*Newb* HDMI --> Analog being performed by the TV, is this bad?

[brandontw]

I've been doing some thinking about my signal chain lately... I think i have at least one weak link...

A pic says a thousand words, so here's a diagram of my setup:

The HTPC is almost exclusively my source for everything. FLAC, Spotify, Movies, Games, TV, etc. We turn the cable box on about once a week.

The computer just has a decent gaming style graphics card with HDMI Out. That's where all the sound and video comes from.

Then it goes to the TV. The TV does the Digital to analog work, then send it out on RCA's to the receiver that i'm using for a pre-amp, then to my amp.

I assume this is less than ideal... but i'm not sure why. I should probably get something better in the line to do the digital to analog work for the sound right? Perhaps a better sound card for the computer? Then I could just set the audio from the sound card to go straight to the receiver, and the video will continue to go out through the HDMI?

 

[counter culture]

I dunno, is it?

You can probably set up the cable box or the HTPC to output to a DAC, the cable box probably has digital out, the HTPC will have a USB port, you can probably fiddle with the settings to get it to use a USB DAC, or put a card in there to output S/PDIF to a DAC, or analog to the receiver as you yourself have suggested. The TV may have a digital output too. Or even take the sound from the built in PC motherboard audio, although that's likely to be the weakest in terms of signal-to-noise, but you can probably set this up so that any hiss is unnoticeable under almost all conditions.

Chances are there will be no significant difference, as long as the TV isn't sadly wanting, and most have pretty good sound these days, it's the built-in speakers that let them down.

You'll almost certainly easily find someone to disagree with this though.

I have several systems around the house, a couple use analog sound from TVs, some are self-contained, eg DAP->headphone amp->headphones, at least one can route the sound either through the TV, direct from the satellite receiver, from the satellite box through a DAC, from a BluRay player or from a PC soundcard, If I want I can swap the DAC from the satellite to the BluRay. I treat them all as indistinguishable.

I build a lot of stuff, because building stuff is fun, not because I expect to get a better sound. If I had a lot of money and I was bothered about a better sound then I might buy some speakers.

 

[brandontw]

I dunno, is it?

You can probably set up the cable box or the HTPC to output to a DAC, the cable box probably has digital out, the HTPC will have a USB port, you can probably fiddle with the settings to get it to use a USB DAC, or put a card in there to output S/PDIF to a DAC, or analog to the receiver as you yourself have suggested. The TV may have a digital output too. Or even take the sound from the built in PC motherboard audio, although that's likely to be the weakest in terms of signal-to-noise, but you can probably set this up so that any hiss is unnoticeable under almost all conditions.

Chances are there will be no significant difference, as long as the TV isn't sadly wanting, and most have pretty good sound these days, it's the built-in speakers that let them down.

You'll almost certainly easily find someone to disagree with this though.

I have several systems around the house, a couple use analog sound from TVs, some are self-contained, eg DAP->headphone amp->headphones, at least one can route the sound either through the TV, direct from the satellite receiver, from the satellite box through a DAC, from a BluRay player or from a PC soundcard, If I want I can swap the DAC from the satellite to the BluRay. I treat them all as indistinguishable.

I build a lot of stuff, because building stuff is fun, not because I expect to get a better sound. If I had a lot of money and I was bothered about a better sound then I might buy some speakers.

Well, I have relatively high end audio stuff, and a fair appreciation for quality sound.

I felt like i knew what i was doing when I wasnt in the computer age... Plug in a nice CD player, or record player and play your music!

I just get a little confused when it comes to this digital stuff... I know HDMI is fairly high quality, but there are a lot of people spending a lot of money on DAC's, and that cant be for no reason.... and i have my 200$ TV doing the job.

The TV does also have optical audio output, right next to the Analogs im using now.

Is that signal of equal quality to the HDMI coming from my video card?

Is the HDMI sound from the video card up to par? Or could it be improved? If so, how?

These are the questions i don't know the answers to...

 

[counter culture]

there are a lot of people spending a lot of money on DAC's, and that cant be for no reason

There are a lot of people who find the Sansa Clip+ to be a great portable digital audio player, and it retails for U$35, and it's got a battery, memory, display, amplifier and a few other things as well as a DAC.

I mean, good treble, bass, flat frequency response, reasonable volume with most 'phones... what more do you want? Listen to one. See if you can hear anything lacking in it.

Modern digital audio is fantastically good. People feel comforted by spending money. Good audio used to cost a lot. Now it doesn't. People haven't caught up, or audiophiles haven't caught up. Sad to say, lots of people haven't got anything better to give meaning to their lives and a lot of other people don't mind exploiting them.

Expensive equipment often has a better paper performance (although not always), but hear the difference? Well, there will always be those who insist that they can.

By this I don't mean there's no reason to buy good quality amplifiers and particularly speakers. Stylish and robust count for something, and speakers are the weakest link in any system.

 

[brandontw]

There are a lot of people who find the Sansa Clip+ to be a great portable digital audio player, and it retails for U$35, and it's got a battery, memory, display, amplifier and a few other things as well as a DAC.

I mean, good treble, bass, flat frequency response, reasonable volume with most 'phones... what more do you want? Listen to one. See if you can hear anything lacking in it.

Modern digital audio is fantastically good. People feel comforted by spending money. Good audio used to cost a lot. Now it doesn't. People haven't caught up, or audiophiles haven't caught up. Sad to say, lots of people haven't got anything better to give meaning to their lives and a lot of other people don't mind exploiting them.

Expensive equipment often has a better paper performance (although not always), but hear the difference? Well, there will always be those who insist that they can.

By this I don't mean there's no reason to buy good quality amplifiers and particularly speakers. Stylish and robust count for something, and speakers are the weakest link in any system.

Thanks for your input!

I understand what your saying... I also understand that the weak links in many systems are the speakers and amps...

I feel that in my system, these may not be the weak links, so i'm trying to find out what is.

My speakers are older Monsoon FPF-600 Hybrid Planar Dipole speakers that I got for cheap because they were in need of a simple repair. They arent the greatest in the world, but they are absolutely stellar, and better than i should have been able to afford. I drive them with another humble, but solid piece of equipment, an old Sonance 260 amp.

I'm fairly happy with and confident in those items, especially when connected to my record player. But my confidence doesn't extend up into the digital side of my signal chain. I want to make sure i'm getting the best signal all the way from my media player inside of windows to the amp.

Of course there is a chance that i wont hear a difference if i switch things around, but there's a chance i will also... that's why we are all here to begin with isn't it?