What motherboard with spdif should I get? PC to 5.1 blu-ray player via optical

[HexedHavoc]

Hi,

I currently have a PC with an optical cable from my motherboard into a blu-ray 5.1 setup (LG BH7520TW), with modified drivers it works fine (minor issues mainly). I plan on building a new PC and was looking on advice on how I should proceed as I plan on still using my current 5.1 setup (even though its old) as it sounds fine to me.

So far I think im gonna get an AMD 7700 cpu as that seems like good bang for buck, so now I am reading up on motherboards to figure out which is the best bang for buck that also has an optical out port on it. Or is there an easier solution that I may not be seeing when connecting my PC to the LG BH7520TW?

My other thought was to consider an external sound card (Sound Blaster X4?) as I think I could connect that to PC via usb and run optical cable from it to my blu-ray player, but not sure on if that would work.

Advice is appreciated

Cheers!

 

[ir_cow]

I'm not understanding why you are sending audio to the Blu-ray player in the first place when it can be skipped right into the TV or AVR.

 

[HexedHavoc]

I'm not understanding why you are sending audio to the Blu-ray player in the first place when it can be skipped right into the TV or AVR.

The 5.1 speakers connect to the blu-ray player and because its old (LG BH7520TW) I don't think hdmi from pc into tv can pass it through?
edit: well it does support ARC apparently, but when I tried it years ago I remember it being very frustrating (couldn't get games to do 5.1 for example) so I just got an optical cable and that worked.

 

[Ferather]

I cant recommend a motherboard specifically, either way you will need a modified driver to get the 5.1 out, either DTS or Dolby.
Any of the new ALC USB versions support encoding. In terms of HDA motherboards you want an ALC 1220.

I would try to steer clear of MSI, they tend to lock out features and make it difficult.

 

[ir_cow]

What about a USB DAC? They are $100 and since it's Optical, you don't need high quality

 

[qxp]

So one word of caution - some USB devices can drop out or disconnect after a while. Hard to tell how reliable yours is until you try.

 

[ir_cow]

Other option is to get a sound card. They are a dime dozen used. I'll point out again that optical is digital, doesn't matter the quality of the analog outputs.

 

[HexedHavoc]

I am currently considering a sound blaster x4, rather expensive though....

What sort of usb dac would be suitable and is it easy enough to set up?

 

[Veseleil]

I am currently considering a sound blaster x4, rather expensive though....

Don't.

What sort of usb dac would be suitable and is it easy enough to set up?

The cheapest one that has all of the I/O you need.
You can start from here:

World's Cheapest DAC Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of what has to be the world's cheapest DAC. It is so cheap it doesn't even have a name! It is literally called "Digital To Analog Audio Converter." Actually, it is also available under many other names on various sites (Amazon, Ebay, AliExpress...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[HexedHavoc]

So if I get a DAC.. ill need one that can connect to my pc motherboard and then use optical cable from it to my home theatre player?
So then I would need some modified drivers for mobo to force DD enconding?

how about something like this?
amazon

 

[Ferather]

Cubilux USB C to SPDIF Transmitter, Unidirectional Type C to Optical Audio Output Adapter with 192KHz/24bit
If you read the customer reviews you can see it supports DTS or Dolby encoding (added to it).

The DAC is built into your LG BH7520TW, you don't need one.

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[HexedHavoc]

oh interesting... I'll prob get one of those Found this one on Amazon AU which I assume is basically same, just USB A?

I purchased this motherboard: msi b650m gaming plus which uses: Realtek® ALC897 Codec
I would then need modified windows 11 driver for that to force DD or DTS right?

 

[Chrispy_]

The 5.1 speakers connect to the blu-ray player and because its old (LG BH7520TW) I don't think hdmi from pc into tv can pass it through?
edit: well it does support ARC apparently, but when I tried it years ago I remember it being very frustrating (couldn't get games to do 5.1 for example) so I just got an optical cable and that worked.

Older TV's and devices that supported ARC often only had support for 2-channel stereo.

As for @HexedHavoc, I like the DAC option. You don't want to restrict your motherboard choices for the duration of the 5.1 system; Audio gear can last decades. There are plenty of cheap DACs that will handle DD and DTS and they handle the entirety of the soundcard chain, you are completely bypassing the motherboard audio and can even disable it in the BIOS if you want.

The advantages of a USB DAC is that if you want to plug in a laptop or something else, temporarily, you don't have to reconfigure everything.

 

[Ferather]

Based on the back panel for the MSI B650m Gaming Plus (specs), you have no SPDIF currently, so unless it accepts an expansion using a PCI slot at the back, no driver will help.
In terms of the LG BH7520TW, it already has a DAC built in, it counts as an external DAC already, you only need an external DAC for analogue output.

Even if you did buy and external DAC that has SPDIF out, it will be digital-to-digital, so its DAC is not used at all.

You can imagine a £200 sound card, and about £20 of that is digital-to-digital, the rest analogue.


The USB A version should be the same product to be honest, still 192KHz/24bit.
DTS:X APO4 + DTS Interactive for Most Devices [USB Supported]

 

[ir_cow]

In terms of the LG BH7520TW, it already has a DAC built in, it counts as an external DAC already, you only need an external DAC for analogue output.

That's why I am suggesting getting the cheapest POS PCIe card or USB DAC as possible. Only need the optical part. Why waste money on the rest.

