[SOLVED] Dolby Atmos for the best gaming experience on PC ?

[mohsentux]

Hi, I've decided to upgrade my rig to RTX 3090 and Acer predator x27 (g-sync ultimate)
But I don't know much about sound. Sound cards don't have a lot of features when it comes to digital encoding, at best it's just optical plain Dolby/DTS. Analog provides much better sound in comparison.
But if I buy an a/v receiver and connect it to the GPU with the right setup, I'll have the best 3d sound experience:
I'm planning on buying TX-NR6100 7.2-Channel THX Certified AV Receiver (Dolby Atmos 5.2.2)
and for speakers:
Focal Sib Evo 5.1.2 Review
SVS SB-1000 Pro Subwoofer
to set up a 5.2.2 3D Dolby Atmos gaming sound system.

What do you think?

 

[Frag Maniac]

It's not as easy as some might think setting up an AVR for PC gaming. First off, if the game sound will be coming straight off your MB into the AVR, you'll need a MB with a built in Dolby encoder, otherwise it will output as stereo to the AVR and it won't be able to decode it as 5.1 Dolby. There's also only so many games that support Atmos.

Your AVR also needs to support 5.1 audio passthrough, otherwise you'll need a display that does, and route the sound through the display, then to the AVR.

Lastly, and this is only a problem for retro grouches like me that don't have a cell phone, most AVRs these days are best set up with an app on your cell phone, I assume Onkyo has such a thing. Otherwise it can be a nightmare to get it running right.

I had all these problems when trying to get 5.1 game audio out of my Yamaha receiver, and Yamaha weren't exactly helpful on the matter. I finally came to the conclusion that my AVR probably doesn't support 5.1 audio pass through, but that is something most AVR manufacturer's don't even divulge in the specs.

I'm not sure if you're aware or not, but Onkyo was just acquired by Voxx, so customer support may be problematic these days., especially with the global pandemic still lingering.

 

[mohsentux]

It's not as easy as some might think setting up an AVR for PC gaming. First off, if the game sound will be coming straight off your MB into the AVR, you'll need a MB with a built in Dolby encoder, otherwise it will output as stereo to the AVR and it won't be able to decode it as 5.1 Dolby. There's also only so many games that support Atmos.

Your AVR also needs to support 5.1 audio passthrough, otherwise you'll need a display that does, and route the sound through the display, then to the AVR.

Lastly, and this is only a problem for retro grouches like me that don't have a cell phone, most AVRs these days are best set up with an app on your cell phone, I assume Onkyo has such a thing. Otherwise it can be a nightmare to get it running right.

I had all these problems when trying to get 5.1 game audio out of my Yamaha receiver, and Yamaha weren't exactly helpful on the matter. I finally came to the conclusion that my AVR probably doesn't support 5.1 audio pass through, but that is something most AVR manufacturer's don't even divulge in the specs.

I'm not sure if you're aware or not, but Onkyo was just acquired by Voxx, so customer support may be problematic these days., especially with the global pandemic still lingering.

I'm planning to output video to monitor using display port cable and install Nvidia Audio drivers and then use GPU's HDMI output to bitstream audio to av receiver's HDMI input. This gives me the disadvantage of not seeing the AV Receiver's configurations, but it doesn't matter because at first I'll connect the monitor to the AV Receiver and after I set it up, I'll do what I said.

Are you implying that the Nvidia Audio Drivers won't let me bitstream digital audio formats like AC3 or DTS-HD?
If so, what are they for then!? Just for show!!!? I'll go ask in Nvidia forums as well.

plz continue.

thanx

 

[Frag Maniac]

I'm planning to output video to monitor using display port cable and install Nvidia Audio drivers and then use GPU's HDMI output to bitstream audio to av receiver's HDMI input. This gives me the disadvantage of not seeing the AV Receiver's configurations, but it doesn't matter because at first I'll connect the monitor to the AV Receiver and after I set it up, I'll do what I said.

Are you implying that the Nvidia Audio Drivers won't let me bitstream digital audio formats like AC3 or DTS-HD?
If so, what are they for then!? Just for show!!!? I'll go ask in Nvidia forums as well.

plz continue.

thanx

Yeah, I tried that too, although with HDMI cable and Nvidia audio drivers. You still need an AVR that has 5.1 pass through for it to work, and my guess is nobody at Onkyo will know for sure if that model has it.

You need to understand that although it SEEMS like some Home Theater products like TVs and AVRs are getting more gaming capable, the people that sell them still know little if anything about how to use them for it.

Example, I had to actually TELL a so called sales expert at Crutchfield, Sony's way of using HDR in games via the menu settings. They pretend to know it all and will claim to be there for you when asking before sale, only to let you down.