z-5500 and razer barracuda AC-1 Soundcard/HP-1 Headset

PESolution · 30 Jan 2007 at 16:16

Hey i recently purchased the Razer Barracuda Headset , Soundcard and the Logitech Z-5500 speakers.

What i need to know is where i can find an optical cable to hook up my soundcard to my speakers. I can't use the HDI port on the soundcard as that will be being used by the headphones. I've searched for hours for an optical cable but i can't seme to find anything. So if anybody knows where i can find an optical cable that will work my soundcard and speakers whilst my headset is plugged into the soundcard too i would appreciate it very much,

Thanks in advance

PESolution · 30 Jan 2007 at 16:56

any1 no where i can get these optical cables from?

taz488 · 31 Jan 2007 at 15:30

im not much help but i hear people arnt keen on that soundcard, you might do well trading it for an x-fi.

Kinitawawi · 31 Jan 2007 at 18:03

I hear its a great sound card, a tad expensive though. Its the same as if not better than a X-fi in most areas. Only draw backs is its I/O options, limiting you to optical and the HDI.

Just look around for a TOS link cable. I think thats what their called.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=703&catid=888

Check out this page near the bottom.

PESolution · 31 Jan 2007 at 21:40

tyvm

taz488 · 31 Jan 2007 at 21:46

well, maybe i got a wrong impression! but yea gotta admit its a bit pricey, but same as all razor products.

g00dsh0t · 8 Feb 2007 at 04:17

hi m8 , thats the same set up as me.

i leave my hp-1s connected all the time and just switch them on when its late(sometimes)
just use a normal optical toslink cable to connect to the logitech z-5500 and use DTS Interactive for gaming(CoD2 sounds the nads)
a lot of people say get the x-fi...... but have you seen creatives forums :eek:

...no chance, even most of the sound card problems on ocuk forums are x-fi related(ie . bloated software,bad drivers,bsod,etc..)
money was no object when i chose the razor ac-1 ,i could have bought the elite pro if i wanted , but as above , their forums are full of dissatified customers.
(ps im also a hi-fi buff with £2500+ cd/amp/speakers in front of me so i know if it sound good!....also i just upgraded the speakers in the logitech Z-5500 to jbl control 1s all round and it sounds very open and more detailed than before)
toslink cable= http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-174-BE
c ya

willhub · 10 Feb 2007 at 00:49

Aint the JBL speakers taking too much power for the Z5500 amp, or do you just keep them at low levels?

Rofflay · 11 Feb 2007 at 13:16

funny that setup its the one im planning on having, got 2 sets of Z-5500 here love em to bits

2 things tho

1 the soundcard gives around -5fps in games im told tho i can live with that for dts in games i rthink tho im not happy losing performance.

2 the headset is flimsy and breaks easily?

id love some advice from u guys who are using them its a lot to go out £200 for a sound setup but i like my quality surround sound.

just how good does it sound and the headphones they are 5.1 too right? with dts through them is it like mini z-5500's in your ear drums?

and finally vista how is dts and the headset gonna work in vista.

i know they are working in drivers but has anyone said if it will sound good,offer same surround sound support,and driver support.

persuade me :/

1337z0r · 11 Feb 2007 at 14:25

The headset will only break if you try and break it. Just dont leave the wires in a stressed position and the Sound bit where you change the volumes on your desk.

willhub · 12 Feb 2007 at 00:44

Rofflay said:
and finally vista how is dts and the headset gonna work in vista.

i know they are working in drivers but has anyone said if it will sound good,offer same surround sound support,and driver support.

persuade me :/

What soundcard do you have?

If you have something like the X-Fi with the front I/O panel, you can use Optical or Coax and let the Z5500/s decode DD5.1 or DTS, you just need some software that supports it thought like Cyberlink Power DVD.

Also games dont have DTS.

Rofflay · 12 Feb 2007 at 08:00

im using onboard atm with the z-5500, u picked me up wrong there.

games do have dts if u stream dts interactive to the speakers while in a game it will be eoncoded to dts.

will all this work in vista tho thats the thing

im aware of dts with the xi-fi but i wanted everything encoded to dts

willhub · 13 Feb 2007 at 01:38

Eeverything cant be encoded to DTS, you can have DTS for Windows sounds lol.

So currently i am using Optical from my Z5500's to the PC, why when i play games like BF 2142 or Oblivion do i not get DTS?, i dont sea any options too.

From what i have seen, most games are just true 5.1, even with my crappy intergrated realtek AC97 it was true 5.1 in games when playing something like GTA SA, all car noises and vocals just in center etc..

I am currently running Vista Ultimate, Coax and Optical outputs work, there is no EAX though and some of the other inputs and outputs on the front I/O box dont work such as Auxiliry 2.

g00dsh0t · 13 Feb 2007 at 02:36

willhub said:
Eeverything cant be encoded to DTS, you can have DTS for Windows sounds lol.

So currently i am using Optical from my Z5500's to the PC, why when i play games like BF 2142 or Oblivion do i not get DTS?, i dont sea any options too.

From what i have seen, most games are just true 5.1, even with my crappy intergrated realtek AC97 it was true 5.1 in games when playing something like GTA SA, all car noises and vocals just in center etc..

I am currently running Vista Ultimate, Coax and Optical outputs work, there is no EAX though and some of the other inputs and outputs on the front I/O box dont work such as Auxiliry 2.

