PC to Receiver Connection Issues

[snowball777]

Greetings All,

I have a minor issue with sound and have tried to explain it below.

I am trying to setup a pc media centre with the following:

Creative Sound Blaster Pro xFi usb sound card ( http/au.store.creative.com/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-x-fi-surround-5-1-pro/1-20055.aspx)

Connected Via optical Cable to a Denon AVR-1910 reciever.

Play music using Foobar and Video using XBMC.

The media PC is running Windows XP.

The problem:

The sound is correctly sent through to the receiver for both stereo music and 5.1 surround sound with movies. But the levels are, particularly for music, are very low. I say this as when I stream music online from the receiver itself the sound is awesome.

The PC has an internal HD Audio sound card also with optical out that I have tried but the same low levels and quality observed.

Would anyone have an idea as to what the issue is and how i would be able to overcome it and have awesome sound throughout?

Sound Card Setup:

I have made sure that in all cases that i can think of (foobar, XMBC and the main windows settings in control panel), the audio device is the creative sound card.

The drivers are up to date.

None of the surround enhancements are turned on.

Thanks and let me know if there is any further information you may require if you look at this.

 

[americanaudiophile]

It is OK if you have to turn the receiver volume higher for some sources. You can also check the volume controls associated with the driver for the soundcards that will have master and sub volume controls as well as the individual programs have their own volume controls. It is best of these are all full up as these are digital volume controls that actually loose information to turn the volume down.

 

[snowball777]

Thanks for that. I have had a look at several options and found a listening mode menu section on the receiver. Changing this does change the sound. There options are STEREO, DIRECT, MULTICHANNEL and so on.

I have also had a look at the sound card volume setting and it is set to full. I still need to check that XBMC and foobar are not set to low internally.

Will update you once i check these.

 

[snowball777]

It is OK if you have to turn the receiver volume higher for some sources. You can also check the volume controls associated with the driver for the soundcards that will have master and sub volume controls as well as the individual programs have their own volume controls. It is best of these are all full up as these are digital volume controls that actually loose information to turn the volume down.

Thanks for that. I have had a look at several options and found a listening mode menu section on the receiver. Changing this does change the sound. There options are STEREO, DIRECT, MULTICHANNEL and so on.

I have also had a look at the sound card volume setting and it is set to full. I still need to check that XBMC and foobar are not set to low internally.

Will update you once i check these.

 

[snowball777]

Best answer selected by snowball777.