Heya Tom's!
So I recently bought a mini-pcie to pcie x1 adapter and an Asus Xonar DX to put in my computer. I'm super excited about this, but then I began thinking about how that's going to work, and if I just screwed myself on sound. Here's the scenario:
I have an old stereo setup - it's got pretty good quality speakers, but the sub is dead and the receiver is so old that it can't connect to a modern sub. So, I'm buying a new receiver (Likely either this one or this one) along with a subwoofer. (One of these three.)
With that setup, I would either run optical / RCA from the Xonar DX to the receiver, or I would run HDMI passthrough. (Can I run hdmi passthrough from my graphics card and still get the benefits of a sound card?)
The other option would be to buy something like a pair of monitor style speakers which would connect directly to the sound card. In addition to this, an optical cable would lead to my headphone amp.
So here are my questions:
1) Aside from giving me surround and better sound for the headphones (for gaming), did buying the sound card and the adaptor actually gain me anything?
2) Can I run HDMI passthrough to the receiver and still get the benefit of the sound card, and more importantly, does the sound card still even have a benefit when using a receiver?
3) Any ideas on which of those receivers and subs would be best? I'm open to other suggestions as well.
4) What is the advantage of having the monitor-style speakers? How are they going to sound compared to a traditional setup?
Thank you for all your help - I know computers well, but not audio as much, and I'm just trying to get a good setup for listening to high-quality music.
EDIT: Just to clarify, when gaming, I will be using an Astro Mixamp Pro connected by optical, and Astro A40s. This should give me 5.1 or 7.1 surround, correct?
What I want the sound setup for is JUST for listening to music, and it will always be a stereo setup; I couldn't care less about surround. Thanks!
So I recently bought a mini-pcie to pcie x1 adapter and an Asus Xonar DX to put in my computer. I'm super excited about this, but then I began thinking about how that's going to work, and if I just screwed myself on sound. Here's the scenario:
I have an old stereo setup - it's got pretty good quality speakers, but the sub is dead and the receiver is so old that it can't connect to a modern sub. So, I'm buying a new receiver (Likely either this one or this one) along with a subwoofer. (One of these three.)
With that setup, I would either run optical / RCA from the Xonar DX to the receiver, or I would run HDMI passthrough. (Can I run hdmi passthrough from my graphics card and still get the benefits of a sound card?)
The other option would be to buy something like a pair of monitor style speakers which would connect directly to the sound card. In addition to this, an optical cable would lead to my headphone amp.
So here are my questions:
1) Aside from giving me surround and better sound for the headphones (for gaming), did buying the sound card and the adaptor actually gain me anything?
2) Can I run HDMI passthrough to the receiver and still get the benefit of the sound card, and more importantly, does the sound card still even have a benefit when using a receiver?
3) Any ideas on which of those receivers and subs would be best? I'm open to other suggestions as well.
4) What is the advantage of having the monitor-style speakers? How are they going to sound compared to a traditional setup?
Thank you for all your help - I know computers well, but not audio as much, and I'm just trying to get a good setup for listening to high-quality music.
EDIT: Just to clarify, when gaming, I will be using an Astro Mixamp Pro connected by optical, and Astro A40s. This should give me 5.1 or 7.1 surround, correct?
What I want the sound setup for is JUST for listening to music, and it will always be a stereo setup; I couldn't care less about surround. Thanks!