Getting Audyssey on my PC... with a few restrictions

[beatle]

So I've been using a receiver and a collection of 5 small bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer on my desk for probably close to 20 years (jeez). Works pretty well. Currently I have a Xonar DG as my soundcard which I like since it sounds good enough and the bass redirection works to let my sub handle most of the low frequencies. That said, the other receivers in my house all have Audyssey which I've found improves the sound quality by leaps and bounds. I also have a slightly weird setup where my center channel is behind my monitor. That obviously changes what I hear, so I think Audyssey could help.

I don't think there are any soundcards which provide this kind of functionality, so I'm looking for a cheap receiver that's under 6 1/2 inches tall (restriction #1). My desk has a shelf under which the receiver fits and 6 1/2 inches is all that it will take. Most of the receivers I see with Audyssey on CL seem to be in the 6 3/4+ inch range. Maybe a used Denon X1000?

I'm not sure if I need a new soundcard (restriction #2?) A lot of the more budget minded receivers that fit and have Audyssey have dropped 6ch discrete analog input as a feature. The Xonar DG has a toslink output but no Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect encoding to send multichannel game audio over it. Maybe a Xonar DSX? I'm not married to Asus, but I have grown to hate Creative after they abandoned my last two cards and the DSX is really cheap.

 

[mdram]

if you want to stay with a receiver at theat height, you may have to upgrade to a soundcard that does the dd via optical

or can it be sent with the hdmi and then into the monitor, kinda like a tv.

marantz slimlines will fit the height requirement, @ 4-5" tall, something like the 1506
a4l has refurbs

 

[Nohr]

Hi beatle! It's been a while.

I don't believe receivers apply Audyssey to analog inputs, the signal skips digital processing and it goes straight to the amplifier.

HDMI from your video card to a receiver (and then to your display) is probably the best way to do this. Set your windows sound options to 5.1 and make HDMI the default audio device and it should work.

Denon makes good receivers. Just make sure whatever you get has a little extra space for ventilation.

 

[giantpandaman2]

I don't believe receivers apply Audyssey to analog inputs, the signal skips digital processing and it goes straight to the amplifier.

Yup.

 

[beatle]

Weird, I only got one email notification even though I came back to this thread...

Anyway, that's interesting about Audyssey not being applied to analog inputs. Sounds my soundcard is not long for this world and I'll need a new receiver.

While HDMI works great for my HTPC, I'm not sure it's what I want for games. Or do I? I have a couple monitors, one hooked up via DP, one via DVI. My card does have an extra HDMI port, however. Will it be able to output both standard browser and WinAmp (heh) audio to my receiver? Will I lose bass redirection? Maybe the new receivers are smart enough to do that anyway...

 

[beatle]

Picked up a Denon X1200 on ebay and it arrived today. I've been struggling to get it set up.

Instead of running a DVI->DVI cable to my monitor, I now have an HDMI->HDMI going one of my my receiver's inputs and the secondary monitor is now plugged into the output using an HDMI to DVI cable. My primary monitor is still using Displayport.

The receiver shows up as a playback device in Windows and I've selected it as default, but I cannot get anything out of the receiver. No audio and no video. Fiddling around with the monitor, power cycling it and flipping through the inputs I got it to display a couple times, but only 1 out of 10 times will it display anything. I've also tried using a Chromecast in the receiver's front HDMI input. That's a bit more reliable, but it's still definitely spotty.

My secondary monitor is an oldie but goodie NEC 20WMGX2. I don't really have a reason to replace it, but do you think it's causing my problems?