Yamaha RX V357 and Asrock AB 350 Pro 4 Motherboard, RX 570..How to use these to get 5.1 audio as no Toslink out

[arnprasad]

Hi All,

Apologize in advance for opening a thread on a topic where I have an older thread. The earlier thread was a bit vague but now I have all the facts.

I have a new desktop assembled for kids gaming. I had an old Yamaha receiver which was in a different city. I thought my desktop will have Toslink 'out' and Yamaha will have Toslink 'in' thereby having an alternate way of getting 5.1 audio in a receiver that does not have HDMI.

Today I got the receiver and when I tried to set up the HT - I was surprised that my desktop doesnt have Toslink and neither does my receiver. both talk about digital audio and hence I am hoping there is another way by which I can get 5.1 audio out. I already have 5 speakers and I want my kids to enjoy games with true 5 channel surround sound.

Here is the video of the back of my desktop

Here is the link to the receiver manual

https://de.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/6/333736/RX-V357_G_en.pdf

Here is the link to my motherboard

ASRock > AB350 Pro4

ATX; ASRock Super Alloy; Supports AMD Socket AM4 A-Series APUs (Bristol Ridge) and Ryzen Series CPUs (Summit Ridge & Raven Ridge); Supports DDR4 3200+ (OC) (Ryzen CPU) / 2400 (A-series APU); 2 PCIe 3.0 x16, 4 PCIe 2.0 x1; AMD Quad CrossFireX™; Graphics Output: HDMI, DVI-D, D-Sub; Supports Triple...

www.asrock.com

Also I have another question...if say I can't take out true 5.1...but say if I take out stereo out and connect 5 speakers to my receiver - will it just be same sound around across speakers or will it give me some kind of audio separation?

I want my kids to have a nice system for their summer holidays. Pls help me out.


Whatever cables you recommend - pls post an Amazon link so that I know the exact product description to buy

 

[vishal_k]

Yes you can get true 5.1 through analog audio out of motherboard. As RX-V357 have 6 ch in, you have to use 3x3.5mm to 2rca cable ( each for FL-FR, RL-RR, center- sub) and set audio to 5.1 in audio control software in pc.

 

[MaSh]

Are you sure your receiver does not have Optical and Coaxial inputs? The receiver's Manual on Page 11 seems to say so.

Your motherboard seems to have HDMI out. 1. You could use that with an HDMI extractor to get an optical signal, which you could feed to your receiver. Here the DAC and processing in the receiver would be in play. 2. Another option is to run multiple stereos to RCA cables from your motherboard to the receiver's analog input. Here the DAC and processing will be done by your computer. 3. Another option is to add a sound card from Creative or Asus which has an optical out. This should be a cleaner and simpler connection.

MaSh

 

[arnprasad]

Are you sure your receiver does not have Optical and Coaxial inputs? The receiver's Manual on Page 11 seems to say so.

Your motherboard seems to have HDMI out. 1. You could use that with an HDMI extractor to get an optical signal, which you could feed to your receiver. Here the DAC and processing in the receiver would be in play. 2. Another option is to run multiple stereos to RCA cables from your motherboard to the receiver's analog input. Here the DAC and processing will be done by your computer. 3. Another option is to add a sound card from Creative or Asus which has an optical out. This should be a cleaner and simpler connection.

MaSh

Sound card seems to be pretty expensive. A creative one I saw on Amazon was 13k....few more thousands - I can ask someone to get me an Atmos receiver from US. (which I anyways plan to do to replace my Pioneer 1020K at ground floor)

HDMI Extractor is around 3K - will explore it. Since DVD players used to output 5.1 to the receiver (with or without decoding) - let me understand how that happened (i do not recall!!). Hopefully whatever way the DVDs used to output - my motherboard can do the same.

I did not find Toslink on desktop and receiver - not sure about optical and Coaxial - need to educate myself on these cables - i am used to Component/Composite/HDMI/Toslink. I do see the manual mentioning optical...need to understand what sort of cables it takes.

One suggestion from you and the gentlemen before you also suggested taking 5 seperate cables from desktop to receiver? let me understand that one better by looking at motherboard and receiver manuals.

Thanks again to you and Vishal for the suggestions!

This one is cheaper...works?

Robot Check

 

[arnprasad]

Yes you can get true 5.1 through analog audio out of motherboard. As RX-V357 have 6 ch in, you have to use 3x3.5mm to 2rca cable ( each for FL-FR, RL-RR, center- sub) and set audio to 5.1 in audio control software in pc.

Hi..when I went to the Asrock product page..it has below under rear panel Input/Output

"HD Audio Jacks: Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone " - so I take three 3.5mm to RCA to receiver? The colors are blue green and red..which one is front, sides and center and SW? Also the decoding takes place on desktop?

 

[vishal_k]

Hi..when I went to the Asrock product page..it has below under rear panel Input/Output

"HD Audio Jacks: Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone " - so I take three 3.5mm to RCA to receiver? The colors are blue green and red..which one is front, sides and center and SW? Also the decoding takes place on desktop?

