Edifier 5.1 S550/Auzentech Home Theater HD combo

[Mjolvor]

Hello! I'm looking for some guidance on a speaker set up for my computer. Currently I have a Blu-Ray drive and the Auzentech sound card. Ive ordered the Edifier 5.1 speakers from Futureshop but I'm not entirely sure if I've made the right decision. My concern is blu-ray surround sound play back through an analog only speaker set up. Ive been reading up plenty on DAC's, how programs and sound cards can decode the digital audio and pump it through an analog set up. I've just seen so many different discussions about connecting audio in certain ways that I'm a little overwhelmed with all the information.

All I am looking for is clear cut answer on this proposed set up. Will I be bottle necking the audio with analog only speakers? Can my sound card and Power DVD 11 decode the audio so I can still get high end Dolby digital and the such? Or should I return the speakers and get a digital set up of some sort?! Help will be greatly appreciated!!

 

[jcoultas98]

If you use an analog speaker set, you are using the DAC on your sound card. You aren't losing any sound quality using this method of connection. It looks like you have done your homework on the setup, and made a solid choice. At some point, all audio signals become analog to sent to the amplifier, and then amplified to the speakers. You simply want the best DAC available to handle the decoding task. As example, the X-FI HomeTheater HD card will be able to output directly to your speaker set:
http/www.auzentech.com/site/images/connect2_hthd_med.jpg
The X-FI supports Dolby Digital TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master, currently the highest available audio formats with PowerDVD11. It will also decode standard DD, DTS, DD Live, and DTS PC formats.