Sound Card (Linux) and Receiver

D

DarkSamurai2003

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 16, 2003
Messages
270
OS: Mandriva 2006 PowerPack

I'm thinking about getting:

- Pioneer Electronics VSX-915-K A/V Receiver
- ? Sound Card

Is that a good Receiver? Also, for a soundcard how would I connect it to a receiver to get the 5.1? Thanks.
 
You'd want to use a digital output (optical or sp/dif, doesn't really make much difference). For a soundcard you can't go wrong with the Chaintech AV-710. Cheap as chips, works great in Linux (I work for Mandriva, and it's what I've got in my system, so if you can't get it working, come to me :>), and is all you need for good digital output.
 
Sweet looking receiver. You'll need to use analog connections if you want 5.1 channel audio, though.
 
How would I connect that card to the receiver using the analog/rca things?

It has front, rear, center, subwoofer? How would I connect these to the Pioneer receiver? The Pioneer Receiver doesn't have a multichannel in to do left&right for front and rear, but center and subwoofer should be fine in plugging in. How would I do the front/rear?
 
"Pioneer Electronics VSX-915-K A/V Receiver"

You'll find it quite a fine receiver. The series uses AKM DACs for fine digital decoding. I myself have the VSX-D811S.

"You'd want to use a digital output (optical or sp/dif, doesn't really make much difference). For a soundcard you can't go wrong with the Chaintech AV-710."

Unless you plan on doing 5.1 audio and gaming. The Chaintech card is great for one thing: Stereo output, either analog in Hi-Res mode, or digital out with bitperfect playback. Anything else is mediocre, like it's gaming support. The AV-710 does not have any Dolby Digital Live output, so it cannot do 5.1 output via digital, except for DD/DTS passthru. (like DVDs)

I love the peeps who think the AV-710 is the best thing since sliced bread. :D

If you plan on doing 5.1, and plan on using a Creative card, get an X-Fi only. It's the only card in the line-up that does proper Bass Management for HT systems with an external receiver. And it's a bitch to compensate for, especially if you switch betwwen 6-channel and non-6channel sources. (-15dB loss)

[EDIT] This info applies to Windows users. For Linux, you can use whatever you like, since gaming is less driver intensive. Still can't do 5.1 gaming over SPDIF however.
 
DarkSamurai2003 said:
How would I connect that card to the receiver using the analog/rca things?

It has front, rear, center, subwoofer? How would I connect these to the Pioneer receiver? The Pioneer Receiver doesn't have a multichannel in to do left&right for front and rear, but center and subwoofer should be fine in plugging in. How would I do the front/rear?
Click to expand...

Use the DVD-A inputs. The fronts are on the left 1st column, the rears are in the 2nd column, with the center/sub inputs. You'll also need to put it into "DVD 5.1ch" discrete mode. Check your manual, and hook the soundcard up like it was a DVD-A or SACD player.
 
According to Pioneer that reciever has a discreet 5.1 channel analog input, so you should be fine.
 
chastity: I don't see the point of upmixing 2.0 to 5.1. Messes with how the original audio was supposed to sound, IMHO (it was mixed for stereo). So I don't think the AV-710 is a bad recommendation, since it will play everything the way it's meant to be played with good quality at a low price - using just the digital output, you'll get perfectly good 5.1 for things that are properly mixed for it, and perfectly good stereo for everything else. That works for me.

(If you really must upmix, you can use a custom .asoundrc to duplicate the front speakers to the rear speakers and probably even fake a centre channel. But I just don't see the need.)
 
chastity: oh, and you obviously didn't think the implications of 'Linux' through. The Creative cards' gaming advantage doesn't apply in Linux, there's no software support for their funky gaming stuff.
 
DarkSamurai2003 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829121126

That looks pretty good. I think I might get that, is it compatible with Linux though?

I won't be playing video games, just playing: Music and Videos. DVD's will be our DVD Player, but for stuff I rent I might just rip it to the hard drive and play it that way or something.
Click to expand...
If that's the new version of the Revolution 7.1, it should be supported. It's highly recommended that you set up dmix to let multiple apps use the sound card at the same time, but at the same time it's kind of nice not to have any little bing/bong noises coming out of your expensive headphones/speakers, ever. If not for my roommate's speakers, I would never hear that godawful "You have a new IM" noise AOL has inflicted on the world. :rolleyes: Closed phones FTW.

 
Alrighty, ordered that sound card. I won't be getting the Receiver until the end of the month, so how would I set it up to my old Pioneer receiver. It doesn't have a digital-in for the fiber optic cable.
 
If you can afford the jump to the Pioneer VSX-1015TX its well worth it imho; its actually a re-badged Pioneer Elite 52TX. Its one of the best bang:buck receivers out there. I'm immensly happy with mine after trading in my VSX-814S for it.

On the other hand the 915 is an excellent receiver and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it. What kind of speakers are you going to be powering with this bad boy?

Back on topic:
Have you checked out the HDA Mystique 7.1 Gold with Dolby Digital Live encoding? I'm not sure if it has Linux drivers or not, but it'd be great if you're going to be using a digital connection. Otherwise stick with the Creative Labs offerings and use the analog connections if you're a gamer and ever boot into Windows for gaming..
 
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