View attachment 43143

Green- front out, Blue- rear out, Red- center & sub out. Generally its predefined but some audio softwares allow you to assign it according to you. just take care of the center & sub out, test it in lower volumes, if former doesn't work there's an option "swap center/sub". After proper connection change speaker config in audio manager to 5.1. For 7.1 you can use front audio out for additional 2 ch. And yes all the decoding takes place on desktop and depends upon the software you use for playback.

 

[arnprasad]

Green- front out, Blue- rear out, Red- center & sub out. Generally its predefined but some audio softwares allow you to assign it according to you. just take care of the center & sub out, test it in lower volumes, if former doesn't work there's an option "swap center/sub". After proper connection change speaker config in audio manager to 5.1. For 7.1 you can use front audio out for additional 2 ch. And yes all the decoding takes place on desktop and depends upon the software you use for playback.

View attachment 43145

Many thanks. Seems this is the easiest and cheapest one. will try it today since i have couple such cables lying around anyways

I was looking at Amazon and found this. today I checked the manual once again and also looked at my receiver carefully - it does have Toslink. Below seems to take USB from computers and gives Toslink out - however it only mentions stereo out...hence will not give 5.1 right?

Buy AmazonBasics Digital Optical Coax to Analog RCA Audio Converter Adapter with Fiber Cable Online at Low Prices in India - Amazon.in

Amazon.in: Buy AmazonBasics Digital Optical Coax to Analog RCA Audio Converter Adapter with Fiber Cable online at low price in India on Amazon.in. Check out AmazonBasics Digital Optical Coax to Analog RCA Audio Converter Adapter with Fiber Cable reviews, ratings, features, specifications and...

www.amazon.in

 

[vishal_k]

Many thanks. Seems this is the easiest and cheapest one. will try it today since i have couple such cables lying around anyways

I was looking at Amazon and found this. today I checked the manual once again and also looked at my receiver carefully - it does have Toslink. Below seems to take USB from computers and gives Toslink out - however it only mentions stereo out...hence will not give 5.1 right?

Buy AmazonBasics Digital Optical Coax to Analog RCA Audio Converter Adapter with Fiber Cable Online at Low Prices in India - Amazon.in

Amazon.in: Buy AmazonBasics Digital Optical Coax to Analog RCA Audio Converter Adapter with Fiber Cable online at low price in India on Amazon.in. Check out AmazonBasics Digital Optical Coax to Analog RCA Audio Converter Adapter with Fiber Cable reviews, ratings, features, specifications and...

www.amazon.in

Seems the converter gives only Stereo out. The one i suggested is only a basic configuration and may not give quality performance. for higher performance you have to use sound card as @MaSh suggested. Anyway its not your htpc/ primary playback source so you can use this method.

 

[arnprasad]

As long as I get discrete five channel as creators intended that is fine.. This is not ny main HT and it's a ten year old budget Yamaha HTIB and it's for kids.. As long as it's better than if falcon TV sound.. I am fine

 

[MaSh]

Sound card seems to be pretty expensive. A creative one I saw on Amazon was 13k....few more thousands - I can ask someone to get me an Atmos receiver from US. (which I anyways plan to do to replace my Pioneer 1020K at ground floor)

HDMI Extractor is around 3K - will explore it. Since DVD players used to output 5.1 to the receiver (with or without decoding) - let me understand how that happened (i do not recall!!). Hopefully whatever way the DVDs used to output - my motherboard can do the same.

I did not find Toslink on desktop and receiver - not sure about optical and Coaxial - need to educate myself on these cables - i am used to Component/Composite/HDMI/Toslink. I do see the manual mentioning optical...need to understand what sort of cables it takes.

One suggestion from you and the gentlemen before you also suggested taking 5 seperate cables from desktop to receiver? let me understand that one better by looking at motherboard and receiver manuals.

Thanks again to you and Vishal for the suggestions!

This one is cheaper...works?

Robot Check

13k? Which model did you see? You can get one from Asus for 5-6k.

I use a HDMI extractor in my setup, I could share the one I have, although I have not tested its 5.1 over optical/Toslink as I have switched to a Stereo setup. Needed it as all my sources are HDMI.

Toslink is the Optical connector. I think you are confusing between the two. Amazon Basics Optical Cable is what you need to use.

If you want to use the headphone outs from the motherboard you would need to use 3 cables like this Stereo to RCA to connect to the receiver's analog input.

I was looking at Amazon and found this. today I checked the manual once again and also looked at my receiver carefully - it does have Toslink. Below seems to take USB from computers and gives Toslink out - however it only mentions stereo out...hence will not give 5.1 right?

Buy AmazonBasics Digital Optical Coax to Analog RCA Audio Converter Adapter with Fiber Cable Online at Low Prices in India - Amazon.in

Amazon.in: Buy AmazonBasics Digital Optical Coax to Analog RCA Audio Converter Adapter with Fiber Cable online at low price in India on Amazon.in. Check out AmazonBasics Digital Optical Coax to Analog RCA Audio Converter Adapter with Fiber Cable reviews, ratings, features, specifications and...

www.amazon.in

Yes, this will give stereo only. For your requirement for the kids' usage, I feel the stereo to RCA should be the most cost-effective option.

