Asus xonar D2X + Yamaha yht 299

[quad_core]

Hello guys.
I'm new to this forum. After reading some reviews and recommendations I just bought Yamaha YHT299 HTiB. I'm loving it so far. I have connected my iPod , Sony BDP-S380 bluRay p layer and my gaming PC(SPDIF optical). I'm into PC gaming . I have a onboard realtek ALC887 sound chip. I have recently upgraded my PC . I was using puny creative SBS A300 2.1 speakers since past 7 years or so. When I upgraded my CPU+mobo in Oct 2013 I noticed a drastic drop in audio quality as compared to my older motherboard(don't remember the sound chip on that) .I could notice that drop even using the puny creative 2.1 speakers.
Even when I play the same song through iPod(front usb), it sounds better than PC !
Now my question is
1. Will the sound quality improve if I buy Asus xonar D2X?I have connected via optical , but I have read that it won't use the sound cards DAC by this. (I will connect via analog connectors to avr when listening to songs)
2 I have selected xonar d2x as I want DDL And DTSconnect via spdif because I want to have 5.1 audio when playing Games.
Please suggest between Xonar DX( no DTS connect) , xonar d2x or creative sound blaster Z.( actually z is out of budget , will think on it only if members insist).


Thanks for reading patiently .

 

[spirovious]

Now my question is
1. Will the sound quality improve if I buy Asus xonar D2X?I have connected via optical , but I have read that it won't use the sound cards DAC by this. (I will connect via analog connectors to avr when listening to songs)

Yes,D2X will improve the sound.But its not pure gaming card.There were some issues with high end games earlier.

2 I have selected xonar d2x as I want DDL And DTSconnect via spdif because I want to have 5.1 audio when playing Games.
Please suggest between Xonar DX( no DTS connect) , xonar d2x or creative sound blaster Z.( actually z is out of budget , will think on it only if members insist).

Yes,DD/Dts is send over spdf and it works well.Creative cards are better for gaming.Not used myself.