Discrete Sound Cards

mrrodge

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Evening all,

This may not be the most appropriate place to post...

Mods, if you think I may get a better response elsewhere please move!

My HTPC is connected to my receiver via TOSLink. My laptop is also often connected via TOSLink. The same files are played at the same sampling rates, yet the laptop sounds shocking compared to the Xonar in the HTPC. How can this be?! I've always been under the impression that I could buy the cheapest, crappiest USB to Optical adapter and have the same sound from the same files. Why isn't this the case?

I don't have any Xonar software installed, I just use the basic driver. I have the WMP EQs set to the same values and both machines run the same OS/WMP versions.

Shouldn't optical out be optical out, much like HDMI 1080p is HDMI 1080p? I'm thinking the laptop must be doing some sort of digital-analogue-optical conversion very poorly, but doesn't this mean that it's pointless having optical out? I thought the whole idea was so that sound wasn't processed?

Thanks!
 

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