speakers and receiver and PC

[mk000000]

my mobo has an optical out. But its on A97 chipset... I would assume optical means little compared to freq output of say Audigy 2 to a nice mid range receiver via optical would be better, right? I think I would rather invest in a nice 200-500 receiver, and get a 5.1 set of decent speakers. I wouldnt go 6 or 7 .1 not yet, speakers can always be replaced. But i want the main feed to be my pc.

[Google]

[fussnfeathers]

Really no need for a seperate reciever, unless you want to use home-stereo tower speakers, or some such.

Grab some Logitech 5500's, they have an optical input. There'll be no difference between using the onboard optical from your mobo compared to the optical of an Audigy, since you're basically bypassing both soundcards at that point, and all the decoding and such is done in the speakers (or a receiver, if you go that route).

Personally, the only reason I would use a stereo receiver, anymore, is if I wanted to use any type of speaker I wanted.
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[mk000000]

How does the optical out on the mobo bypass the onboard sound? I mean I understand the speakers have to decode the sound from optical signal, but the signal is still put out by the A97 chipset, right?

[fussnfeathers]

It is, and it isn't. Yes, the chipset "gets" the direct digital signal from the CD/DVD/HDD, or whatever, but from there, it completely bypasses all the analog conversion, that makes onboard AC97 so shoddy. All your onboard chip is doing, at that point, is telling the digital signal where to go, and nothing else. Your outboard decoder will do all the work the AC97 chip normally would do (convert from digital to analog, split to 5.1 surround, whatever you use it for).
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