Help me set up multi-system sound.

[nosirrahx]

The core system is a 2080 ti based gaming rig, there is also an Xbox and PS4.

 

The PC will be connected to 3 1440p monitors via DisplayPort. I will be using G-Sync.

 

The Xbox and PS4 will be connected to a receiver and the receiver to the center monitor via HDMI.

 

When gaming on the PC the center monitor will be set to DisplayPort, when gaming on the Xbox or PS4 the center monitor will be set to HDMI.

The receiver will be connected to an analog 5.1 sound system.


As you probably already guessed, I am having a hell of a time coming up with a good way of getting sound from the PC into the receiver.
 

My idea was to take the HDMI out from the 2080 and connect it to the receiver but I can't imagine that the NV control panel will be happy with one monitor being connected to both HDMI (for sound passed though the receiver) and DisplayPort (for video).

One of the other ideas was to scrap DisplayPort from the center monitor and use HDMI alone passed through the receiver. Obviously this negates the possibility of G-Sync but more critically I have heard very mixed reviews about passing 1440p though a receiver and having windows recognize it correctly.

So, any ideas here? The only piece not yet purchased is the receiver. If anyone knows of a receiver that will handle 1440p passthrough where a PC can correctly identify it that would be a critical part of the equation no matter where I go from here.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Constantin]

Analog 5.1 sound system. as you said, splitters for the rest of everything 

[nosirrahx]

7 minutes ago, Constantin said:

Analog 5.1 sound system. as you said, splitters for the rest of everything 

That would be a 2nd set of speakers. I am looking to use the existing speakers.'

 

I looked into the analog in option for receivers and there is a massive generation conflict. Anything with 5.1 analog in is massively lacking with HDMI support, you can forget 4K. Anything with 4K support has no options for 5.1 analog in.

Optical is also out as you only get good 2.1, 5.1 is compressed.

 

I looked at sound cards and none of them have HDMI audio out even though there are literally HDMI in speakers. My parents have HDMI speakers, I set them up.

 

[nosirrahx]

In short, the optimal solution is anything that gets HDMI audio from the PC to the receiver in a way that does not create ghost displays and does not disable 1440p/G-Sync on the center monitor.

[nosirrahx]

I am thinking about connecting a HDMI splitter to the HDMI out with one side going to the receiver and the other to a 4K dummy plug in an attempt to trick the 2080 into sending sound over HDMI thinking that it is a monitor.

[nosirrahx]

I just did a test with a spare receiver I have and was able to confirm that connecting a monitor with no speakers though the receiver tricks windows and Nvidia into thinking that the receiver and monitor are one device allowing 5.1 and even 7.1 to be set as speaker configuration, I think I am on the right track now.

[nosirrahx]

I think I have a solution.

 

I have my test monitor set as primary connected through displayport. I have the same monitor connected via HDMI though my receiver. This does create a ghost monitor but if I set its position so that its corner is touching the corner of the primary display it is impossible to accidentally move the pointer to this ghost display.

 

Even though the monitor is effectively dead on HDMI (because displayport is primary) I can still send audio to HDMI as it sees the receiver as an audio option over HDMI.

 

Man, what a PITA. It would be nice if MS and the GFX card companies would enable HDMI audio out as a supported option so all of this could be simplified.

[Donut417]

4 hours ago, nosirrahx said:

So, any ideas here?

What audio ports does your PC have? You might be able to just wire it up another way. Optical might work. Thats if the receiver has that port. 

[nosirrahx]

1 minute ago, Donut417 said:

What audio ports does your PC have? You might be able to just wire it up another way. Optical might work. Thats if the receiver has that port. 

Optical only provides clear 2.1, it compresses the quality of 5.1.
 

The main issue I have with analog 5.1 is that there are no new (4K ready) receivers that have 5.1 analog inputs. I easily found used receivers that have it but they are old and massively limited.

What I am trying out right now seems to work fine, let me gram some screenshots to show you what I did.

[nosirrahx]

[nosirrahx]

So.....there is literally only one monitor connected to this system, the ghost is from HDMI out on 2080 -> receiver -> HDMI in on monitor. The monitor is set to DisplayPort and connected to the 2080 via DisplayPort.

Windows and Nvidia allow me to set the ghost to audio out and allow me all sound options.

By moving the "ghost" to the corner it is impossible to move the mouse pointer onto it, I tried, it just wont go there.

[dalekphalm]

Do you own the receiver already? If so, what's the model number?

[nosirrahx]

41 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Do you own the receiver already? If so, what's the model number?

I have one for testing but for the actual build we settled on this:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-RX-V385-5-1-Channel-Receiver-Bluetooth/dp/B07BNXXJKB

I looked at more expensive units but we didn't need any of the extra functionality.

[dalekphalm]

7 minutes ago, nosirrahx said:

I have one for testing but for the actual build we settled on this:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-RX-V385-5-1-Channel-Receiver-Bluetooth/dp/B07BNXXJKB

I looked at more expensive units but we didn't need any of the extra functionality.

Okay - yeah I just wanted to check the various inputs on the AV. Realistically your two options are SPDIF (Toslink or Coax) or HDMI.

 

Have you actually tested the SPDIF output for 5.1? Yeah the PCM is limited to 2 channels, but the 5.1 compressed audio is still DTS Surround or Dolby Digital - both of which are by no means bad quality.

 

Dolby Digital has a max bitrate of 640 kbit/s for Blu-Ray (a bit less for DVD).
DTS Surround Sound has a max bitrate of near double at 1.5 mbit/s for Blu-Ray.

 

Either of those should be fantastic audio quality. Granted, you've figured out the HDMI option, but I'd just try the SPDIF option first and see if it's good enough for you. Depending on the speakers, you may or may not notice a big difference between PCM and DD/DTS.

[nosirrahx]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

Either of those should be fantastic audio quality. Granted, you've figured out the HDMI option, but I'd just try the SPDIF option first and see if it's good enough for you. Depending on the speakers, you may or may not notice a big difference between PCM and DD/DTS.

I did once on a different multi-system build a while back. The mini-PC had a quirk where if you used the GFX card it would not output any sound at all over HDMI so I had to use the optical out and an optical + DVI -> HDMI merge box to get both audio and video onto HDMI.

It sounded meh at best over 5.1. When contrasting the PC against the PS3 or blu-ray it was pretty noticeable.

Mind you this isn't going to be my PC. If it were mine I might just go the simple route but I want this to sound great.

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, nosirrahx said:

I did once on a different multi-system build a while back. The mini-PC had a quirk where if you used the GFX card it would not output any sound at all over HDMI so I had to use the optical out and an optical + DVI -> HDMI merge box to get both audio and video onto HDMI.

It sounded meh at best over 5.1. When contrasting the PC against the PS3 or blu-ray it was pretty noticeable.

Mind you this isn't going to be my PC. If it were mine I might just go the simple route but I want this to sound great.

Fair enough - the receiver does have support for DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD, which for Blu-Rays would be ideal.

 

Honestly, I would just try both once you have everything. TOSLINK would be significantly easier and less complicated. If you still find the TOSLINK connection to be of subpar quality, you can always just go ahead with the phantom HDMI method.