Can I use an external sound card instead of an AV Receiver?

Ethereal Cereal

Hi

I'm currently setting up a projector. I have the Optoma HD27HDR projector. 
I have a set of Z607 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System but no AV reciever.

If I am using a laptop as the source, can I use one of these (cheaper) external sound cards instead of an AV receiver?

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/pcs/sound-cards/50423/creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-51-pro-review

thanks!

Richersounds.ie: DavidS

Ethereal Cereal wrote: »

Hi

I'm currently setting up a projector. I have the Optoma HD27HDR projector. 
I have a set of Z607 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System but no AV reciever.

If I am using a laptop as the source, can I use one of these (cheaper) external sound cards instead of an AV receiver?

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/pcs/sound-cards/50423/creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-51-pro-review

thanks!

Hi Ethereal Cereal,

I would still recommend an AV receiver as it will allow you to connect via HDMI and power a 5.1 speaker system. The link you sent me states the sound card can't process the maximum DVD sampling rates so it's unlikely you will get true 5.1 via DTS or True HD. You would also need to connect the source directly to the soundcard as the soundcard does not have HDMI inputs so you would need to connect the source to the projector via HDMI and the source to the soundcard via optical or analogue.

Also do you already have an amplifier to drive the speakers already? An AV system will have built in amplification as well as sound processing and is a much easier way to connect to a projector and definitely the route I would recommend.

Let me know what you think.

Kind regards

David

Ethereal Cereal

Richersounds.ie: DavidS wrote: »

Ethereal Cereal wrote: »

Hi

I'm currently setting up a projector. I have the Optoma HD27HDR projector. 
I have a set of Z607 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System but no AV reciever.

If I am using a laptop as the source, can I use one of these (cheaper) external sound cards instead of an AV receiver?

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/pcs/sound-cards/50423/creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-51-pro-review

thanks!

Hi Ethereal Cereal,

I would still recommend an AV receiver as it will allow you to connect via HDMI and power a 5.1 speaker system. The link you sent me states the sound card can't process the maximum DVD sampling rates so it's unlikely you will get true 5.1 via DTS or True HD. You would also need to connect the source directly to the soundcard as the soundcard does not have HDMI inputs so you would need to connect the source to the projector via HDMI and the source to the soundcard via optical or analogue.

Also do you already have an amplifier to drive the speakers already? An AV system will have built in amplification as well as sound processing and is a much easier way to connect to a projector and definitely the route I would recommend.

Let me know what you think.

Kind regards

David

Thanks for the reply David, 

I don't have an amplifier to power the speakers so you're right, thats probably the route Im going to go. 
I'll start pricing, looking into different setups. 

cheers

Richersounds.ie: DavidS

Ethereal Cereal wrote: »

Richersounds.ie: DavidS wrote: »

Ethereal Cereal wrote: »

Hi

I'm currently setting up a projector. I have the Optoma HD27HDR projector. 
I have a set of Z607 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System but no AV reciever.

If I am using a laptop as the source, can I use one of these (cheaper) external sound cards instead of an AV receiver?

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/pcs/sound-cards/50423/creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-51-pro-review

thanks!

Hi Ethereal Cereal,

I would still recommend an AV receiver as it will allow you to connect via HDMI and power a 5.1 speaker system. The link you sent me states the sound card can't process the maximum DVD sampling rates so it's unlikely you will get true 5.1 via DTS or True HD. You would also need to connect the source directly to the soundcard as the soundcard does not have HDMI inputs so you would need to connect the source to the projector via HDMI and the source to the soundcard via optical or analogue.

Also do you already have an amplifier to drive the speakers already? An AV system will have built in amplification as well as sound processing and is a much easier way to connect to a projector and definitely the route I would recommend.

Let me know what you think.

Kind regards

David

Thanks for the reply David, 

I don't have an amplifier to power the speakers so you're right, thats probably the route Im going to go. 
I'll start pricing, looking into different setups. 

cheers

No problem Ethereal Cereal, if you let me know what sort of budget you're working with I can look at a few options for you.

Kind regards

David