5.1 Sound over SPDIF to Z5500 Speakers

Yannic · 2 Mar 2010 at 19:05

Will Asus Xonar D1 7.1 PCI Sound Card do exactly what I want?

I just want a card that when I play L4D2 or CODMW2 will give me nice 5.1 through my Creative Z5500 speakers when I want to shoot stuff? Is it at all worth it? I mean is the regular 3 pin connectors just as good? Am I getting too fussy about wanting the card to use Dolby Live to encode the sound in to DTS or DD before sending out to the Speakers?

Iain

Yannic · 2 Mar 2010 at 19:33

i dont mind spending a bit more on the card if it is worth it (i.e. getting the more expensive, £90 card from asus.

Marsman · 2 Mar 2010 at 21:36

I am guessing you are using onboard sound then to connect the Z5500 to your PC?

What board do you have?

Yannic · 2 Mar 2010 at 21:48

currently a creative xfi gamer. It sounds ok but I wanted a card that can do 5.1 encodes using that Dolby Live while playing games.

Marsman · 2 Mar 2010 at 21:56

I see. You can buy software pack for all X-Fi cards, bar the Xtreme Audio, that will allow encoding with Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect. Can only be bought from USA Creative store site, so you can only use credit card.

RBL · 2 Mar 2010 at 22:15

Yannic said:
currently a creative xfi gamer. It sounds ok but I wanted a card that can do 5.1 encodes using that Dolby Live while playing games.

Marsman said:
I see. You can buy software pack for all X-Fi cards, bar the Xtreme Audio, that will allow encoding with Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect. Can only be bought from USA Creative store site, so you can only use credit card.

Yes, it costs 5$ and is well worth it. I bought it for my SB XFi Xtreme Gamer few weeks ago (connected through optical cable to home cinema amp) and I am very happy I did so.

Yannic · 3 Mar 2010 at 11:26

any chance you could provide me with a linky?

Yannic · 3 Mar 2010 at 11:27

oh 1 more thing, if I format the drive, is it just a simple small file that I have to run to enable this again?

RBL · 3 Mar 2010 at 19:44

Yannic said:
any chance you could provide me with a linky?

http://buy.soundblaster.com/_creati...ail&category=Software&pid=F2222DDN6Z2H2ADDEZD

You buy dolby digital pack and DTS one is free.

Yannic said:
oh 1 more thing, if I format the drive, is it just a simple small file that I have to run to enable this again?

It is a small update program you have to install but also you have to activate it with your serial number which you will get when you buy it.

UberTiger · 3 Mar 2010 at 19:53

So you need an x-fi card to use this? What benefit would that have over just getting the audio through the onboard chip and spdif out normally?

RBL · 3 Mar 2010 at 20:30

UberTiger said:
So you need an x-fi card to use this? What benefit would that have over just getting the audio through the onboard chip and spdif out normally?

I belive you won't be able to get DD or DTS through SPDIF from your mobo same as when using XFi, only stero. You can buy DD and DTS pack for XFi, I'm not sure you can buy one for your mobo. I could be very wrong though.

Marsman · 3 Mar 2010 at 20:48

Yes, you need an X-Fi to use that software pack. Any X-Fi bar the Xtreme Audio, which isn't really an X-Fi

SPDIF is stereo, unless the audio is encoded with Dolby Digital or DTS, then only stereo can be sent via SPDIF. If you have a motherboard with SPDIF connection, then the DD or DTS tracks contained on a DVD for eg, can be passed to an AV amp. Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect are both real time 5.1 audio encoders, without DDLive or DTSC, if you are playing a game or watching something that has no DD or DTS audio, then when it sent to the AV amp, it is stereo. The AV amp will then upmix the stereo to 5.1.

Some motherboards now have Dolby Theatre, which has Dolby Digital Live. If you had such a motherboard and an AV amp, then you will get true 5.1 when playing games, or if you are watching a video that has multi channel audio, but it is neither DD or DTS.

Since ATi released the 5xxx series GFX cards, which have onboard audio controllers, multi channel audio can be sent to an AV amp without the need for DD or DTS, as HDMI supports multi channel PCM, whereas SPDIF (optical & coaxial) PCM is only stereo.

RBL · 3 Mar 2010 at 20:53

Marsman said:
Since ATi released the 5xxx series GFX cards, which have onboard audio controllers, multi channel audio can be sent to an AV amp without the need for DD or DTS, as HDMI supports multi channel PCM, whereas SPDIF (optical & coaxial) PCM is only stereo.

So would I see any difference in sound if I connect my 5850 via HDMI to AV amp vs XFI + DD Live and DTS pack via SPDIF to AV amp?

UberTiger · 3 Mar 2010 at 21:38

Ahh, good info, thanks marsman.

Marsman · 3 Mar 2010 at 23:38

RBL said:
So would I see any difference in sound if I connect my 5850 via HDMI to AV amp vs XFI + DD Live and DTS pack via SPDIF to AV amp?

No, because the DAC (digital to analogue converter) in the AV amp will be doing the conversion. Whether the GFX sends the digital stream to the amp, or a sound card, or even SPDIF on a motherboard, will make no difference to the sound quality.

Yannic · 4 Mar 2010 at 02:00

it all seems madness to me that the most digital of forms of transmitting data with zero loss (spdif or coax) didn't from the start always send everything from your computer that wanted to output 5.1 in 5.1 to your speakers i.e. games, 5.1 video not encoded with dts or dd, or 5.1 sound tracks.

Thanks for the link to the file to buy from Creative, I guess ill buy that if I fancy changing out the 3 leads.

RBL · 4 Mar 2010 at 06:29

Marsman said:
No, because the DAC (digital to analogue converter) in the AV amp will be doing the conversion. Whether the GFX sends the digital stream to the amp, or a sound card, or even SPDIF on a motherboard, will make no difference to the sound quality.

Thanks for that