Best PC Sound Card To Use With A Receiver?

[omalley]

I have a Yamaha RX-V367 Receiver that I have a very nice set of Klipsch speakers hooked up to for 5.1 surround sound. My only problem is that my PC only has 3.5mm ports on it. Which their are enough ports to do 7.1 surround if I used PC Speakers but I'm not.

I also have a Nvidia GTX 560 Graphics Card in PC too which i can hook up to the receiver to get 5.1 surround but that brings me to another problem which is why I don't want to do that either unless someone knows how to fix.

The problem is when I run the HDMI cord from my 560 to the Receiver and then from the Receiver to my Dynex TV it fucks up my Resolution bad. If I just run the HDMI straight from the 560 to the TV my Resolution is 1360x768 but if i go from 560 to Receiver to TV it is 1024x768. And if I try to adjust it back to 1360x768 it causes part of my screen to be chopped off. So therefor I don't want to go that rout.

Instead I would like to use a Sound Card to send true 5.1 codes to my Receiver but I don't know which sound card to use to do so.

I'm willing to spend anything in price and would like to have one with a EMI Shielding on it so their is no interference between the sound card and graphics card.

I have 2 PCIe x1 open and 1 PCI slot open for use on my motherboard. I also have a 650 Power Supply so i can power up the card too if need be.

If their is a cable or something that I can use to combine my 3.5mm ports to one set of RCA or HDMI or Digital cable I would use that too.

If you need to know any more information about my PC or anything to help me out please let me know.

My Receiver
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/av-receivers-amps/rx/rx-v367_black__u/?mode=model#tag2654

My Graphics Card (PS. It's made by PNY)
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-560/specifications

My TV
http://www.dynexproducts.com/products/televisions/DX-L24-10A.html

 

[MagicPants]

Honestly it doesn't matter which one you use, as your receiver doesn't have analog 5.1 inputs, so you're just going to end up sending it a digital signal anyway.

I think the asus xonar dsx is about the cheapest card that supports dts-connect (5.1 over optical) so I'd go with that.

5.1 over optical is worse than hdmi or analog, but since those options aren't open that's what you've got. (also you might check to see if your motherboard supports dts-connect before adding any new hardware.)

 

[omalley]

I was thinking of getting this sound card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271004

But how would I know if my Receiver had 5.1 analog? And why is optical bad?

 

[gamerk316]

Why? The soundcard isn't going to do any processing unless its hooked up via analog, which is simply too much wiring (if even possible). When using Digital, go with the cheapest card the gets the card done, which would be the ASUS Xonar DSX (DTS codec) or DX (Dolby Digital codec).

 

[omalley]

What if I go with Coaxial Digital? Will that be any better then Optic Digital?

Pretty much I just want the best Audio Quality I can get that is in 5.1 Surround Sound. I know HDMI is simple and easy. 1 Cable. And is best in video quality. But is it the best in Audio. If not what is. And if so, are their Sound Cards that have HDMI out?

 

[gamerk316]

What if I go with Coaxial Digital? Will that be any better then Optic Digital?

Same format, just different transmission method.

Understand how audio works: At some point, some device will take a digital audio signal, and convert it to analog. That what a sound card excells at. When you connect via digital, however, the device at the other end of the chain (in this case, the receiver) does the majority of the audio processing. As a result, when using digital, you do not want to spend a lot of money on a soundcard, as the receiver will be the main driver of audio quality.

 

[omalley]

Alright well thanks for the help! And do you maybe now how I could fix the problem with running my graphics card to my receiver back to my tv?

 

[MagicPants]

FYI most people like DTS-connect slightly better than dolby digital (It's got slightly higher bandwidth).