Odd Question

[nut334]

Hi everybody, I'm experiencing some trouble connecting my pc to my receiver and getting 5.1 channel audio. Currently I can only get stereo through the optical port. 

I have recently switched motherboards to one that can not support the sound card I previously used. (Xonar D1 I believe, it's been a while) This leaves me with the option of on board audio or buying another sound card.
Through some research I discovered that this board does not support 5.1 channel audio out of the optical port, only from the analog jacks. My receiver does support "multi channel in", but the connectors are rca jacks and of course my motherboard uses 3.5mm jacks.

So, my question is, can I use an adapter such as this (http://www.thesource.ca/estore/product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=Audio+Accessories&product=8016082) and just use rca cables to my receiver? I believe this would work, but I would like to get your opinion before I purchase any of these.

Any help is much appreciated, thanks.



(Link to motherboard if it is needed. http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z77_MPOWER.html#hero-overview)

[Quest]

It...it should...?

 

I'm pretty sure it would work. But I can't speak from experience.

 

If you know anyone that may have an adapter, try it out first. They also may have them at your local Radio Shack, or a store like it.

[nut334]

That's why I was posting here first, I'm curious if anyone has tried it. My friends aren't tech savvy and don't have something like this.
The link posted is the equivalent to a radio shack here, but I live an hour away from any of them. 

[DataLepton]

you can get direct 3.5mm to RCA cables anywhere - monoprice has some options. you will require 1 of these cables per set of speakers. so 1 for fronts, 1 for center/LFE and 1 for rears. the MB will output stereo to each jack so you will need the cable i have suggested as it splits to Left/Right RCA.

 

Also im pretty sure your SPDIF can output dolby digital streams to the Rx. Use a player like VLC and set the audio output to the SPDIF directly. it has a "use SPDIF when available" option. As long as the media you are playing is dolby or THX encoded it will out put it directly to the Rx and your Rx will decode the stream if it supports it. Uless your Rx is more than 10 yrs old almost all Rx will decode Dolby/THX streams. Try this before you use the cables as cables will be a messy affair as you will have 3 RCA pairs Vs one optical cable.

 

The other thing you can try is to output the audio through HDMI to the Rx. ie route your video cable through the Rx and in the Graphics card driver settings you can select it to output audio through he same HDMI cable. I use this options as i have a Media PC connected to my HT Rx. I have set the NVidia driver to output audio also. I dont need to use the optical or analog audio jacks on the MB. and i have a really old MB/Graphics card (Intel DP45SG MB and Nvidia 8800GT) that still supports this so you should have not trouble in configuring the same.

 

hope this helps.

 

Cheers

DataLepton

[nut334]

Right, makes sense. I was trying to utilise the rca cables I had around but it will not work with the stereo output of the 3.5mm jacks, of course. 

Indeed it can, through my research I have heard the same thing. I am talking strictly about games though, through research and personal experiences I don't think it is possible while gaming. My previous motherboard was the same way, I purchased my sound card and everything was seamless from there on. 

I use a three plus one monitor setup, I don't believe this would work. I haven't used hdmi audio from a graphics card in many years, wasn't it always stereo? My problem is not getting audio, it's getting audio in 5.1 channel surround.

[DataLepton]

Right, makes sense. I was trying to utilise the rca cables I had around but it will not work with the stereo output of the 3.5mm jacks, of course. 

Indeed it can, through my research I have heard the same thing. I am talking strictly about games though, through research and personal experiences I don't think it is possible while gaming. My previous motherboard was the same way, I purchased my sound card and everything was seamless from there on. 

I use a three plus one monitor setup, I don't believe this would work. I haven't used hdmi audio from a graphics card in many years, wasn't it always stereo? My problem is not getting audio, it's getting audio in 5.1 channel surround.

 

For multimonitor setup i guess your best bet is the RCA cables only. For SPDIF the decoding is done by the sound processor on the MB and if that is not capable of Dolby output then you will get stereo over SPDIF. Although the MB spec does say it has THX TrueStudio Pro, so in theory it should be able to send THX streams over SPDIF but it dosent always work like that. 

You may also want to check the audio settings for the games you play, if there is an option to output to SPDIF directly. If that is the case then you should get 5.1 over SPDIF if the games support it.

 

HDMI is the same as SPDIF, only difference is that it does not pass through the sound processor (this is my understanding i might be wrong), so if the stream is Dolby/THX then that is what will be out put directly over HDMI. I use it to get 5.1 from VLC to my Yamaha Rx.

 

Cheers

DL

[nut334]

I have tried and researched with no success, I think it might not be possible with on board audio. If I'm going to use analog I'd probably want a sound card for better audio quality anyways. If I purchase the cables and put it all together it wont be worth my time and money. I guess a soundcard it is then. 

I really appreciate the help, have a great day!

[ShearMe]

@nut334, does your receiver not have HDMI input?

 

the MB spec does say it has THX TrueStudio Pro

 

THX is just an EQ/virtual surround suite - it does not have a S/PDIF transport codec like Dolby and DTS.

[NannerBeans]

The 3.5mm to rca should work if everything else fails though. It's just a lot of cables.

[nut334]

It does, but I use three monitors and regularly switch display configurations. The passthrough will not work unfortunately.

I appreciate the help fellas.