[rebith75]

Hey I have xfi extreme music and just got an older reciever (denon DRA 365R) and some bookshelf speakers, was wondering what is the best way to hook my comp sound card to the reciever? I know I have a digital out (which is the same as the mic in connection which is annoying) and I have the green (where i put my headphones before) black and orange connections, for my reciever I have just the red and white hookups. I have been reading alot of forums and from what I understand I can either go Digital out--->DAC---->reciever or use the green with a splitter to red and white, do both those sound about the same? money is an issue a little bit. thanks for your help the guys at best buy had no idea what was going on

 

[rebith75]

I have seen that DAC's are sort of spendy (none less than 40, or are there that are any good ones?) I also hear that the xfi extreme music has an internal DAC, where do I plug into the xfi to use that or is it crap

 

[Asmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebith75 Hey I have xfi extreme music and just got an older reciever (denon DRA 365R) and some bookshelf speakers, was wondering what is the best way to hook my comp sound card to the reciever? I know I have a digital out (which is the same as the mic in connection which is annoying) and I have the green (where i put my headphones before) black and orange connections, for my reciever I have just the red and white hookups. I have been reading alot of forums and from what I understand I can either go Digital out--->DAC---->reciever or use the green with a splitter to red and white, do both those sound about the same? money is an issue a little bit. thanks for your help the guys at best buy had no idea what was going on

Heh, I find it hilarious best buy has no idea how to do a simple stereo hookup.

Basically, if you use the digital out, you are bypassing the internal DAC in the x-fi, and passing the audio signal through to your receiver. If you use the analoge outputs (the green jack) you are using the internal DAC on the x-fi.

The only person who can tell you which will sound better is you, you need a stereo mini -> RCA cable to connect it to the red/white plugs (right and left), and you'd need a mini to RCA digital cable to connect it digitally. I would probably go with the analoge output, using the X-Fi's internal DAC.

 

[Bones13]

I am surprized the guy at Best Buy did not sell you a set of Monster Cables that cost more than the XFi, and possibly the Reciever as well.

I agree that a GREAT start is to take the line out from the XFi to the RCA plugs on the reciever, and the cost should not be that much.

Test things a bit with less expensive cables, like under 15 dollars. There are many of these cables marketed for the iPod at both Best Buy and Circuit City. Just look for one with the 1/8 inch stereo plug at one end and a couple of RCA plugs on the other end.

Listen to your music awhile. See if you can audition a DAC on your system before buying one. From what I have seen, you will be spending 250-1000 dollars for a DAC that would sound significantly better than the XFi. There seems to be pricepoints at 300 (Firestone Spitfire and the MicroDAC) 500 (some of the pro-audio boxes - means designed for band or DJ use for public playing of music) and at 1000 you start seeing the higher end stuff (Lavry Black and Benchmark)

Detecting improvements will also depend on your amp and cans / speakers.

A recently reviewed alternative is the Silverstone unit, which is USB out from the computer, skipping the XFi, it plugs into the USB, and had RCA out on the back. This unit is 100 new (at newegg even) and has been well recieved for sound quality for the price.

The first thing to really ask yourself - how much are you willing to hurt your Wallet ? If you have a pain thinking about it, beware reading this forum.

Good Luck

 

[Sycraft]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebith75 Hey I have xfi extreme music and just got an older reciever (denon DRA 365R) and some bookshelf speakers, was wondering what is the best way to hook my comp sound card to the reciever? I know I have a digital out (which is the same as the mic in connection which is annoying) and I have the green (where i put my headphones before) black and orange connections, for my reciever I have just the red and white hookups. I have been reading alot of forums and from what I understand I can either go Digital out--->DAC---->reciever or use the green with a splitter to red and white, do both those sound about the same? money is an issue a little bit. thanks for your help the guys at best buy had no idea what was going on

You doing stereo or surround to your reciever? If you are doing stereo I'd say go digital form the X-Fi to the reciever and call it good. An analogue connection isn't likely to improve sound. Why? Well the reciever probably digitizes all analogue inputs anyhow so it can apply DSP effects to them.

If you are doing surround you MUST go analogue. S/PDIF is only 2-channels and that's all the X-Fi outputs. You need to hook the X-Fi's outputs to the multi-channel input of your reciever. You put a splitter on each jack, a stereo one on the green jack and either stereo or 4-pole ones on the other two, stereo for 5.1, 4-pole for 7.1.

I wouldn't get a seperate DAC for use with an older reciever. If you are going component DAC you should bit the bullet and get a good amp for it. Otherwise, you probably could spend the money better.

 

[maarek99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sycraft If you are doing surround you MUST go analogue. S/PDIF is only 2-channels and that's all the X-Fi outputs.

Only for games. Movies work with digital out in dolby or dts.

 

[Sycraft]

True, though then the X-Fi is irrelivant to the process. Any digital output works. I would assume that one of the reasons to own an X-Fi is it's processing and getting surround sound (if you use speakers) in everything, not just movies. It would be confusing to someone to hook up a digital connection they believed did surround sound, but then only have it work some of the time.

Since the X-Fi handles DD and DTS decoding, I tell people to hook it up analogue for surround since it then always works and you are switching inputs all the time.