Surround Sound (5.1) from PC to Soundbar

[RalphShep]

Hello everyone,

I have a Samsung HW-S50A sound bar paired with the two rear speakers. I have it plugged into the ARC port on my TV, and my AppleTV 4k is easily able to recognize the 5.1. My PC, on the other hand, is a little tricky.

 

I got an HP OMEN 25L GT12-0024. The spec sheet list "High Definition (Azalia) 5.1 channel audio support" from the integrated audio, it's even listed as a headline feature at Best Buy, where I purchased it from. But "The motherboard supports 5.1 surround sound. If the computer does not have the required audio jacks for a 5.1 configuration, additional hardware is required to use 5.1 surround sound." You would assume this means to purchase a sound card, However, there's only one PCI slot on the motherboard, and the GTX 1660's HDMI port does not support 5.1, unless there's something I don't know about. So, I guess I'm looking a optical audio to USB adapter, but I haven't been able to find one. Optical being another input option on the sound bar. Any input any of you have would be greatly appreciated.

[BuzzingBee]

There are several ways to output multichannel sound from your PC, but soundbars often have limited inputs and playback support.

 

Most soundbars have either HDMI ARC or Optical input. HDMI ARC can only work if connected to a TV with ARC support, that's why your GTX 1660 wouldn't work if trying to connect a graphics card directly to soundbar. As for optical input for surround sound it can only support Dolby / DTS 5.1 and is usually found in video files like movies and TV shows. If you try to select number of speakers on PC it would only show stereo, as optical and soundbar could only support PCM stereo. So you wouldn't be able to game on surround sound. 

 

Given you don't have PCI-E slots, the only way to get surround sound through games is buying an external gaming sound card with optical output which can support Dolby Digital Live or DTS connect.