Need Help with Sound Card Options on PC Running Kodi

geek001 on 24/02/2016 - 11:33

Hi all,

I have repurposed and old PC(it is a HP DC7700p small form factor PC, if anyone is interested) to run Kodi and have connected it to my home TV. I have also set it up so that it is the media server in the house using the hard disk bought from here: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/221682

I am happy with it mostly, however the sound quality is severely lacking. I have it connected to my TV via VGA for video and RCA for sound. The soundtrack seemed a bit muffled at higher frequencies, I guess it is ok, but it annoys me a little.

Does anyone has any idea how I can improve the sound quality? Is it possible to improve the sound by getting an external USB sound device?

Computing

Comments

  • lupiter on 24/02/2016 - 12:04
    +1

    Are you connecting it directly to the TV for audio, and using the TV speakers? Are you sure it's not the TV speakers that are the problem?

    If the problem is the computer, the device you're thinking of is called a USB DAC (digital to analogue converter). You can get a fancy one or a cheaper one, but a decent one is likely to set you back at least $100, and I'm afraid I don't know any to recommend.

    • geek001 on 24/02/2016 - 12:38

      Yes, I am connecting it directly to the TV using TV speakers. My TV speakers are pretty decent. The sound is ok for FTA channels. I just noticed that the sound from my HTPC is a bit muffly?

      I guess I will do some testing to see what the problem is.

  • iratepirate on 24/02/2016 - 16:17
    +1

    Can you connect through hdmi to the TV? That way the sound output will be digital and therefore clearer. You may have to buy a cheap half size video card for about $40. This will improve your sound and video quality.

    http://www.msy.com.au/qld/ipswitch/pc-components/10689-asus-…

    • geek001 on 24/02/2016 - 17:04

      Video quality is fine. I am running mostly 1080p content. I try not to use hdmi ports if I can, I only have 2 on my TV. One for the xbox and the other one is used by Chromecast.

      I have since found that the sound distortion is caused by the amplification is set too high in Kodi. It is better now that I have turned it down, however the sound is now very soft. If I want to watch anything in Kodi, I have to turn my TV volume up to max to get a decent volume! I guess I will try and get a USB DAC as lupiter suggested and see how it goes.

      • iratepirate on 24/02/2016 - 19:03
        +1

        The motherboard of that SFF PC has a S/PDIF header so if your TV has Coax digital in you only need to buy a cable to get it running. Or you can run a plex server on the PC and chromecast it to the TV.

        • geek001 on 25/02/2016 - 09:44

          Thanks for the suggestion. Do you know of any good usb soundcard/DAC that is geared towards output to speakers? The one you suggested seems to be geared towards headphones/earbuds. My worry is that the ones geared towards headphones may have a max volume/output limiter.

        • scrimshaw on 25/02/2016 - 19:22

          @geek001:

          Huh… I don't think it actually makes a difference. Not an expert though, but you can always contact Creative and ask them a technical question and they might tell you which is a better option for your setup.

          There are more expensive ones, Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro for example is around a hundred dollars.

        • geek001 on 26/02/2016 - 09:26

          @scrimshaw: Ok, Thanks. After much googling and playing around with Kodi settings last night, I installed a Kodi plugin called Kodi Audio Mixer. I was able to increase the master volume up to maximum without distortion. Apparently, by default the volume is set to 50% at the linux driver level. The plugin is an easy to change it without needing to play with the driver config files.

          I guess that is acceptable for now. :)

      • scupper on 24/02/2016 - 22:45

        You can get a cheap HDMI switch box for less than $5.

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