[renji1337]

I currently have my xonar dx hooked to my receiver via optical, but how should i play music? in windows i can set SPDIF passthrough as the device, but then i cant change volume on pc or add any effects to it, but if i set the option XONAR DX speakers, i can add effects and stuff, but i thought optical bypasses the sound card dac?
 
 
is the optical bypassing my sound cards dac with eather option

 

[azncookiecutter]

If you choose speakers as your output, then enable the SPDIF out in the control panel, it will take the outgoing analog stream and re-encode it, then spit it out to the optical (at least to my understanding, that's what it's doing).
 
Choosing the SPDIF passthrough should theoretically be digital all the way. Bonus: can use ASIO this way.

 

[renji1337]

i need spdif output turned on in the control panel for both
 
 
btw should i use HDMI instead? i know sound cards net you a couple fps, would i lose fps using one of my 6950s?