Question about optical toslink.

[Harby]

Greetings,

I plan on connecting my computer to my home theater system (Sony BDV-E380) via an optical S/PDIF toslink connection. My computer has an onboard soundcard but I also have an XFi XtremeGamer soundcard.

My question is, would there be any discernible sound quality difference between the 2 when it comes to optical S/PDIF outputs?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sdifox]

Just try it?

 

[Ayah]

Since it's purely digital, they both send the exact same data. Therefore, there will be no difference unless one is malfunctioning.

 

[fralexandr]

if you plan on gaming (or playing some source w/o dolby digital/dts encoding) with your computer through your receiver AND want surround sound, the xfi xtremegamer will output dolby digital 5.1/DTS with some cheapish software from creative.
http://us.store.creative.com/Dolby-Digital-Live-and-DTS-Connect/M/B006GK76QE.htm

If you're only planning on playing movies, pretty much all movies already have this encoding.

 

[Aikouka]

Keep in mind that if you want to play anything like a Blu-Ray, using a coax or TosLink connection will limit you to lossy audio (i.e. DD5.1, DTS vs. DTS HD MA, DD TrueHD).

Since it's purely digital, they both send the exact same data. Therefore, there will be no difference unless one is malfunctioning.

The fancier card may perform stereo-to-surround conversion better. Although, most receivers can do this anyway with stuff like Dolby ProLogic II.

 

[Harby]

No I won't be watching BDs, just BD rips (which usually sport DTS @ 1.5Mbps) and gaming.