Anyone tried hooking a receiver to pc?

I have a Yamaha RX-V667 receiver hooked up to my PC via optical S/PDIF and it works very well.

You'll probably find a considerable improvment in the sound quality by using the DAC in the receiver instead of the DAC on the soundcard because it won't be picking up all of the interference that you get inside a computer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve1979 

I have a Yamaha RX-V667 receiver hooked up to my PC via optical S/PDIF and it works very well.

 

You'll probably find a considerable improvment in the sound quality by using the DAC in the receiver instead of the DAC on the soundcard because it won't be picking up all of the interference that you get inside a computer.

Same here xD, Toslink (imac) --> RX-V667 --> T200b's

I wonder, how good is the dac in this receiver in comparison to other dac's out there?

You can connect with soundcard optical out to pc, or 7.1 analog out if your receiver has 7.1 input,

IME  the DAC in the soundcard especially the 200bucks range soundcard is better than the entry level receiver, so I prefer analog out for stereo music,

It has a fairly good quality Burr Brown 192kHz 24-bit DAC. According to the guys at whathifi.com the Yamaha RX-V667 is one of the best sounding receivers for the price. I'd bet it's no where near as good as a proper stand alone hifi seperates DAC though.

All modern receivers have digital optical S/PDIF inputs that can be used for your purposes. Bare in mind though, like sonci said very cheap receivers might not have a DAC that's as good quality as the one in your soundcard. I think that any decent modern receiver such as a Yamaha RX-V667, Onkyo TX-SR608 or Pioneer VSX-920 will sound better than your soundcard though.

My Sony TA-E9000ES preamp/processor has a Toslink optical S/PDIF input which accepts 24/96. From PC, I send USB to X-FI-HD to Toslink. Cpmputer audio, no matter the bit rate, sounds real good through this chain.

Another thing that may be worth baring in mind is that if you want the option of being able to connect your soundcard using it's 3.5mm analogue output jacks instead of its digital optical output you'll need to use a receiver that has multi-channel analogue inputs using RCA phono sockets. By connecting it up this way you'd be using the soundcards DAC and the receiver will be working as a simple analogue amplifier with its DAC and any audio processing functions being bypassed.  Of the 3 receivers I mentioned above only the Yamaha has multi-channel analogue inputs.

With a modern receiver you should be able to configure it so audio below a certain frequency is redirected to the sub-woofer(s) from any of the speakers automatically (and can be turned "off" if your mains are full range). There should be instructions in your prospective receiver's manual (recommend downloading and reviewing before buying); check the section dealing with hooking up a sub-woofer via the LFE out. This does assume that you are getting a powered sub-woofer.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by prtuc2 

 . . . . What about getting a subwoofer as the amplifier?  But now the question is most subwoofers I saw are that they only have L/R input for 2 channels not able to do 5 channels or 7 channels speakers.

Drawing a blank here. Are you referring to a computer speaker system where the subwoofer powers the speakers? If so, that is a huge step backwards in my opinion; and kind of defeats the purpose of the receiver.

MacBook Pro (usb)> NFB-10ES > Marantz 2385 Receiver 

I'm looking to upgrade the NFB to a dedicated DAC at some point. My Marantz is rated at 185 WPC into 8Ohms and has two sets of speaker outs. If you don't need multichannel then include looking at vintage receivers. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by prtuc2 

 What about getting a subwoofer as the amplifier?  But now the question is most subwoofers I saw are that they only have L/R input for 2 channels not able to do 5 channels or 7 channels speakers.

The L/R terminals on the back of a subwoofer are inputs only not outputs for other speakers. I don't think that it's possible to use a subwoofers built in amplifier to power a pair of stereo speakers because subwoofers only have a single mono amplifier that's designed to power the subwoofer speaker only. The reason that some subwoofers include these L/R inputs is to make it possible to connect it up to a regular stereo amplifier which doesn't have a 'sub out' socket included.   

The best way to connect up a sub is to use an RCA cable via the 'sub out' socket on the back of a receiver to the 'AV sub in' socket on the sub.

Could I ask you a few questions about what exactly your trying to acheve with this setup because I'm a bit confused about how you intend to use it?

Do you want a standard stereo setup with just 2 speakers?

Do you want a stereo setup with 2 speakers and a subwoofer? ie a 2.1 system.

Or do you want to play games and watch movies in surround sound? ie a 5.1 or 7.1 system.

Also what is your budget?