Should I be using my 5.1 speakers like this?

[dontdothat21]

Hey there, so I have a cool mediocre setup that pleases me but I realized my 5.1 speakers may not be in actual 5.1. I will explain.
So here is my setup.
 
https://gyazo.com/ad61cc66b7eaa5c145d9be8ed8fa454f
 
I hope that clears things up a bit, that my receiver is going through my DAC and into windows. How is that a problem? Well, both my headphones and the speakers line in are going through ONE audio device, the DAC in windows 10.
 
Pretty much, aren't my 5.1 speakers in 2.1 mode since it's on a dac being shared with the headphones?
 
Does this make sense? Thanks for the help.
 
I could plug the speakers into the onboard line in port on my motherboard and select 5.1 that way through windows, but wouldn't the quality be bad compared to my DAC or would the receiver handle the quality? Anyway around this? What would you do.
 
Let me know if I'm not making sense. Thanks!

Windows settings: https://gyazo.com/fd340b30455b0107fff7336a87f6d16c

 

[PurpleAngel]

I would think a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z sound card, would allow you to have a 6-channel connection, from the computer to the speakers.
Instead of the current 2-channels. that is going from the E10K, to the receiver, which the receiver makes into 2.1,
then I'm assuming the receiver makes into a Expanded Stereo?
 
Might help to know the make and model of the receiver?

 

[Gonuso]

The diagram says the Receiver is output to the line-in on your DAC?
 
So there is no connection going the other way to feed a signal from your computer to your receiver?
 
If you want 5.1 sound when using speakers from the PC, and the above questions are answered with "yes", then maybe all you need is to bypass the DAC using an optical cable from the PC directly to the receiver (assuming you have optical out on the computer and an optical in on the receiver)?
 
That's what I used to do (and may do again after I decide whether I want my 5.1 speakers in my living room or in my office) -- the realtek optical out wasn't too bad for the built-in sound's optical out on my pc.

 

[dontdothat21]

Yea, I could do this I'm just scared my integrated audio chip would sound poor.

 

[dontdothat21]

http://www.amazon.com/RCA-RTD325W-Theater-System-Output/dp/B006YTKOD4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1449365805&sr=1-1&keywords=RCA+RTD325W
 
This is my cheapo receiver.

 

[Gonuso]

Optical out from your pc to the receiver would likely only be affected by whatever DAC is built into your receiver. The receiver is capable of decoding dolby digital or PCM on the optical in, so it should sound fine or it would likely sound crappy on its own if you were using it to straight up play dvds on the built-in dvd player...you'd just need to remember to open the playback devices panel in windows to switch the active device from the fiio e10k to what is probably the "Realtek Digital Output(Optical)" device when you want to switch to the speakers.
 
Amazon sells pretty inexpensive optical cables under their "Amazon Basics" brand, so you could always try it and only be out a few bucks if you don't like it.
 
http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Digital-Optical-Audio-Toslink/dp/B00L3KO3YU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1449366988&sr=8-2&keywords=amazon+basics+toslink (3m cable is $7.49)

 

[PurpleAngel]

  http://www.amazon.com/RCA-RTD325W-Theater-System-Output/dp/B006YTKOD4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1449365805&sr=1-1&keywords=RCA+RTD325W
 
This is my cheapo receiver.

 
Your receiver's optical input should accept a compressed 6-channel Dolby digital audio signal.
DDL (Dolby Digital Live) is what Dolby uses to compress digital audio
You would need a sound card like the Asus Xonar DX or D1 or Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z sound card.
Some external sound cards might also come with DDL.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dontdothat21 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

https://gyazo.com/ad61cc66b7eaa5c145d9be8ed8fa454f

 

To add to what everyone put in regarding how to get an actual 5.1 signal to that...is that diagram a representation of the physical layout? Meaning you have all 5.1 speakers on one side? That's not how they're supposed to be laid out. There's a reason why they're labelled Front Left, Surround Left, CENTER, Surround Right, Front Right. You might as well hack up a headphone and put both drivers to blow sound into your left ear.

 

[dontdothat21]

 

 

To add to what everyone put in regarding how to get an actual 5.1 signal to that...is that diagram a representation of the physical layout? Meaning you have all 5.1 speakers on one side? That's not how they're supposed to be laid out. There's a reason why they're labelled Front Left, Surround Left, CENTER, Surround Right, Front Right. You might as well hack up a headphone and put both drivers to blow sound into your left ear.

Lmao na, I put them there for simplicity. So you could read the image a bit better.
 
I'm going to try out an optical set up, thanks @ all!