information

Simply put all you are sending thru your optical cable will be 0's & 1's...all BINARY baby! ;) The sound quality will not be diminished due to no digital to analog conversion. So save a few bucks on buying another sound card and use your onboard S/PDIF :D


  Tom's Hardware Forums » CPU & Components » Sound Cards » Onboard good enough for an S/PDIF-only setup?

Go to:
 

Google Ads