Need sound card for stereo

[Zoltar]

Hi all.

I ran a SP/DIF coax cable from my onboard sound to my receiver. Everything works find, but the sound quality is not so great. It's rather shallow, even the bass from the sub is thin. So, I am thinking I need a sound card. Please recommend something with digital output. I'll probably get it from New Egg.

Thanks

[theedisoneffect]

What sort of onboard sound do you have? With some of the more recent ones, you're not gonna do much better.

I've always been partial to M-Audio's offerings for best quality in music, something like this would be a good bet.

Now, also, you *have* used the digital coax input before, right? Remember, it bypasses any equalization settings you have on your computer, so if you're accustomed to jacking up the bass or something, it won't work the same with the digital source. If that's the case, then the thinness you're hearing is actually better sound quality than you're used to.

[~~Maverick~~]

Yeah, look at you receiver settings and speaker placement first.
If you really think you need new sound card take look at these:

Chaintech AV710
M-Audio Revolution 5.1.
E-MU 0404

Steer away from DDL cards unless you game and use receiver for this.
In fact DDL ads latency so if you need card for gaming you better off just go analog.

[outlaw2001it]

Hello,
Instead of running SP/DIF Coax, and or think about getting a new sound card try using a 1/8" to 2 RCA jacks cable. Plug the 1/8" into the aux output or line out (not speaker out) of your sound card, and plug the 2 RCA jacks into the input of your amplifier. You'll probably get better sound off of that than using the coax. Besides you'll save yourself money than buying a new sound card. Take Care.

[DanU]

Did you set your receiver to upmix 2.0 to 5.1 audio? Otherwise the low sounds won't get routed to your subwoofer and it will sound "thin" and only your front left and front right speakers will work.

The vast majority of sound adapters only support 2.0 digital audio for games and music. They will only output 5.1 audio for DVDs which have actual 5.1 audio streams encoded on it. There are a few exceptions, such as Nvidia's excellent SoundStorm and the CMI8768+, which support real time digital 5.1 (aka Dolby Digital Live), but as maverick mentioned, this is a slight latency increase. Some people are bothered by this, while others don't seem to notice.

[Zoltar]

The onboard sound on my Asus A8NE, is the Realtec AC97 decoder. It has both optical and digital coax outputs, plus the 7.1 analog outputs. The digital should carry the full spectrum of stereo sound. My receiver should send the bass components to the sub @ the 80hz crossover point that is, if the lows are there in the first place. All I need the sound decoder to do is feed the digi stuff (MP-3's, 4's etc) to the digital input of my receiver. This shouldn't be too hard of a task. I don't need anything fancy, don't need remote, don't need eq, etc. I can do any of that through the receiver. The receiver has all kinds of 5.1 decoders built in, but I normally listen to music @ 2.1. I don't know if most audio sources have 5.1 dolby encoded, like a movie sound track. If not, I dont' want to do any simulations. I would rather listen in stereo.

I have looked at the limited configurations on the sound setup. The coax jack was live already. Looks like you can turn on or off all the other jacks. And then there is the deal of selecting what kind of speakers you have. That's about all I know!

[DanU]

Do this test: play a 5.1 encoded DVD on the computer and verify that your receiver is correctly detecting 5.1 channels and your subwoofer outputting sound.

Now play an MP3 and see if your receiver correctly detects 2.0 channels and that the subwoofer is outputting sound. If it isn't, then you probably need to set your receiver to upmix to 2.1 or 5.1 so the sub is activated. You may also need to set your front speakers to "SMALL".

[Whir]

If you're only playing in stereo, there's no real need to go optical in the first place. Unless you've got a cable run of 20' or greater, and multi-thousand dollar amplifiers and speakers, you will not hear the difference between analog and digital.

What make and model is your receiver?