[W]

What is the best way to feed a Windows PC sound system to a receiver? The
intent is to have one receiver be shared by multiple PCs, as well as by an
audiophile quality Bluray. I want to have a high end 5.1 or 7.1 setup, but
I also want the PC to be able to use Windows DirectX sound interface to
directly control all five channels. Games played on Windows systems use
DirectX to control the individual sound channels.

There are systems like the Creative DDTS-100 that solve this problem very
well, but this box wants to feed PC speakers. It cannot work with
audiophile quality speaker systems. If I go with a true audiophile
receiver, do I lose the ability to have the PC control individual sound
channels? If for example I feed an optical audio cable from the PC sound
card to the receiver, it cannot encapsulate the 5.1 sound into a known
format like DTS 5.1.

It seems to me what you really want is a receiver that can take as direct
input the individual channel cables from the PC sound card? Does such a
receiver exist? Is there a better way to achieve what I am looking for
here?

--
W

[Audio_Empire[_2_]]

On Tuesday, January 15, 2013 6:56:40 AM UTC-8, W wrote:
What is the best way to feed a Windows PC sound system to a receiver? The
intent is to have one receiver be shared by multiple PCs, as well as by an
audiophile quality Bluray. I want to have a high end 5.1 or 7.1 setup, but
I also want the PC to be able to use Windows DirectX sound interface to
directly control all five channels. Games played on Windows systems use
DirectX to control the individual sound channels.

There are systems like the Creative DDTS-100 that solve this problem very
well, but this box wants to feed PC speakers. It cannot work with
audiophile quality speaker systems. If I go with a true audiophile
receiver, do I lose the ability to have the PC control individual sound
channels? If for example I feed an optical audio cable from the PC sound
card to the receiver, it cannot encapsulate the 5.1 sound into a known
format like DTS 5.1.

It seems to me what you really want is a receiver that can take as direct
input the individual channel cables from the PC sound card? Does such a
receiver exist? Is there a better way to achieve what I am looking for
here?

If I understand you, you want to take multiple optical digital audio
output from multiple PCs, a gaming console, and a Blu-Ray player and
feed it to an A/V receiver with built-in Dolby Digital and DTS
decoding. If so, you will want some- thing like this:

http://www.cablestogo.com/product/40697

This is the recommended method. However, if you want to transfer AUDIO
in 5.1 or 7.1 channels, a switch that will transfer 6 or 7 channels of
discrete audio at once is a tall order and not really necessary
because with virtually all current A/V receivers, it's redundant. Only
the digital signal needs to be transferred from the computers and the
gaming console and the Blu-Ray player as the decoding for all is done
in the receiver.

Coaxial digital may be a better way to transfer the 5.1/7.1 digital
audio signal from your sources to your A/V receiver. In that case, you
can use one of these:

http://tinyurl.com/awfupt6

At $17.00 each, you merely use the the 4 video RCA inputs (the yellow
ones) for the coaxial digital, and if you need more than 4 into 2, you
can cascade these boxes to obtain the number of sources you need. I.E.
1 box gives you four sources, 2 in series give you seven, three give
you 10 sources. etc.

Audio_Empire

[W]

"Audio_Empire" wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, January 15, 2013 6:56:40 AM UTC-8, W wrote:
What is the best way to feed a Windows PC sound system to a receiver?
The
intent is to have one receiver be shared by multiple PCs, as well as by
an
audiophile quality Bluray. I want to have a high end 5.1 or 7.1 setup,
but
I also want the PC to be able to use Windows DirectX sound interface to
directly control all five channels. Games played on Windows systems
use
DirectX to control the individual sound channels.

There are systems like the Creative DDTS-100 that solve this problem
very
well, but this box wants to feed PC speakers. It cannot work with
audiophile quality speaker systems. If I go with a true audiophile
receiver, do I lose the ability to have the PC control individual sound
channels? If for example I feed an optical audio cable from the PC
sound
card to the receiver, it cannot encapsulate the 5.1 sound into a known
format like DTS 5.1.

It seems to me what you really want is a receiver that can take as
direct
input the individual channel cables from the PC sound card? Does such
a
receiver exist? Is there a better way to achieve what I am looking for
here?

If I understand you, you want to take multiple optical digital audio
output from multiple PCs, a gaming console, and a Blu-Ray player and
feed it to an A/V receiver with built-in Dolby Digital and DTS
decoding. If so, you will want some- thing like this:

http://www.cablestogo.com/product/40697

This is the recommended method. However, if you want to transfer AUDIO
in 5.1 or 7.1 channels, a switch that will transfer 6 or 7 channels of
discrete audio at once is a tall order and not really necessary
because with virtually all current A/V receivers, it's redundant. Only
the digital signal needs to be transferred from the computers and the
gaming console and the Blu-Ray player as the decoding for all is done
in the receiver.

Coaxial digital may be a better way to transfer the 5.1/7.1 digital
audio signal from your sources to your A/V receiver. In that case, you
can use one of these:

http://tinyurl.com/awfupt6

At $17.00 each, you merely use the the 4 video RCA inputs (the yellow
ones) for the coaxial digital, and if you need more than 4 into 2, you
can cascade these boxes to obtain the number of sources you need. I.E.
1 box gives you four sources, 2 in series give you seven, three give
you 10 sources. etc.

