DTS 5.1 audio from PC over USB to AVR - need advice

[disappointed_moose]

I'm not that deep into the audio game and I don't know which kind of devices there are or what is possible or what isn't, so I'll try to describe my goal in a broader sense. Please forgive me if I misuse terms like "DAC", "sound card", "audio interface" etc. and please correct me if I do, I'm here to learn  

 

I'm looking for either advice on which device I could buy to achieve my goal, the way I currently think I can achieve it, or advice for a different solution my problem.

 

What do I want to achieve?

I want a setup where my AVR is able to play 5.1 audio from my PC, my Macbook Pro and my Dell XPS, ideally with only one cable to my AVR, without having the video signal going through my AVR.

Optionally it would be great if I could connect my Headphones to the same device and also share them across the PC and Notebooks. Alternatively I could just connect them to the audio jack of my monitor and set my audio output to the monitor via HDMI if I want to use the headphones.

 

How do I want to achive that?

Ideally some sort of USB audio interface that I can hook up to my USB switch which works on Windows, Mac and Linux. My first thought was getting a USB DAC (?) with an S/PDIF out, but I'm unsure what to get and if this device will support 5.1 audio, since I had issues with 5.1 audio over S/PDIF with my current mainboard and needed a modified driver.

Is there an audio interface that has HDMI as an output which only outputs audio over HDMI without video?

 

 

Now a bit about my current setup and some explanation about why I'm using everything.

 

Relevant devices

• Windows PC (MSI Tomahawk B550 mainboard for audio)
• 2019 15" Macbook Pro (macOS obviously)
• Dell XPS 15 7590 (Manjaro Linux)
• 27" WQHD Monitor (Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQZ)
• Random USB Switch
• Yamaha RX-V363 AVR (Here's a link to the manual: https://de.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/4/334974/RX-V363_U-1.pdf )
• Audio Technica ATH-M40x Headphones

.

How do I currently handle audio?

Only my PC is able to use the AVR and my headphones. The headphones just go to the 3.5mm jack on my mainboard. The AVR is connected via S/PDIF to the onboard sound card of my MSI Tomahawk B550. I have a modded driver for the Realtek soundchip that enable DTS Interactive 5.1, since it's apparantly not possible with the driver provided by Realtek or MSI. On my old AsRock Z87 Extreme4, which also uses a Realtek chip, I had no issues. But with the modded driver everything works fine and I have 5.1 audio in games and movies.

For the Macbook and the XPS I use the integrated speakers.

When I want to switch from my PC to one of the notebooks, I switch my monitor to a different input and press a button on my USB switch, which switches my keyboard, mouse, camera and microphone to my Macbook/XPS

 

Why S/PDIF and not HDMI to the AVR?

First of all the AVR doesn't support 1440p video and I don't want to be limited to 1080p. Second of all I don't need 5.1 audio all the time and when I don't need it I want to turn off the AVR.

 

Why not a new AVR that supports 1440p video?

A new AVR is out of my budget and also wouldn't solve that I want to switch off the AVR when I'm using headphones.

 

 

I've attached a diagram of my current setup. Everything in solid lines exists currently, and everything in dashed lines I want to add. Obviously I don't know what the Magical Mystery Device could be  

 

[OddOod]

Welcome to the forums!
 

First, very important question

58 minutes ago, disappointed_moose said:

A new AVR is out of my budget

What is you budget?

 

58 minutes ago, disappointed_moose said:

play 5.1 audio from my PC, my Macbook Pro and my Dell XPS, ideally with only one cable to my AVR

My understanding is that instead of a KVM you currently have a USB-only switch for your peripherals and use the monitor's various inputs for video, is that correct? 
If so, do you need to be able to output audio from one device while using a different one?  If you just want the active computer to be outputting audio, you can probably grab a mediocre USB 5.1+ DAC with SDPIF out as well as a headphone jack. The trick is to find one that has drivers for Windows, Mac *and* linux.
This one only natively supports Windows, but there are a ton out there
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-7-1-USB-Sound-Card/dp/B002LM0U2S
 

[GuiltySpark_]

What media are you expecting to play back in 5.1? S/PDIF / TOSLink optical out will carry a pre-encoded and compressed 5.1 signal to your AVR (DD/DTS) or PCM 2.0. If your source is just games or youtube, you're only going to get 2.0. For 5.1 you'd have to play back a DVD/Bluray in a player that can pass the encoded 5.1 signal. 

[disappointed_moose]

5 hours ago, OddOod said:

What is you budget?

I'd say about 150€. Cheaper is better, but not required. It's more about the question how much am I willing to pay. But the cheapest Denon AVR that supports 1440p is 600€ and I'm not willing to pay that amount.

 

5 hours ago, OddOod said:

My understanding is that instead of a KVM you currently have a USB-only switch for your peripherals and use the monitor's various inputs for video, is that correct? 

