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

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

Forum CPU & Components : Sound Cards - Onboard good enough for an S/PDIF-only setup?

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!
Ask the community Add a reply
Word :    Username :           
 
Xourque1   08-22-2007 at 07:28:13 AM

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!

Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
jigglesone   08-22-2007 at 09:32:31 AM
- 0 +

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

Reply to jigglesone
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Sound Cards > Onboard good enough for an S/PDIF-only setup?
Go to:

There are 1203 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.191 seconds
Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
Related Topics
See all relatives topics
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them