Maybe this is my misunderstanding, but a PC game under Windows wants to
control the individual sound channels directly. Are suggesting that by
feeding the soundcard outputs to the analog RCA connections on the switch
you are showing, and then passing those to the receiver, it will give an
identical result to directly attaching PC speakers to the sound card?

And presumably using three separate RCA cables from the sound card would
preserve more of the 5.1 dimensionality than using a single optical audio
cable from the soundcard? My concern is that optical cables normally work
only when passing a bitsream that needs decoding at the receiver. To my
understanding, a PC game isn't using DTS or Dolby bitstream at all. It's
using the "DirectSound" interface which directly manages individual sound
channels. So I am not clear on how the PC would combine the 5.1
information onto the optical channel, nor am I clear on how the receiver
would deal with it. I assume it would just be PCM? Would that set the
signal to the same information for all five channels?

--
W

[Audio_Empire[_2_]]

On Tuesday, January 15, 2013 8:23:55 PM UTC-8, W wrote:
"Audio_Empire" wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, January 15, 2013 6:56:40 AM UTC-8, W wrote:
What is the best way to feed a Windows PC sound system to a receiver? The
intent is to have one receiver be shared by multiple PCs, as well as by an
audiophile quality Bluray. I want to have a high end 5.1 or 7.1 setup, but
I also want the PC to be able to use Windows DirectX sound interface to
directly control all five channels. Games played on Windows systems use
DirectX to control the individual sound channels.

There are systems like the Creative DDTS-100 that solve this problem very
well, but this box wants to feed PC speakers. It cannot work with
audiophile quality speaker systems. If I go with a true audiophile
receiver, do I lose the ability to have the PC control individual sound
channels? If for example I feed an optical audio cable from the PC sound
card to the receiver, it cannot encapsulate the 5.1 sound into a known
format like DTS 5.1.

It seems to me what you really want is a receiver that can take as direct
input the individual channel cables from the PC sound card? Does such a
receiver exist? Is there a better way to achieve what I am looking for
here?

If I understand you, you want to take multiple optical digital audio
output from multiple PCs, a gaming console, and a Blu-Ray player and
feed it to an A/V receiver with built-in Dolby Digital and DTS
decoding. If so, you will want some- thing like this:

http://www.cablestogo.com/product/40697

This is the recommended method. However, if you want to transfer AUDIO
in 5.1 or 7.1 channels, a switch that will transfer 6 or 7 channels of
discrete audio at once is a tall order and not really necessary
because with virtually all current A/V receivers, it's redundant. Only
the digital signal needs to be transferred from the computers and the
gaming console and the Blu-Ray player as the decoding for all is done
in the receiver.

Coaxial digital may be a better way to transfer the 5.1/7.1 digital
audio signal from your sources to your A/V receiver. In that case, you
can use one of these:

http://tinyurl.com/awfupt6

At $17.00 each, you merely use the the 4 video RCA inputs (the yellow
ones) for the coaxial digital, and if you need more than 4 into 2, you
can cascade these boxes to obtain the number of sources you need. I.E.
1 box gives you four sources, 2 in series give you seven, three give
you 10 sources. etc.

Maybe this is my misunderstanding, but a PC game under Windows wants to
control the individual sound channels directly. Are suggesting that by
feeding the soundcard outputs to the analog RCA connections on the switch
you are showing, and then passing those to the receiver, it will give an
identical result to directly attaching PC speakers to the sound card?

No, If the output of your sound card is digital (either coaxial with
an RCA jack, or optical with a Toslink output, then you would want
either of the two switch boxes above. If you are transferring 5.1 or
6.1 channels of AUDIO, then I know of NO switchboxes that will allow
that (can you imagine the tangle that 24 cables for 5.1 stereo audio
would make?

And presumably using three separate RCA cables from the sound card would
preserve more of the 5.1 dimensionality than using a single optical audio

Please understand the optical cable is most likely NOT analog audio,
It's DIGITAL audio out, It needs ro go to the digital audio IN on your
A/V receiver and one digital optical or coaxial cable will carry all
six 5.1 or all eight 7.1 channels over a single cable.

cable from the soundcard? My concern is that optical cables normally work
only when passing a bitsream that needs decoding at the receiver. To my
understanding, a PC game isn't using DTS or Dolby bitstream at all. It's
using the "DirectSound" interface which directly manages individual sound
channels. So I am not clear on how the PC would combine the 5.1
information onto the optical channel, nor am I clear on how the receiver
would deal with it. I assume it would just be PCM? Would that set the
signal to the same information for all five channels?

Sounds to me like you are out of luck with your gaming console if it
only provides analog audio out. Then you'll have to provide enough
stereo cables to go from the surround outputs of your game console to
the discrete 5.1 or 7.1 inputs on your receiver. Most modern A/V
receivers have at least one set of discreet audio inputs. Otherwise,
the rest of your system will be best served comnnected digitally with
a single digital cable.

