Sound Output from HTPC Question.

lauxenburg

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Feb 9, 2009
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So a friend of mine wants me to build him a cheap HTPC. I was researching parts, and I came across the sound card part of things. I got curious and then thought:

How does a 7.1 sound card with standard 3.5mm jacks output to surround sound? Would there need to be an intermediate device to put it out? I am looking for a card on the cheap, not audiophile but better than integrated. Less than $80 is about alright.

Thanks.
 
It depends on what you are connecting to. Most HTPC'ers run either optical or HDMI to a receiver and let the receiver decode the audio streams and output to speakers.

You can connect 3.5mm jacks to the analog ports of a receiver too and have the HTPC do all of the encoding.

In short, you must have something in between your HTPC and the speakers unless you happen to have speakers that have built in amplifiers, which is not the norm for home theater speakers (subwoofers are an exception). Most speakers need something to supply amplified power output.

So again, it all depends on what your friend has for speakers. Chances are, they require something to push them with power. If your friend has integrated sound via optical or HDMI on his motherboard, then that is perfectly fine to pass audio to a receiver and a sound card shouldn't be necessary.