Graphic Cards RTX 2060 - Query about Sound Quality over ARC

soulweaver

soulweaver

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Disclaimer: I am an idiot with fewer brain cells than amoeba has fingers.

Processor: i3 -12100
MoBo: B660M
OS: Win 11
Gfx Card: Zotac RTX 2060

I have a PC which has an RTX 2060 driving the display. It is attached to a soundbar over ARC. The issue is that the sound quality is perceptibly poor. Even when I compare it with the same set-up over the motherboard's HDMI port and with several of the Mini PCs I have. It is poorer than the sound I get over BT from a cheap tablet.

The motherboard does not have Optical Out and the Soundbar does not have a 3.5mm input (only HDMI, Optical, USB and BT). I know Nvidia drivers are to blame, but I wanted to know if there is anything that can be done without on hardware.

If there is a software solution, (I already use FXSound) I will be too happy, or if there is an inexpensive (say around 5k) work-around that does not involve too many wires then I might be up for it. For instance any USB to Optical dongles and such like which will work.

Looking forward to expanding the breadth of my ignorance! Thank you in advance.
 
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If you don't need the ARC, you can just plug the 2060 directly to the display and use another HDMI cable from the motherboard to the soundbar right?

Edit: Looks like that might not be possible based on this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/f9aga0

Edit 2: Would something like this work instead, to direct 3.5mm output from the motherboard into the USB input of the soundbar: https://www.amazon.in/CARE-Charger-Players-Headphones-Speakers/dp/B0CPLTGC6J/ ? (not sure about potential quality loss here)
 
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kvn95ss said:
Why not just get a USB Bluetooth adapter (assuming your motherboard doesn’t already have BT built in) and then connect to the sound bar?
Click to expand...
This, yes, but I have BT keyboard connected and there is the issue of lag. And when I am playing games, for some reason, things get worse.
edept said:
Edit 2: Would something like this work instead, to direct 3.5mm output from the motherboard into the USB input of the soundbar: https://www.amazon.in/CARE-Charger-Players-Headphones-Speakers/dp/B0CPLTGC6J/ ? (not sure about potential quality loss here)
Click to expand...
This looks like it is going to work, but the same thing, I am concerned about quality loss too. It is cheap enough to try, but I am a little afraid about disappointment.

edept said:
If you don't need the ARC, you can just plug the 2060 directly to the display and use another HDMI cable from the motherboard to the soundbar right?
Click to expand...
This is the first thing I tried. It was messy, and it still means I am routing audio via Nvidia which means I have the same issue of poor quality.

Do you think this will work better?
 
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GPU sounds are not always the way you expect of high quality etc. Primarily GPUs are for providing great graphics exp. But the funda of bundling AIO has confused the poor user & so his expectations!
I have used many GPUs but I always prefer to use motherboard audio as there's a dedicated sound chip + pure & true 7.1 exp. is what you get.
 
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