That is correct. And I'm not looking for a solution where multiple computers are running at the same time. I'm usually only using one at a time and I want the active one to be using the AVR. So what you posted seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. Just have to find one that works on all three OSes.

 

4 hours ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

What media are you expecting to play back in 5.1?

Mostly Linux ISOs

 

 

Edit:

based on @OddOods post I started to look around for USB DACs with Linux support, since that should be the biggest hurdle and landed on the Creative Sound Blaster X3 which has official support for Windows AND macOS, but also unofficially "just works" on Linux. Getting DTS to work seems to involve some fiddling with Pulseaudio, but seems doable.
Also used Sound Blaster X3s can be had for about 50€ in my area, so I think I'll try to get one of those.

Edited May 8 by disappointed_moose
Additional info

[Omon_Ra]

I picked this up for my new rig since the mobo doesn't have optical. The product page says it works with Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Can't say for sure if Mac and Linux definitely works or not, but it's been fine for my PC. It's also really small which is nice if it's going to live on your desk.

 

[ChrisLoudon]

20 hours ago, disappointed_moose said:

I've attached a diagram of my current setup. Everything in solid lines exists currently, and everything in dashed lines I want to add. Obviously I don't know what the Magical Mystery Device could be  

 

Hi buddy,

 

As a home cinema enthusiast as well as  PC geek, I've done this a fair few times over the years and almost always come to the same conclusion. Your AVR has all the gubbins to switch Audio and Video so why not use that instead of adding another switching device to the mix.

 

Does your Windows PC have a dedicated GPU with one or more HDMI Ports?

 

If it does and I was you, I would do the following:

 

PC GPU HDMI out directly to Monitor / Screen

PC GPU 2nd HDMI or Mobo HDMI out to AVR for Audio. This will wire into the DTV/Cable HDMI input on the Yammy.

Your PC will detect the AVR as a 2nd screen but as long as you set the Windows display settings to 'extend' NOT 'clone' you will be able to use the display at the correct resolution, refresh rate and any HDR.

 

The only irritation with the above solution is Windows thinks a 2nd screen is attached so your mouse can disappear off screen onto the 'phantom' screen. Its been a while since I've done this and don't recall a way of disabling the 'video' part independently of the 'audio'

 

Macbook - Buy a USB to Spdif device - Plumb this into the DVD Coax input on the Yammy.

 

Dell XPS - Buy a USB to Optical / Toslink device - Plumb this into CD Optical input on the Yammy.

 

In all 3 use cases, the above connections will allow for 2ch PCM and Dolby Digital / DTS to be bitstreamed to the AVR from all devices.

 

Your Windows PC sound settings should be configured to 5.1 audio. This will allow you to play games in 5.1. For movie watching, you will need to install something like the K-Lite Audio Codec pack and set the audio part of it to bitstream / passthrough for all audio formats your Yammy can decode. Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD.......

 

You'll be able to do the same thing on your XPS but from what I remember, games tend NOT to bitstream over Spdif / Optical so you'll need to use your AVRs Pro-Logic up-mix function get pseudo-surround. Just a guess, but I suspect you wont be gaming much on the Dell and use the PC for that???

 

For the Mac, sorry, no experience with this BUT I suspect the process will be similar to the XPS.

 

Add when you win the lottery, you can buy a new AVR with HDMI 2.1 support and plumb everything into that and let it do all the work.

 

Hope I've made sence.

 

Cheers

 

C

[OddOod]

2 hours ago, ChrisLoudon said:

so why not use that

because

23 hours ago, disappointed_moose said:

ideally with only one cable to my AVR

Also, a USB DAC allows OP to switch without extra button presses
Further, in your scenario, OP is buying not one but two extra devices, and more specialized devices at that (which pushes up the cost/quality ratio), plus having to deal with an entire phantom screen.
All that as opposed to just buying a single device run of the mill device which will do everything they need

Fragglerock but I hate AVRs.... My whole home audio system now consists of a pair of 6 zone dumb stereo amps and that's it. They are daisy chained and take the output from a usb DAC (I had to use that so I would stop hearing the HTPC's CPU/GPU think through the speakers). So nice, so smooth, so easy

[ChrisLoudon]

24 minutes ago, OddOod said:

Also, a USB DAC allows OP to switch without extra button presses
Further, in your scenario, OP is buying not one but two extra devices, and more specialized devices at that (which pushes up the cost/quality ratio), plus having to deal with an entire phantom screen.

Yeh, I've got myself stuck in that quandary before.

 

I think my logic is probably down to how many remote controls I want and also how different input types respond to DSP parameters on the AVR.

 

Personally, I'd see a USB > Optical..... device as an extension to an existing cable rather than a separate device.

 

Many ways to skin a cat..... god knows where that saying came from. 

[OddOod]

39 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

god knows where that saying came from