[Dick Pierce[_2_]]

Audio_Empire wrote:
On Tuesday, January 15, 2013 8:23:55 PM UTC-8, W wrote:

And presumably using three separate RCA cables from the sound card would
preserve more of the 5.1 dimensionality than using a single optical audio

Please understand the optical cable is most likely NOT analog audio,
It's DIGITAL audio out,

I'd be willing to bet good money that you can replace
"most likely" with "most certainly" in the above
sentence without fear that you'd be wrong.

--
+--------------------------------+
+ Dick Pierce |
+ Professional Audio Development |
+--------------------------------+

[Audio_Empire[_2_]]

On Thursday, January 17, 2013 7:20:50 AM UTC-8, Dick Pierce wrote:
Audio_Empire wrote:

On Tuesday, January 15, 2013 8:23:55 PM UTC-8, W wrote:

And presumably using three separate RCA cables from the sound card would
preserve more of the 5.1 dimensionality than using a single optical audio

Please understand the optical cable is most likely NOT analog audio,
It's DIGITAL audio out,

I'd be willing to bet good money that you can replace
"most likely" with "most certainly" in the above
sentence without fear that you'd be wrong.

Sure, but I know little of the OP's situation. I don't know what sound
card he's using or even what brand/model of A/V receiver he's using
(or if even it IS an AV receiver). At one time several manufacturers
were using Toslink cables to carry audio. You are right that it's
probably almost assuredly digital, but not knowing for sure, I hedged
a bit.

[Bob Lombard[_2_]]

On 1/15/2013 9:56 AM, W wrote:
What is the best way to feed a Windows PC sound system to a receiver? The
intent is to have one receiver be shared by multiple PCs, as well as by an
audiophile quality Bluray. I want to have a high end 5.1 or 7.1 setup, but
I also want the PC to be able to use Windows DirectX sound interface to
directly control all five channels. Games played on Windows systems use
DirectX to control the individual sound channels.

There are systems like the Creative DDTS-100 that solve this problem very
well, but this box wants to feed PC speakers. It cannot work with
audiophile quality speaker systems. If I go with a true audiophile
receiver, do I lose the ability to have the PC control individual sound
channels? If for example I feed an optical audio cable from the PC sound
card to the receiver, it cannot encapsulate the 5.1 sound into a known
format like DTS 5.1.

It seems to me what you really want is a receiver that can take as direct
input the individual channel cables from the PC sound card? Does such a
receiver exist? Is there a better way to achieve what I am looking for
here?

Have you investigated the capabilities of 'X-Box'? It seems to have a
lot of bells and whistles, maybe this capability is one of them.

[Arny Krueger[_5_]]

"W" wrote in message
...

What is the best way to feed a Windows PC sound system to a receiver?
The
intent is to have one receiver be shared by multiple PCs, as well as by an
audiophile quality Bluray. I want to have a high end 5.1 or 7.1 setup,
but
I also want the PC to be able to use Windows DirectX sound interface to
directly control all five channels. Games played on Windows systems use
DirectX to control the individual sound channels.

What sort of audio interface is already in the PC?

Many PC's have coax or optical digital audio outputs. They may also have a
HDMI video card that usually includes support for 8 channels of digital
audio.

[W]

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"W" wrote in message
...

What is the best way to feed a Windows PC sound system to a receiver?
The
intent is to have one receiver be shared by multiple PCs, as well as by
an
audiophile quality Bluray. I want to have a high end 5.1 or 7.1 setup,
but
I also want the PC to be able to use Windows DirectX sound interface to
directly control all five channels. Games played on Windows systems
use
DirectX to control the individual sound channels.

What sort of audio interface is already in the PC?

Many PC's have coax or optical digital audio outputs. They may also have a
HDMI video card that usually includes support for 8 channels of digital
audio.

How can a PC game transmit 5.1 information on an optical audio cable when it
cannot use DTS or Dolby?

On HDMI, are you saying that most video cards on PCs now also support 7.1
sound? I had not realized that. Video cards manufacturers are not
advertising that in their data sheets.

--
W

[Arny Krueger[_5_]]

"W" wrote in message
...
"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"W" wrote in message
...

What is the best way to feed a Windows PC sound system to a receiver?
The
intent is to have one receiver be shared by multiple PCs, as well as by
an
audiophile quality Bluray. I want to have a high end 5.1 or 7.1
setup,
but
I also want the PC to be able to use Windows DirectX sound interface to
directly control all five channels. Games played on Windows systems
use
DirectX to control the individual sound channels.

What sort of audio interface is already in the PC?

Many PC's have coax or optical digital audio outputs. They may also have
a
HDMI video card that usually includes support for 8 channels of digital
audio.

How can a PC game transmit 5.1 information on an optical audio cable when
it
cannot use DTS or Dolby?

It can't do that directly. I understand that some game oriented audio
interfaces may include encoders for that purpose, but I'm not a game guru.

On HDMI, are you saying that most video cards on PCs now also support 7.1
sound?

Yes. Modern HDMI video hardware generally supports 4 stereo audio
interfaces for playback.

I had not realized that. Video cards manufacturers are not
advertising that in their data sheets.

It is implied by saying "HDMI audio".