The soundbar doesn't really do surround sound - it has just some filters and spatialisation effects. As such, feeding it already modified sound will make things worse. So just optical if you can, or just USB then.

And again, you seem to have a two dacs/soundcards handling your current sound in your setup - the internal soundcard and the one on your headset. That can't be good.

It's like making beer, sequentially. First batch you use fresh water to make some tasty lager. But then you decide to turn that lager into ale. But it was already beer, why mess with it and over-process it? And wouldn't it taste horrible and no longer be discernible as either lager or ale?

Eh? If the headset has both input options, the audio jack will bypass the headset DAC entirely and just hook up the drivers to the incoming analogue audio source (the soundcard in this case). The DAC is only hit when you plug it via USB. Otherwise, yes, there would be all sorts of issues, but this situation is addressed by design.

Between giveaways, soundbars and generously donating hardware, I hope your funds will not be entirely depleted :).

Is it not just a USB gaming headset? Or are there other inputs? If it has a 3.5mm jack then sure, it's like that. But if it's only USB like so many headsets, then I'm not surprised OP had issues with the setup.

edit: wait. even if the headset was only USB, he wouldn't be able to connect it to the USB dac anyways right? there's no USB output on those things.

Yes, exactly.

I took a look at the soundbar and if I were you I wouldn't buy a sound card initially.
First off is an OK one, being a sound bar it comes equipped with ARC HDMI wich is very convenient since you can use the audio section on your own GPU which these days are definitely very decent.
That's my advice I have my 5.1 receiver hooked up to my GPU via HDMI and the audio quality is definitely better than the integrated one.
There are several ways to connect your GPU to your soundbar/receiver and HDMI is made for high definition, multichannel audio.

I still dont't have clear if you actually own a sound card or not.

Try first the HDMI and then if, for any reason, you are not OK with that buy whatever piece of hardware and cables you think suit your needs, you don't need to waste money.

Exactly: it's already there and unless you have specific needs or audio equipment the HDMI audio makes really sense because it's all dgital up to your soundbar or receiver and only there is converted to analog.

Word of warning if you're considering ARC though, your mileage may vary in terms of actually getting various HDMI cables to work in these kind of configurations. But yes, it makes sense if it works, since it's also a digital path.

Well lets see what happens, i did find a spare hdmi cable, since i currently use display port so lets see what happens when the thing arrives and.... of course i will be testing the various possibilities before i decide to remove hardware ... the nvidia option does sound exciting though, not sure why exactly but it feels like this should provide the best combination ;-)

Update

Present arrived late last night, just installed the whole package

as expected by some, the hdmi solution would not work with connecting the card to the gpu, i'm unsure if this is a driver thing or a cable thing

the aux solution works quite well, together with the creative soundpanel i have loads of options of configuring the sound, with virtual surround gimmicks etc

The sound quality is more then oke, all in all this provides a better listening experience then creative T20 speakerset i used before

I'm still searching for gaming settings, on default everything is quite oke but .. i loose some base ( with a 42 cm heigh subwoofer !! ) which is searching for the right settings i presume

All in all a great present

I will still be using the headset for adventure games, virtual surround from the soundbar or through a headset is certainly not comparable
for the audio experience for games that are know for their atmospherics, such as the total war series this speaker is a great addition, also for listening to music and maybe for watching some triple a netflix series. I think i maybe want to test it on the telly in the living room to to see how and why but... with the moving of all the stuff that seems a less likely possibility .... but maybe will help me choose another soundbar idea for that setup

The only negative points are

- the tweaking of sound takes quite some time
- the creative soundcard does not provide a soundbar setup option, only offering desktop, bookshelf or tower sound configurations ( i will be mailing them later on today ) ( yes i have 2 days off wkend started as off today !! \o/ )
- At least in one game, galactic civilizations III , the ingame music plays with a lot of background noise

- oh, and i ordered an optics cable since the dedicated sound card does offer an optical connection to see if that will make any difference

How did you connect the GPU to the soundbar? Is the GPU audio activated in the control panel/driver? Have you tried to hook everything up, switch the soundbar on and then the PC?

Yes, when it comes to HDMI, not only does both ends need to support the same/correct protocol and specifications, in many cases the cable also must be certified/designed for it. Many HDMI cables just don't work on everything either... The specification for the mamaboard/GPU/TV/external hub (etc) would tell you if they even can.

And if they do, sometimes you need to force it to use HDMI as the default, deactivate the others for it to work, and restart the service (windows audio) or re-inplug the cable (Windows does sometimes auto selects wrong).

Never did catch what you meant by auxiliary (as it's a relatively ambiguous term), I'm assuming you mean the 3.5 analogue connection back on the mamaboard/AE-5, right?

Today most people don't hear any difference, and will not make much difference unless it properly supports x.x surround all the way to a 5.x/7.x receiver/home system (if you want that kind of thing). You need to check the mamaboards/cards specifications for that, not everyone does that (and last time I checked, sources like Netflix f.ex. don't support surround either, or will down-grade pretty fast, like they do with the quality on the video). (Even so, you're pretty limited to one specification as they cost a lot to to license).

Personally, I think the speakers are more important. Better to have good 2.0/2.1 setup than a half-baked cheap surround system that you will almost never fully utilize (cost more also when one build it properly).

I'm a stereo only kind of guy with my 2.0 3-way Edifier studio speakers, either via the analogue out from the TV (from HDMI) or bt. Never saw the appeal of "surround", but then again, I'm more of a music- than movie- kind of enthusiast :)

Have to say, that AE-5 card look really nice, actually.

Enjoy your weekend!

I first tried connecting with a HDMI cable, which did not work, the soundbar never appeared as a valid sound option, i might have to use another device before i can connect through nvidia digital sound since my monitor does appear in the legend.

After that i used the supplied aux 3,5 mm cable to connect to the dedicated soundcard, which worked quite well.

I will be trying to use it on the telly too with a hdmi cable, but that will be somewhat later on.
Yes i meant the analogue connection. ;) the display on the soundbar just names it aux , i'm simple person :)

and wow, those are some nice speakers !

A new setup picture....


Next steps include the placement of some planks, black to provide some extra storage room above the p.c., mainly for some books

Daft black holders to replace the wooden egg who knows what the word is in english holders that hold the soundbar in the air and some cable management bin i can place underneath the desk surface

Hoping to be finished by the summer ;) @sundaymadness.....

Unless you have a really crappy cable uncapable of doing 1080P-60Hz anything else should be good enough for high definition multi channel audio, remember that HDMI is backward compatible, we are talking about audio.
If your monitor was connected via HDMI you could do a simple check by swapping them and see if the other one works with your monitor.

If you have your monitor connected to your display port and the soundbar connected to your HDMI you should be good, probably your GPU audio is either not enabled in the driver, control panel or is not the default audio device and your sound card most probably is.

Try to bring up the control panel, click Hardware and sound, Device management, check if you GPU's audio is listed among the devices and/or is not disabled, you should find it under Sound, video and game controllers, AMD's one is called AMD High Definition Audio Device, don't know what nvdia's is.

If is listed and enabled close the Device manager then click on Audio and see if the GPU audio device is listed in there and is the default audio device, if not make it default, then you can configure it by right clicking it.

aha, that is what you meant...

well, lets check it out...i should come a long way with this explanation

i still have a bagged hdmi cable supplied with the monitor lying around too, i will start with switching cables first and work from there