Is nVidia HDMI audio better than onboard?

[orangecat]

I was wondering if I use the sound that comes from my videocard if that is better quality than the analog sound that comes from my onboard sound. Does it just redirect sound from the onboard sound to the HDMI interface or does it have its own audio chipset?

[solomongrundy]

If you are connecting your computer to a fairly decent receiver that supports hdmi audio, then it would be better to bitstream or pass the audio signal directly to your receiver via hdmi for better sound quality.

 

I was wondering if I use the sound that comes from my videocard if that is better quality than the analog sound that comes from my onboard sound. Does it just redirect sound from the onboard sound to the HDMI interface or does it have its own audio chipset?

[Blade of Grass]

It depends, are you plugging into a digital out from your motherboard?

HDMI works the same as digital outputs (since it is digital) or optical. It sends the actual data, and that's it. So you rely on the receiving end to do all the processing.

Some motherboard have good inboard sound (from the analog), so it really depends.

[Tr3vor]

I don't think people are getting his question. 

 

he's asking if the audio processor built into the video cards are better than ones usually found on motherboards, or does the cards even have their own audio processor built into them?

 

I'm also interested in this question

[felixbearpig]

im guessing this goes for displayport too?

[Tr3vor]

im guessing this goes for displayport too?

 

Does DisplayPort have audio output? I didn't know that.

[_ASSASSIN_]

I'm pretty sure display port doesn't have an audio output

*EDIT*
guess I'm dumb
http://superuser.com/questions/229084/does-displayport-carry-sound-as-hdmi-does

[BgG286]

This sounds like a question for Linus since he's such an audiophile.

[felixbearpig]

i was surprised when i pluged in my displayport and didnt need an aux cable for sound

[GoodBytes]

DisplayPort have audio out, yes.

[_ASSASSIN_]

This sounds like a question for Linus since he's such an audiophile.

trust me

EmoRarity would top Linus in knowledge of audio

like seriously

[BgG286]

trust me

EmoRarity would top Linus in knowledge of audio

like seriously

I'll take your word on that. 

[GoodBytes]

To answer the question of the OP:

 -> Anything is better than onBoard sound. The motherboard with "good onBoard sound" is still crap.

 -> Your receiver that will take your HDMI cable, will be a lot better.  Now, if you plan to use your TV audio, then this might be not great.. then again TV speakers usually aren't very good in any case.

 -> That said, if you have a dedicated sound card, like an Xonar Essence STX, then it might be better than your receiver. If you have a 48 000$ receiver then no it won't beat it. But if you have have a 300$ receiver, most likely will... compare and see. Just make sure you use high quality cables for your audio that comes out of your sound card, and shortest that you can use, to avoid interferences which will degrade sound quality, if you choose the analogue sound from your sound card.

[_ASSASSIN_]

To answer the question of the OP:

 -> Anything is better than onBoard sound. The motherboard with "good onBoard sound" is still crap.

 -> Your receiver that will take your HDMI cable, will be a lot better.  Now, if you plan to use your TV audio, then this might be not great.. then again TV speakers usually aren't very good in any case.

 -> That said, if you have a dedicated sound card, like an Xonar Essence STX, then it might be better than your receiver. If you have a 48 000$ receiver then no it won't beat it. But if you have have a 300$ receiver, most likely. Just make sure you use high quality cables for your audio and shortest that you can use, to avoid interferences which will degrade sound quality.

really? I feel like it would be the same, if not worse, as there is less PCB to dedicate to the audio than motherboards, most motherboard are now caring to start upping the stakes and have gotten better, no one bothers with audio on a high end Video card, as they know the end user will use DVI for rendering more than audo because they won't use HDMI most of the time

[Glenwing]

The video card does have an onboard audio chip, it is not using motherboard audio when you get audio through the video card HDMI.

 

Although, most graphics cards have a HDMI-S/PDIF header which allows you to route audio from somewhere else through the HDMI audio output.  Like if you had a high end sound card and you wanted that to handle your audio rather than the video card, but still wanted to output it through the video card HDMI.

[orangecat]

To answer the question of the OP:

 -> Anything is better than onBoard sound. The motherboard with "good onBoard sound" is still crap.

 -> Your receiver that will take your HDMI cable, will be a lot better.  Now, if you plan to use your TV audio, then this might be not great.. then again TV speakers usually aren't very good in any case.

 -> That said, if you have a dedicated sound card, like an Xonar Essence STX, then it might be better than your receiver. If you have a 48 000$ receiver then no it won't beat it. But if you have have a 300$ receiver, most likely will... compare and see. Just make sure you use high quality cables for your audio that comes out of your sound card, and shortest that you can use, to avoid interferences which will degrade sound quality, if you choose the analogue sound from your sound card.

I'm currently using the audio output form my monitor to go to a cheap pair of speakers and I wanted to know if i bought a receiver with a HDMI interface if it would be better than onboard sound and form what everyone is saying I think it would be.

[Dodge]

I'm currently using the audio output form my monitor to go to a cheap pair of speakers and I wanted to know if i bought a receiver with a HDMI interface if it would be better than onboard sound and form what everyone is saying I think it would be.

Not really. As long as you don't have problems with audible distortions, it won't be worth spending money. Get decent speakers, if you want to improve the audio quality.

[Chevaishr]

the audio output through hdmi is purely digital meaning there is no special chipset  that decodes the data into the siensodioal wave form (the actual sound signal) instead the data is transmitted to the receiver of the hdmi signal and there and only there is the sound decoded. so one can say there is perfect output of sound from the hdmi and it is up to the tv or receiver to make the difference in quality 

[Hoppa]

For digital sound:

 

The sound is processed and converted into a digital format on the host device before going through the cable.

The receiving end only translates the digital information to a sound to be played through the speakers.

 

It doesn't matter what device you have on the receiving end. It will receive the same information as any other device, and will convert it the same way as any digital device.

Of course the quality of the sound will change depending on the quality of the speakers.

 

Digital sound is better than analogue because no data is lost between devices.

[mr-nipples]

The audio output via hdmi is digital and therefore an exact copy of the audio being sent from your computer! The audio cannot to be played until it is converted to an analogue signal.

 

The digital -> analogue conversion would take place on the device receiving the hdmi signal (so probably a tv) so in actual fact you will be comparing the D/A converter on your tv against the D/A converter on your motherboard because conversion is where quality loss can occur.

 

So to answer your question using HDMI will not improve audio quality (compared to onboard audio) unless the output device has a better D/A converter! :)

[GoodBytes]

really? I feel like it would be the same, if not worse, as there is less PCB to dedicate to the audio than motherboards, most motherboard are now caring to start upping the stakes and have gotten better, no one bothers with audio on a high end Video card, as they know the end user will use DVI for rendering more than audo because they won't use HDMI most of the time

The signal from the graphic card HDMI port is digital. It means that the there is no processing done on the audio.

 

A dedicated sound card analogue output is far superior than onboard for many reasons:

 -> Converting a digital to analogue signal which is done perfectly. takes a lot high quality components and a lot of room. That is why audio equipment are big, and costly. onBoard sound can't afford this, due to room restriction on the motherboard.

 -> onBoard sound chip simplify the sound to process to reduce CPU work load (as it uses the CPU to process the sound). A dedicated sound card or receiver, or DAC equipment have their own sound processing unit (SPU), which does all the work, without altering the sound.

 -> onBoard sound are too close to other equipment, and uses common ground with the entire motherboard, which means that the sound is blasted with interferences.

 -> onBoard sound don't use any high quality components... even motherboards that claim to be using them, aren't.. while better than the rest, it's far from a dedicated sound card.