Good afternoon. Firstly, I apologize upfront if this inquiry is posted in the wrong form. Please relocate to appropriate forum if needed.
I recently rebuilt my PC and want to connect a surround sound speaker system and receiver to the computer and have some questions about this setup. I am no expert with computers and home theater equipment but have amateur knowledge.
Background:
I have a SoundBlaster ZXR sound card (with a single optical input and optical output but NO HDMI connectors), a NVidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti video card (with 3 Display Port outputs and 1 HDMI output), a Denon AVR X2300W receiver (two optical inputs, 7 HDMI inputs and 2 HDMI outputs) and Definitive Technology 5.1 ProMedia surround sound analog speaker system with subwoofer. Running Win10 Pro x64 v1903 as the computer OS.
To view the receiver setup options on the computer monitor (without having to connect an additional TV just for this task), I connected an HDMI cable between the HDMI input on the monitor to the HDMI/ARC output on the receiver. I went through the standard receiver setup procedure and speaker calibration. Of particular note, I did verify all speakers produced sound, adjusted the audio levels to my liking and verified that the input assignment for the optical inputs were "optical" and for the HDMI inputs were "HDMI".
I connected an optical cable from the optical output of the sound card to the optical input in the receiver (CD in this case). I went to Windows Settings, Sound Options, and selected "Speakers (Soundblaster ZXR)" as the playback device and then selected the optical input device in the receiver (CD in this case) and then selected multi-channel playback. I have sound from all speakers and the subwoofer.
I also connected an HDMI cable from the HDMI output of the video card to the one of the HDMI inputs of the receiver (Media Player in this case). I went to Windows Settings, Sound Options, and selected "Denon AVR (Nvidia Hi Definition Audio)" as the playback device and then selected the HDMI input device in the receiver (Media Player in this case) and then selected multi-channel playback. Again, I have sound from all speakers and the subwoofer. Of particular note is that Windows perceives the Denon Receiver as an additional display.
This setup is more complicated that it should be if the sound card had HDMI connectors as well. In this day and age, it escapes me why Creative still won't add an HDMI port on their sound cards.
Questions:
1. I believe I have the basic connections correct as I have sounds through optical and HDMI connections. Are there any particular tweaks, details, or additional adjustments to optimize the optical and HDMI connections on the receiver and sound card/video card/windows ends of note?
2. Is there any advantage or disadvantage of the optical or HDMI route for sound, or, more succinctly, is one connection better over another? I seem to remember many years ago, for connecting receivers to a PC, use an optical connection for better sound in music/games and use an HDMI connection for better sound in movies. Is this still true?
3. Using the sound card/optical connection for sound, Windows offers actually two Playback Device options: "Speakers (Soundblaster ZXR)" and "Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (Soundblaster ZXR DBPro)" I only get sound from the speakers if the Speakers are selected as the Playback device. I assume this is because the speakers are analog and not digital, correct? Would there be any advantage in converting the analog sound to digital sound? Does the Denon Receiver already perform this conversion? If not, how would I convert and what hardware would I need to use?
Thank you for your help!
I recently rebuilt my PC and want to connect a surround sound speaker system and receiver to the computer and have some questions about this setup. I am no expert with computers and home theater equipment but have amateur knowledge.
Background:
I have a SoundBlaster ZXR sound card (with a single optical input and optical output but NO HDMI connectors), a NVidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti video card (with 3 Display Port outputs and 1 HDMI output), a Denon AVR X2300W receiver (two optical inputs, 7 HDMI inputs and 2 HDMI outputs) and Definitive Technology 5.1 ProMedia surround sound analog speaker system with subwoofer. Running Win10 Pro x64 v1903 as the computer OS.
To view the receiver setup options on the computer monitor (without having to connect an additional TV just for this task), I connected an HDMI cable between the HDMI input on the monitor to the HDMI/ARC output on the receiver. I went through the standard receiver setup procedure and speaker calibration. Of particular note, I did verify all speakers produced sound, adjusted the audio levels to my liking and verified that the input assignment for the optical inputs were "optical" and for the HDMI inputs were "HDMI".
I connected an optical cable from the optical output of the sound card to the optical input in the receiver (CD in this case). I went to Windows Settings, Sound Options, and selected "Speakers (Soundblaster ZXR)" as the playback device and then selected the optical input device in the receiver (CD in this case) and then selected multi-channel playback. I have sound from all speakers and the subwoofer.
I also connected an HDMI cable from the HDMI output of the video card to the one of the HDMI inputs of the receiver (Media Player in this case). I went to Windows Settings, Sound Options, and selected "Denon AVR (Nvidia Hi Definition Audio)" as the playback device and then selected the HDMI input device in the receiver (Media Player in this case) and then selected multi-channel playback. Again, I have sound from all speakers and the subwoofer. Of particular note is that Windows perceives the Denon Receiver as an additional display.
This setup is more complicated that it should be if the sound card had HDMI connectors as well. In this day and age, it escapes me why Creative still won't add an HDMI port on their sound cards.
Questions:
1. I believe I have the basic connections correct as I have sounds through optical and HDMI connections. Are there any particular tweaks, details, or additional adjustments to optimize the optical and HDMI connections on the receiver and sound card/video card/windows ends of note?
2. Is there any advantage or disadvantage of the optical or HDMI route for sound, or, more succinctly, is one connection better over another? I seem to remember many years ago, for connecting receivers to a PC, use an optical connection for better sound in music/games and use an HDMI connection for better sound in movies. Is this still true?
3. Using the sound card/optical connection for sound, Windows offers actually two Playback Device options: "Speakers (Soundblaster ZXR)" and "Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (Soundblaster ZXR DBPro)" I only get sound from the speakers if the Speakers are selected as the Playback device. I assume this is because the speakers are analog and not digital, correct? Would there be any advantage in converting the analog sound to digital sound? Does the Denon Receiver already perform this conversion? If not, how would I convert and what hardware would I need to use?
Thank you for your help!