HDMI sound any difference?

[transmaster]

I am going to replace my problematic Radeon R9 380 GPU with a Nividia card. This Radeon has a freezing problem I have been unable to solve, I am not alone in this. The Radeon has AMD True Audio from the graphics card. The sound completely blows the ASUS Xonar essence sound card I have out of thecwater. My question is the Nividia version as good or any different from AMD True Audio. This is a decision maker I very much like AMD True Audio If Nividia is not as good I will replace the Radeon with a current mid range Radeon GPU.

 

[StimpyWan]

I wish I could answer your HDMI questions, but I can't. Whenever I've built a PC, where I was concerned with audio quality, I've always gone with a separate sound card, and not an integrated audio/video solution. I've always used cards from M-Audio, RME, Aardvark, or Lynx. So, no HDMI. I'm going to configure a media server, NAS set up soon, and will probably experience issues, but that doesn't help now.

One question though. How do you have Windows settings configured? In Win 7, (Windows 10 is at home, I'll check those System Properties steps later, if needed?). Right click your Computer icon, and select Properties, then Remote Settings, which opens System Properties. There, select Advanced, and under the Performance menus, select Settings and Advanced. You should see a menu that allows you to set Processor Scheduling for Programs or Background Services. Default is Programs, but for audio and video processing, Background Services works best. All my DAW PC's are set to Background Services, and I never experience audio issues. Try it; it might help.

 

[transmaster]

I have no audio issues. The HDMI audio stream is a direct WASAPI feed from the Motherboard and is decoded by, in this case, My Yamaha. The gaming forums make no mention of sound issues between Radeon, and Nividia but they are not concerned with music which is the reason for the question here. Looked at your suggestion and I find that is not something I can not do in Windows 10 Home. $99 bucks for an upgrade.

 

[Hipocrates]

I've had very good results with my nvidia 710 and 1030 low profile (passive)card for music. I use it on my HTPC with passthroug and kodi to my Marantz SR8002.
What power supply do you have on your PC?
Do you have plenty ventilation on your rig?
Maybe if you share me a little bit more details of your rig I can lend you a hand.

 

[Markoneswift]

I'm going to be contentious here and say that sound, over HDMI, is a digital stream decoded in this instance by your Yamaha. I can't see how, especially for music, different technologies on the software / driver side could make any difference. If the environmental sound, spatial effects etc are important then yes I could see how software can differ in how those are rendered.

 

[Hipocrates]

over HDMI, is a digital stream decoded in this instance by your Yamaha

+1

 

[transmaster]

I've had very good results with my nvidia 710 and 1030 low profile (passive)card for music. I use it on my HTPC with passthroug and kodi to my Marantz SR8002.
What power supply do you have on your PC?
Do you have plenty ventilation on your rig?
Maybe if you share me a little bit more details of your rig I can lend you a hand.

My PC is built into a full tower Corsair 750D Obsidian. With 2 140mm intake, and one 1 exhaust fan. An Asus Crosshair V Formula Z Motherboard. An AMD FX 9590 8C 4.7 GHz CPU, 16 GB of DDR3 it is cooled by a Corsair H100i liquid cooler with 2 120mm fans. I have a 750 watt Corsair modular power supply. A Sapphire Radeon R9 380 GPU. The boot Drive is a Samsung 500 GB SSD.

 

[transmaster]

I'm going to be contentious here and say that sound, over HDMI, is a digital stream decoded in this instance by your Yamaha. I can't see how, especially for music, different technologies on the software / driver side could make any difference. If the environmental sound, spatial effects etc are important then yes I could see how software can differ in how those are rendered.

There should not be any difference. Both platforms pass through the WASAPI signal originating in the Motherboard. The Yamaha takes care of the rest. jRiver can play almost all codex so that part is taken care of in the software. If I use the Yamaha’s Net Music server mode it decodes MP3, MA4, Apple lossless, FLAC, and Wave.

It is interesting how the gaming forums are already savaging the new Nividia GPU’s even before anyone has examples a to test.

