PC audio cards to Processor


Hello, my question is probably out of the scope of this forum but I will ask any way.
I have decent audio system Mcintosh amps, processor Magico speakers etc.  The system is used for three purposes, home theater movies, stereo music and surround sound PC video games.  I connect the PC audio card to the processor via optical out from the audio card.  In order to get 5.1 surrond I have to set the audio card to 2 channel output even though it is a 5.1/7.1 Dolby DTS card.  If the audio cards software is  set to 5.1 etc. the result is stereo where only two channels received by the processor and converted to stereo on the system.  My question is this, does the processor convert the non Dolby non DTS two channel signal into dolby 5.1 surround.  In other words if I am using a quality PC audio card that is not Dolby and or DTS cabable and is two channel only (made for headphones) does the Dolby DTS enabled processor in this case a Mcintosh convert that two channel signal into the 5.1 surround signal?  

One other question:
Can anyone recommend the best internal PC audio card for 5.1  home theater use?  When PC audio cards are reviewed its almost always for use with headphones and not for componet (processor multiple amps mulitiple subs) driven home theater systems.

Thank you.
Guy
guyt

Showing 7 responses by guyt

there are no internal audio cards currently that use hdmi.   Please correct me if I am wrong.  I could possibly go out through GPU Nvidea HDMI however   the onboard, motherboard GPU audio is crap. I thank you for the input however my question is not addressed.  Perhaps I did a lousy job of putting into words.
Eric you lost me.  If you are not using an audio card, motherboard onboard sound then what is sending the signal to the processor?  I have a Falcon northwest computer with Nvidia 1080ti in SLI.  Currently The PC sound card, an Asus, is connected to the Mcintosh 122 processor.  If I was to remove the Asus card what HDMI port would I use to connect to the processor?
The gpu 1080Ti is in SLI I have two graphics cards with an HDMI out on each card.  one is already dedicated to the TV.     So the video game sound signal goes to the graphics card in addition to the video signal or are the combined? Would you explain in detail how to adjust setting in control panel to send audio out the unoccupied HDMI in detail?
Thanks
That is the card that is currently installed, Asus Xoner Essence STXII. The reason I am asking about this stuff because I will have a new gaming machine built, when Nvidia starts using HDMI 2.1.  The PC builder uses Sound Blaster cards, I don't like them.  I have been setting the Asus card to dolby digital live on two channel with the A/V processor set to game dolby etc and it works, all amps subwoofers are needling. I tried what you suggested by going  into the Asus control panel and switched it from Dolby live to PCM and changed from two channel  to six channel and maxed out the sampling rate.  The result was noticeable it really woke up the speakers.  I switched in to 6 channel from two channel thinking that was appropriate because I have two fronts , center, two surround and two subs.   Thanks, your advice  improved the sound.
I noticed that the sampling rate received by the Mcintosh is displayed  for a few seconds when the game boots up and audio signal is incoming to the processor.  When I maxed out the sampling rate in the audio card control panel to 192 khz it is displayed by the Mcintosh as the signal being received for processing.  Is this display of sampling rate on the Mcintosh of 192 kHz an exception  to what you said earlier that optical cannot transfer 192 kHz?  Please advise.
Thanks.
Guy