Stupid HTPC Audio question of the day

[Fuelrod]

I'm looking at various sound cards to add to my HTPC / Steam box. If the sound card supports Dolby Digital Live and I hook up the sound card to my surround sound receiver via the optical link, does signal to noise ratio (SNR) make a difference? Or does SNR only apply when you are connected to the analog jacks.

 

[fralexandr]

I don't think the sound cards SNR will matter.

If you're using this for gaming, I guess you know that the sound card has to be able to encode Dolby Digital Live to get 5.1 through optical (otherwise you'll only be able to get stereo sound).
Otherwise, if this is for movies you usually don't need a sound card to encode DDL.

I know for sure creative has a few sound cards that support this (through software).

if you want something USB, someone else on the forums bought one of these for gaming in 5.1
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Sound...words=x-fi+usb