 

[Hipocrates]

Ok so that PSU at full load will give you around 600W
GPU TDP 225W
CPU TDP 220W
That will left us good 155W, so we are ok there.
After that I've read that a lot of people have freezing problems with that board. So I think you are on the right track in moving to nvidia.

That being said I haven't noted differences between the R7 370 and the nvidia, sound wise... for my application lower tdp and low noise, is better for me.

 

[Hipocrates]

It is interesting how the gaming forums

Gamers are very passionate people, they do that with every new component.

 

[transmaster]

I figure if the gamers give a GPU rating of 3 or higher it is a fantastic graphics card.

 

[twiiii]

In the past every time I connected a computer directly to a good HT system there were always noise issues, whether using analog balanced, un balanced ,or coaxially. Never had issues with optical. The few HDMi it was a 50/50. I use Apple TV, no possible chance with a wireless connection. And as I have three computers in the house that can access the Apple TV or the Airport express, the fact that are no wires to deal with makes life simple for me. All I have to remember is which network to use. Guess networks can't access Apple TV #1. Only #2. If I play A Blu ray disc that sends signal to the home theatre processor via HDMI and at the same time via balanced Analog, and switch the processor to Stereo mode, I can't tell the difference when switching between the analog and HDMI, when I had my older processor using optical and balanced I could hear a difference. So the new processor has definitely an improved digital section.

 

[awillia6]

Never had issues with optical.

...I can't tell the difference when switching between the analog and HDMI, when I had my older processor using optical and balanced I could hear a difference.

Could you please explain the (apparent) discrepancy above? Thanks in advance.

 

[transmaster]

I was using the Optical (Toslink) connection from the PC for years using the ASUS Xonar Essence sound card. What caused me to switch to an HDMI feed was the abysmal quality of the optical jacks on the Onkyo AVR. The latching doors on these inputs fell off and I had to use a drop of hot glue to hold the cables in place. I just continued with the HDMI feed when I went to the Yamaha.

 

[PianotunerNJ]

I agree with Markoneswift, if you’re using WASAPI then in theory, your digital audio signal is going bit perfect and unaffected to your receiver through HDMI no matter what card you have. All the processing is in receiver. The reason HDMI sounds better (is better) than optical is that optical can either send true hi res to stereo speakers, or at best, Dolby Digital (24/48) to 5.1 but not hires to 5.1. HDMI can send your highest sample rates (32/192 , more?) discretely to what, 10 channels? Big leap in resolution and dynamics.

Reminds me of another post I read recently where someone said he had to shut all the processing off on his Blu-ray player to get Dolby Digital to work, lol. Dolby Digital was 1990. If you’re shutting off DTS Master audio to go to Dolby Digital, go get an ear exam, lol. Optical or coaxial digital is ok for stereo, but way inadequate for any modern surround system worth its salt. HDMI is the only real way to feed a surround processor. If you have noise issues due to components grounding, the answer is to go to a power supply like a Monster Power unit. I have a few, they work, and protect your gear. No noise ever, and everything in my system is plugged into one supply, TV, laptop, all audio, everything. Oh, and they’re all stacked in super close proximity and cables not so neat, but sound is clean and pure. Clean power and good source material, decent components, all more important than fancy cables and wiring. Room calibration is a good thing too, IMHO. Let the receiver do it’s job and manage the sound, just use HDMI and WASAPI or ASIO drivers to insure an unaffected source signal.

My current internal debate is the Sony X700 or X800 Blu-ray player. I just landed a leftover LG C6 Oled (55”) for the best 3D ever produced on a TV, and now I need a 4K player to go with. Thing is, the TV does Dolby Vision which is gorgeous. The problem is that, of the 2 players, the 700 has Dolby Vision support, where the 800 lacks Dolby but plays DVDA. Now, generally all my music is on a hard drive, and I can read DVDA on a PC so a stand alone machine no super important, but I did want a universal disc player. I’m leaning toward the Dolby Vision since I have other DVDA options, but WTF Sony? Put Dolby on the 800!