What soundcard have you got?
I get dts with every sound that leaves my pc, ie bf2,bf2sf,cod,cod2,coduo,jet audio, ots cd scratch 1200(awsome software,you can mix 2 songs off the same cd!+ best audio quality ive heard for playing a cd on pc

)
proof...

g00dsh0t · 13 Feb 2007 at 03:12

willhub said:
Aint the JBL speakers taking too much power for the Z5500 amp, or do you just keep them at low levels?

not at all mate, you can drive control 1s with any amplifier,they are known for it.thats why you see them in a lot of bars/clubs/sound monitoring etc.(my old man is in the sound+lighting game)
i have them loud when i game,so i can hear n00bs lol

ps. with the sound a bit more detailed(lot more mid/treble than the originals) ive had to turn the sub up a fraction to get a fuller sound....im sure you know what i mean...anyway c ya m8

willhub · 13 Feb 2007 at 12:00

g00dsh0t said:
not at all mate, you can drive control 1s with any amplifier,they are known for it.thats why you see them in a lot of bars/clubs/sound monitoring etc.(my old man is in the sound+lighting game)
i have them loud when i game,so i can hear n00bs lol
ps. with the sound a bit more detailed(lot more mid/treble than the originals) ive had to turn the sub up a fraction to get a fuller sound....im sure you know what i mean...anyway c ya m8

Those control 1's seem to be good, abit expensive for me atm

, might concider some later on this year, do the control 1's increase the amount of bass coming from the z5500 system them seen as its 4" driver and bigger enclosure so possibly more bass?

g00dsh0t said:
What soundcard have you got?
I get dts with every sound that leaves my pc, ie bf2,bf2sf,cod,cod2,coduo,jet audio, ots cd scratch 1200(awsome software,you can mix 2 songs off the same cd!+ best audio quality ive heard for playing a cd on pc )
proof...

Oh wow thats awsome, how exatly do you enable DTS like this in games, when i go into games using Optical it just is on PLII Movie :s

Ohh, its only with certain games aint it? lust looked on google, found an article "2 more EA games to intergrated DTS"

squiffy · 13 Feb 2007 at 12:08

g00dsh0t said:
What soundcard have you got?
I get dts with every sound that leaves my pc, ie bf2,bf2sf,cod,cod2,coduo,jet audio, ots cd scratch 1200(awsome software,you can mix 2 songs off the same cd!+ best audio quality ive heard for playing a cd on pc )
proof...

That's pseudo DTS, in fact it will sound worse than original sound than using a DSP at the end of the chain. Your system has more processing.

Yours
Source (lossless/lossy)---->DTS transcoding---->DTS decoding

Standard
Source (lossless/lossy)---->stereo, or DSP.

That's if you're playing non DTS material, and not a DVD with DTS.

Rofflay · 13 Feb 2007 at 12:38

ok here is how my old nforce audio worked the really good one what u call it hmm soundstorm.

dts should work the same set ** sound to dts yea using optical cable hit effect button on yuor remote and u should see dts?

im getitng confused now as well can someone with the razer card verify u can do that and get dts live in games?

and can u do it in vista

willhub · 13 Feb 2007 at 12:53

It seems like its in Drivers with these Razor cards, and if so, porberbly wont be able to be done in Vista due to the fact that Drivers are preety limited and still in Beta stages.

On the Z5500, when you press Effect, there is no DD5.1 or DTS, these options automatically get selected when a DD5.1 or DTS bitstream is been sent to the Z5500's Control Pod.

squiffy said:
That's pseudo DTS, in fact it will sound worse than original sound than using a DSP at the end of the chain. Your system has more processing.

Yours
Source (lossless/lossy)---->DTS transcoding---->DTS decoding

Standard
Source (lossless/lossy)---->stereo, or DSP.

That's if you're playing non DTS material, and not a DVD with DTS.

Squiffy, i am abit confused by that, with Movies, aint a raw encoded DTS Bitstream sent to the Amp/Decoder, then the Decoder actually Decodes the Raw DTS stream and sends it to the speakers?

So what is this DTS doing in games?, if it says DTS on the Z5500 Control Pod, this means the actual Control Pod is decoding DTS.

squiffy · 13 Feb 2007 at 13:45

Squiffy, i am abit confused by that, with Movies, aint a raw encoded DTS Bitstream sent to the Amp/Decoder, then the Decoder actually Decodes the Raw DTS stream and sends it to the speakers? So what is this DTS doing in games?, if it says DTS on the Z5500 Control Pod, this means the actual Control Pod is decoding DTS.

For all sound streams you want to leave it alone, to the speakers themselves. When playing back a CD your (digital) speakers or av amp should receive a 2 channel PCM 44khz bitstream. And when playing AC-3 soundtrack, speakers recieve AC-3 48khz, with the same number of channels ie 3/2. You don't want to upsample a mono DD audio track to 5.1. Same for DTS, speakers receive DTS.

You don't want the soundcard to transcode in realtime to another format, just because you think it'll sound better. ie PCM to DTS transcoding on the fly.

I don't know why your speakers are receiving DTS in games, surely it'll just be stereo /4/5 channel whatever the game uses? afaik games don't have multi-channel discrete soundtracks ie DD or DTS, although a few do.