Solved! If you run HMDI out from you Pc to reciever is it not still a true digital signal ? And your using your reciever DAC instead

[cavemanbbq]

Hi I am trying to solve a mystery to me. I have always been running Wav audio files from my pc from HMDI out. Reason being I thought this was still a true digital signal. So my dennon DAC would handle the change instead of cheap sound card in pc ? Is this true ? Thank you for any answers on this matter Ken

 

[gamerk316]

Yes.

When you output audio from a PC via HDMI, the device you are connecting to will handle the conversion of the digital signal to analog.

 

[cavemanbbq]

Yes.

When you output audio from a PC via HDMI, the device you are connecting to will handle the conversion of the digital signal to analog.

Thanks that's what I thought .. just makes me wonder why people get external Dacs when you can just run HMDI out to your receiver and use the one in your receiver instead. I did this because my receiver would not play WAVE files directly from usb port . When playing Wave files through widows media player on PC and audio out HMDI works fine ...

 

[americanaudiophile]

People use outboard DACs for a few reasons.
1. Some people feel an asynchronous USB DAC isolates the noise of the PC from the audio system.
2. AV receivers don't usually have separate stereo DACs which are optimized for 2 channel. They use the surround sound DACs.
3. People want a better DAC than any receiver has built in. If the receiver has a pure or direct mode that allows an analog input to pass through the receiver without being reconverted to digital then an outboard DAC of sufficient quality would be an upgrade in the right system..

 

[cavemanbbq]

Yes if your receiver sucks there are better DACS out there now. My Receiver is a older Denon AVR-480 CI ..I bought new and had to Order Back when Denon made good stuff. I listen to music in 4.1 and have pure stereo mode as well. I was so impressed when I set up music room with a true sweet spot and measured and got the angles right. The sound stage made me feel that sound was still coming out of center channel even when in pure stereo ( no signal to center or rears ) .. Amazed the hell out of me. I got up and put and ear to center speaker just to make sure no sound was coming out. I don't watch movies in there and only listen to music with this system. So I set receiver to no center channel and removed my center channel. Sounds even better now ... Thanks for you help. I know I have only done a few things right in my music room .. And when you get them right what a difference to the ear. The rabbit hole is very deep and I have only few steps right and very happy..