Choosing the right external sound card for dolby compatible receiver (1 Viewer)

[inckka]

I'm playing the media (CD, DVD, BR, mkv, etc) on my Laptop and I'm looking for get the 100% pure 5.1 channel audio without any barriers from my Laptop to Home theater receiver. My home theater receiver does the 5.1 Dolby decoding for me. However its only got a S/PDIF optical and coaxial input.


After some research I've found several sound interfaces (external sound cards) Which promise to have various mind blowing technologies, Like HD sound, True HD, etc. And higher bit rates (24Abits), Higher sample rates (32KHz, 40KHz, 44KHz, 48KHz, 192kHz, etc) And the Prices are vary depend on Brand name to features.

Example Findings:

http://goo.gl/sziznR

http://goo.gl/x2ZQjh


Since my only requirement is to get my Laptop digital audio to the home theater receiver:

1. Should I worry about sample rates and bit depths?
2. Should I worry about those hardware's inbuilt technologies like, Dolby decoding on that hardware?
3. My home theater does decode only 5.1 Dolby. So if I'm looking to play medias which encoded in Dolby True HD, THX, DTS, Can I use this particular encoding supported sound and direct the digital output to my home theater?
4. Should I worry about these capabilities which above sound cards have at all? 5.Except the durability and the trustworthiness, should I worry about the brand names? Can I go with a Chinese NONAME cheap sound card?

P.S: I'm more eager to know about the technology behind this than having a list of brand names

 

[schan1269]

Toslink/coax doesn't carry lossless audio, so there is no point getting a "HD sound capable" card.

What "home theater receiver" do you have that doesn't support DTS?

Is this actually a HTiB?