MaSh

 

[arnprasad]

Many thanks to @MaSh and @vishal_k . I only have two speakers now. So I connected one 3.5 mm to RCA in the 6 channel input part of the receiver and it works well. I shall update this post once I get the rest of the speakers this weekend. Good night!

This is how it looks now. Shall set it up properly once I get proper front, center and sub.

 

[MaSh]

Many thanks to @MaSh and @vishal_k . I only have two speakers now. So I connected one 3.5 mm to RCA in the 6 channel input part of the receiver and it works well. I shall update this post once I get the rest of the speakers this weekend. Good night!

This is how it looks now. Shall set it up properly once I get proper front, center and sub.

Oh, that's wonderful. You could check all the outputs by switching the ports on the computer.

MaSh

 

[arnprasad]

Oh, that's wonderful. You could check all the outputs by switching the ports on the computer.

MaSh

Yeah will do. Was teaching my 13 year old how to set this up from scratch and at 11.30 PM he was starting to revolt

 

[spirovious]

Asrock motherboard may have digital /spdf out on board(not rear side).So another way is to get a cable or socket which will connected to spdf onboard pin and get DD/Dts 5.1 out.

SPDIF RCA Out Plate Bracket Cable : Amazon.in: Electronics

SPDIF RCA Out Plate Bracket Cable : Amazon.in: Electronics

www.amazon.in

 

[arnprasad]

Green- front out, Blue- rear out, Red- center & sub out. Generally its predefined but some audio softwares allow you to assign it according to you. just take care of the center & sub out, test it in lower volumes, if former doesn't work there's an option "swap center/sub". After proper connection change speaker config in audio manager to 5.1. For 7.1 you can use front audio out for additional 2 ch. And yes all the decoding takes place on desktop and depends upon the software you use for playback.

View attachment 43145

Hi..I finally managed to get all my speakers today. I noticed that on my first floor desktop there is no realtek audio manager. But I have AMD HD audio device manager.

If I compare to my ground floor desktop...when I right click on sound icon at botton right - it will show me various output devices, oneof which is my pioneer receiver and when i click on it - it will let me choose various speaker configuration and say i choose 5.1 - i can test each speaker where it sends sample signals.

However on my first floor desktop - when right click on sound icon - I dont get any realtek option ( I get on ground floor DT). So I installed realtek manager. Now I can see it under device manager but it still doesnt show when I right click sound settings. Also in device manager when I click on realtek it doesnt give me the screen that you pasted above to change speaker configuration. Also weirdly I dont see realtek under list programs..there is nothing under "R'. Also when I type realtek in the windows search bar nothing comes up. Posting few screenshots of what I see. Currently I am getting sound only from stereo. Where do I get the option to make it 5.1 pls? This works flawless in my ground floor HT setup for past ten years...am guessing because both audio and video flow through HDMI and hence there is no confusion. Here the audio does flow to my TV directly via HDMI. But I want to use the 6 channel input on my Yamaha via three separate 3.5 MM To RCA cables as described above.



(a)

 

[arnprasad]

seems I cannot post more than one photo in one post..hence this post. as you can see below there is nothing called realtek under programs

 

[arnprasad]

 

[arnprasad]

Sometimes I dont get any sound...it directly goes to TV..nothing from Yamaha and its speakers as below:

 

[vishal_k]

Hi..I finally managed to get all my speakers today. I noticed that on my first floor desktop there is no realtek audio manager. But I have AMD HD audio device manager.

If I compare to my ground floor desktop...when I right click on sound icon at botton right - it will show me various output devices, oneof which is my pioneer receiver and when i click on it - it will let me choose various speaker configuration and say i choose 5.1 - i can test each speaker where it sends sample signals.

However on my first floor desktop - when right click on sound icon - I dont get any realtek option ( I get on ground floor DT). So I installed realtek manager. Now I can see it under device manager but it still doesnt show when I right click sound settings. Also in device manager when I click on realtek it doesnt give me the screen that you pasted above to change speaker configuration. Also weirdly I dont see realtek under list programs..there is nothing under "R'. Also when I type realtek in the windows search bar nothing comes up. Posting few screenshots of what I see. Currently I am getting sound only from stereo. Where do I get the option to make it 5.1 pls? This works flawless in my ground floor HT setup for past ten years...am guessing because both audio and video flow through HDMI and hence there is no confusion. Here the audio does flow to my TV directly via HDMI. But I want to use the 6 channel input on my Yamaha via three separate 3.5 MM To RCA cables as described above.

View attachment 43921

(a)

Which version of Windows you are using also from where you downloaded realtek audio manager? Have you connected all the cables to the pc?

 

[arnprasad]

I have windows 10 home. It was active till last month. Now says its not activated. Not sure if that is what is driving few things not being visible to me.