Outputting sound from computer to receiver

[InflatableBuddha]

I'm wondering if it's possible to connect the onboard sound from my computer to my receiver so I can take advantage of the superior speakers I use with my stereo system. In addition, I have all of my playlists on my computer, so that gives me more flexibility than just playing CDs on my stereo, as I've been doing.

The computer has an ASUS P5N-SLI mobo; the receiver is a Sony STR-DE595.

What type of inputs/outputs do I need? Can I do it with my existing equipment?
If not, what is the minimum I would need to spend (i.e. cables, new sound card, new receiver etc.)

I'm just exploring options at the moment. If this turns out to be an expensive solution (more than a few hundred dollars), I'll just stick with what I have.

Thanks

 

[The-Noid]

You can use the Coaxial output on your motherboard and plug directly into the receiver using the digital interface.

This will get your Dolby Digital Surround and DTS.

Easy as pi and costs about $4.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Awesomeness, thanks!

 

[Slick5150]

Are you doing this just for music? Or for gaming as well.

For music it will just send a 2-channel PCM stream over the coax to the receiver which would work just fine. If you're using it for games too, then it becomes far more complicated.

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
Are you doing this just for music? Or for gaming as well.

For music it will just send a 2-channel PCM stream over the coax to the receiver which would work just fine. If you're using it for games too, then it becomes far more complicated.

Yeah, for Music (2 channel) and DVD's motherboard coax/optical works nicely, but it can be kind of weird for playing back system sounds and for gaming it sometimes wont work at all or sometimes it will do 2 channels and sound a bit odd.

My solution for my HTPC was to buy a HT Omega Striker 7.1 which does DD and DTS encoding. It basically convinces windows I have a 7.1 analog speakers and it encodes that surround setup into DD or DTS to my receiver, sounds pretty fantastic.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
Are you doing this just for music? Or for gaming as well.

For music it will just send a 2-channel PCM stream over the coax to the receiver which would work just fine. If you're using it for games too, then it becomes far more complicated.

Nope, this is purely for music. So it sounds like it should work.

 

[s44]

Highest quality would be via one of the ATI HD4XXX video cards that can pass multichannel PCM via HDMI...

Only necessary if you have a nice surround setup, though. Not sure if anything besides a Blu-Ray drive outputs surround PCM or the lossless equivalent.

Edit: never mind, your receiver won't take HDMI anyway.