It can't do 192/24 bit or TrueHD or DTS-Master anyways. Only the core 5.1 stream in through formats from 20+ years ago. That is the true limitation of SPDIF (Optical).

 

[Ferather]

Latest revision SPDIF is 125 Mbits/s NRZ, and 62.5 Mbits/s BMC. HDA bus can only handle ~37 Mbits/s, which one is the limitation xD.
Yes its possible for a USB OEMs to produce SPDIF that does 15+ channels at 192k/24 bit, or passthrough all formats.

 

[ir_cow]

@Ferather interesting. I just was looking up SPDIF specifications. Did not know it got a revision. Now what's the chances that Blu-ray player supports this revision?

Also is from my understanding it only supports those codecs in the core decode and not actually playback in lossless. The core in TrueHD is just DD for backwards compatibility.

 

[Chrispy_]

Cubilux USB C to SPDIF Transmitter, Unidirectional Type C to Optical Audio Output Adapter with 192KHz/24bit

I like this idea even more. It's the external soundcard without all the additional analogue hardware that isn't needed.

When I said USB DAC, what I meant was a USB soundcard with SPDIF output, but I was unaware that you could just get the SPDIF output barebones like this.

 

[HexedHavoc]

Based on the back panel for the MSI B650m Gaming Plus (specs), you have no SPDIF currently, so unless it accepts an expansion using a PCI slot at the back, no driver will help.
In terms of the LG BH7520TW, it already has a DAC built in, it counts as an external DAC already, you only need an external DAC for analogue output.

Even if you did buy and external DAC that has SPDIF out, it will be digital-to-digital, so its DAC is not used at all.

You can imagine a £200 sound card, and about £20 of that is digital-to-digital, the rest analogue.


The USB A version should be the same product to be honest, still 192KHz/24bit.
DTS:X APO4 + DTS Interactive for Most Devices [USB Supported]

hmm, im a bit confused... i know it has no spdif on the motherboard (decided to just get a cheaper one) and figured id now follow suggestions like yours and just get something like the usb to spdif as suggested... that would work right?

what would i then have to do software wise to ensure im always outputting 5.1 and games auto detct etc?

 

[Ferather]

@Ferather interesting. I just was looking up SPDIF specifications. Did not know it got a revision. Now what's the chances that Blu-ray player supports this revision?

Also is from my understanding it only supports those codecs in the core decode and not actually playback in lossless. The core in TrueHD is just DD for backwards compatibility.

I have not seen any new implementations yet, most people like your self still work with SPDIF in the second or third standard that came out.
I will say though there has been more than one update to SPDIF, since nearly all Realtek's do 192KHz, not originally supported.

SPDIF is only as good as the hardware being used, so 3 Mbits/s TOSLInk (1st standard), will not do much.
Most devices should already have around 15-25 Mbits/s TOSLink SPDIF, up to 125.

Note that TOSLink is measured in NRZ, and BMC requires double the bandwidth (clock + data), so 125 becomes 62.5.


Lack of a proper version is what broke the camels back, no SPDIF 1.0 or SPDIF 2.0 for example.
Some examples of 8 channels: CS42518 | Cirrus Logic - CS8416 | Cirrus Logic

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hmm, im a bit confused... i know it has no spdif on the motherboard (decided to just get a cheaper one) and figured id now follow suggestions like yours and just get something like the usb to spdif as suggested... that would work right?

what would i then have to do software wise to ensure im always outputting 5.1 and games auto detct etc?

Correct. Yes you would need to install an encoder such as DTS or Dolby to get 5.1, as most OEMS are still using the older revision SPDIF.

ESS Sabre DAC's have the latest revision SPDIF, are are capable of 15+ channels with the current revision.
The AVR manufacturer still needs to put the right SPDIF circuit in for that to work.

Your LG will be in the same line as 2 channel PCM (LPCM) or encoded for multichannel. For some reason OEMS are not up-to-date.

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@ir_cow Here is an AVR with dual ESS Sabre DAC's (2x 8 ch) to get 16 ch, has the lastest SPDIF which will also do 16 channels.
Any money says the manufacturer has not put the current standard SPDIF in as a circuit, but you never know.



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SPDIF is a standard, a method of working, it does not specify hardware, or bit rate.

 

[HexedHavoc]

Correct. Yes you would need to install an encoder such as DTS or Dolby to get 5.1, as most OEMS are still using the older revision SPDIF.

What are my options for an encoder?

 

[Ferather]

Based on the spec sheet: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, DTS-HD Master Audio. Best bet is DTS, and for two reasons:

1st: DTS-HD means it 'should' support DTS Audio (DTS Digital Surround), which is core only and no extra data.
2nd: The spec sheet does say much about SPDIF, and I am not sure you can use the older Dolby Digital.

An extra reason is DTS uses 32 bit float in encoding, but otherwise specifies a 24 bit stream, Dolby Digital is 16 bit fixed.

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The DTS APO version is called [DTS Interactive], I posted a link in a previous post.

 

[HexedHavoc]

so what would i need to install on my pc so that i can switch between dts or dd etc, also which is generally better? thanks a lot for all your help

 

[Ferather]

AAF does not produce a generic pack anymore, so for both: PureSoftApps: APO Driver [2.12.0]. I am only linking that because I know you will be using USB, with its own driver.

Its not a recommendation, nor do I use it. Also, when you get the USB, you can test formats in the Windows audio panel, and determine what it supports.

 

[HexedHavoc]

why is that not recommended? i dont mind spending a bit more money if there is a bettersolution or something