Sound card settings, sample rate etc.

[eerkom]

So, finally my new (first) amplifier and speakers arrived (marantz pm6005 & polk tsx 220b), and i am getting ready to hook them up with my pc via S/PDIF. I will be listening mostly to 320kbps mp3s and FLACs. I have few questions about the sound card settings. Tips and help would be appreciated:

First question is about the "Encoded formats", what should I have checked if any?

Second question is about the "Sample Rates", which of these should I have checked?

Lastly, the "Default Format", I should put it on 24bit/96000Hz (which is the max it offers) as in the picture to get the best possible sound quality, right?

Also I'm wondering whether i should control the volume level from the amp or from my comp, and if from amp, what level should the source pc volume level be kept at?

Thanks for helping a newbie out!

 

[techgeek]

According to the owners manual it doesn't support DTS Audio or Dolby Digital, in fact it warns against using either as noise will be produced which could damage your speakers. It says that is supports 2 channel linear PCM. As far as sample rates, it supports up to 192KHz at 16 / 24 bits.

This is all on page 40 (Appendix) of your owners manual.

So I believe in the first image you have, you'd uncheck all the boxes for encoded formats. As for supported sample rates, you can select all of them according to the receiver manual. It supports these sample rates (32/44.1/48/64/88.2/96/176.4/192 kHz). Then on the second image, you can select the max offered as your default. It should upsample or downsample depending on the sampled frequency of the source. However that maybe overkill, CD quality is 44.1KHz, so you could do 24 bit / 44.1KHz. I would play with it and see what you think is better.