Yamaha Sound Bar vs. Real 5.1 Speakers

[adnank77]

I got the Yamaha YAS-101 Sound Bar .. It's supposed to emulate 5.1 sound which is not always happening .. Most games don't detect that it's 5.1 and continue to run as stereo .. Might be an issue with the Realtek driver ..

In any case, I'm interested to move to a real 5.1 set ..

Any idea if this will give me clear better sound quality ? Will 5.1 detection be better ? Should I stick to RealTek or get a USB Sound card (slots are full in my MicroATX) ?

 

[fralexandr]

are you outputting sound with hdmi? or optical/tos?

games won't output 5.1 through optical unless your soundcard can encode dolby digital 5.1/DTS
optical doesn't have the bandwidth to output more than 2 channels of LPCM (which many games use)
some of the realteks can encode dolby/dts

usb sound cards are fine
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Sound...laster+optical
creative makes some that encodes dolby and have optical out

-----
what's your budget and location? Does your TV have hdmi?
do you have a subwoofer already?
a 5.1 home theater setup should have better sound quality, but entry level setups can run roughly (in USD):
$200 receiver (can usually find used ones for $50 if your TV doesn't have hdmi)
$200 subwoofer
$250 speakers
----
$650 total

you can also pick up a cheap home theater in a box like
http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-S3500...&keywords=htib
it should have better sound quality, especially if you don't have a subwoofer already

 

[fralexandr]

the martin logan mlt-2 5.1 setup is on sale for $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc..._-82981013-L0C

that and something like this
http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR313...ords=onkyo+308

would make a good setup for ~$400

 

[adnank77]

This is for my main gaming PC (Alienware's Motherboard's built in Audio).. It's a Micro ATX and I have CrossFire, so internal sound card is not an option ..

Note that I'm using Eyefinity setup on 7680x1440 so HDMI is out of question .. I have to use separate sound feed, either Optical or separte analog cables ..

I'm from UAE, our local market has lots of options .. I'll check the "Home Theater in a Box" options (something with two optical inputs) first as I intend to connect PS4 to the same setup around January time .. My budget is around 300-350 $


A Much cheaper option would be to get the Creative USB Sound Card and just connect to existing Yamaha Sound Bar ..

 

[fralexandr]

i think it's still possible to output hdmi audio during an eyefinity setup, though it might be easier to just go with optical.

this thread covers a few possible ways of doing it
http://www.overclock.net/t/1212983/eyefinity-questions-with-a-hdmi-receiver