Hello everyone,
this is my first post here, but I have been watching the WAN-show for quite some time now. It even inspired me to finally replace my 5,5 year old Core2Quad rig. I would like to explain that I'm from Europe, so aside from my english (please correct me if necessary) the pricing here may vary wildly from the States and rest of the world
What I want to accomplish is transmitting either uncompressed stereo or compressed 5.1 audio from my new rig to an Onkyo TX-SR607 surround sound receiver. The uncompressed audio would be for listening to music and stereo sources. The 5.1 audio would be for games. I don't mind switching between settings. This receiver has the following connectings:
Coaxial S/PDIF available
Optical S/PDIF, but already in use for my flatscreen and X360
HDMI
That means no multichannel analog sound inputs!
The way I do this now is via an Auzentech X-Fi prelude with DTS connect for 5.1 and uncompressed PCM for stereo. That means I have to switch every time I want either one. No biggie. The problem is that this card has seen its best days and some audio artifacts occur, such as audio falling away and loud static occuring every now and then. Also, the drivers haven't been updated in a while, so I don't think it's a future proof option at all.
My options as I see them now, from most ideal to least favourable:
Use the HDMI output. This will allow me to pass 5.1 audio uncompressed with only one cable. Might seem the ideal way to go, but unfortunately due to the way DHCP works it seems I can only use HDMI if I also output a video signal on it. As my screens have a resolution of 1920x1200 and my onkyo only accepts inputs up to 1920x1080 I cannot simply clone a screen. This would also cost me a bit of graphics power, I think? Maybe a workaround can be found for this? This would be great as no extra hardware would be required, no compression occurs and I only have one cable to the receiver. I am planning on buying either a GTX780 or an R9 290, so graphics power is not extremely limited. Maybe AMD or Nvidia has better support? This might be a reason to swing either way, as I am undecided.
Use the S/PDIF output of the onboard audio chip. This requires the chip to be able to support DTS Connect, as S/PDIF only allows for stereo channels to be transmitted uncompressed. Only ASrock and ASUS provide official support for this out of the box on Z87 models, although the DTS pack available from Creative might enable me to use other brands. I need info, but I can't find it anywhere. Link down below. Another Caveat is that most motherboard manufacturers only include optical out on their products, so a workaround has to be hacked, possibly using the internal S/PDIF out and a RCA connector on a PCI-slot cover.
Buy a seperate sound card. This is not the best option, as spending the same amount on a better motherboard will probably be a better buy. The second problem is again the lack of Coaxial out and in some cases even the internal S/PDIF, which forces me to disconnect either my Plasma or my Xbox. I would also probably not benefit from better audio hardware at all, because I will only convert the signal in my Onkyo, so better DACs will not make any difference at all.
Is anyone familiar with any of these options? My motherboard of choice would be the ASUS Z87-A, because it is priced reasonably and it has support for DTS Connect. In the case of option 1 I would go for the Gigabyte Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3, as it would save me about $30. I am not sure about any other advantages of the ASUS board, so any and all advice is welcome!
In short: What do you think is the best option for me? It could be I missed an option in my research, so be free to give any advice you like!
Creative DTS pack: http://software.store.creative.com/software/dolby-digital-live-and-dts-connect-pack/106-18034.aspx
edit: Spelling, derp.
