5.1 Surround System and optical will it work?

L15T3R

L15T3R

L15T3R

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Hi i have a 7.1 surround sound home cinema system, im currently waiting on a new mobo P8P67 deluxe which has an optical out on the I/O's. If i buy an optical cable and put it in my cinema system and also my mobo will it support up to 5.1 surround sound? Or can optical not support this?
Would i get a better sounds experience with a sound card or is the audio in the mobo sufficient?

Thanks L15T3R
 
I'm not sure if SPDIF (optical/coaxial) does support 7.1. I thought it didn't, but they are people who say it does. Then you get people who say it doesn't. :confused:

I thought 6.1 was the max SPDIF could support. Could be wrong though.

As for sound quality, there will be no difference. Sound quality comes into play, when analogue connection is used, whether it be speakers, or headphones. The benefit of a better sound card, is when the sound card is converting the digital data into analogue sound. By using SPDIF, you are transferring digital data to your receiver, to decode and convert into sound.

If you get a graphic card, that supports audio over HDMI, then that would be the best way to send 7.1 to your receiver, assuming it has HDMI connections.
 
Thanks for the quick reply and help, well i only need it to support 5.1 as i don't think i will be using 7.1 in many games anyway.
I know that through hdmi i do get 7.1 surround the only problem is that i have a tv and then 2 monitors and only one hdmi out from the home surround so my PS3 uses this to the tv through HDMI as i watch a lot of movies. So i would have to switch the hdmi from the tv to my monitor and i wouldn't be able to use both my ps3 and comp at the same time.
I use a audio jack atm which is decent but i don't get the full 5.1 surround from it so was hoping that optical could be a small upgrade for better sound and it means i can use both my ps3 and pc at the same time.
Another option would be to get an hdmi splitter from the hdmi out of my home surround and put one to the monitor and one to the tv but that means i can't use my ps3 and pc at the same time again and they aren't so reliable.
Thanks L15T3R
 
Ah ok. I see you did put 5.1 in your OP. I thought you might have been questioning if it would only support 5.1, and not 7.1.

You will have no problem getting 5.1 from any motherboard with SPDIF connection. In this case, optical. But it does depend on what you want to get 5.1 from. I see you have mentioned games, which will be a problem.

Getting 5.1 from DVD's or media with 5.1 Dolby or DTS tracks is not a problem. The software playing the media should pass on the 5.1 track to the receiver, to decode.

Getting 5.1 from PC games, is different though. DVD's for eg, come with a 5.1 Dolby/DTS track. Games, the majority of them at least, do not support Dolby or DTS. So a real time 5.1 encoder is required to encode the sound into Dolby, or DTS, so it can be passed via SPDIF, to the receiver to decode.

Some motherboards have these features, but it tends to be the more expensive higher end boards. That means buying a sound card with either DTS Connect, or Dolby Digital Live.

Cheapest sound card that has this capability, is the Xonar DS. It has DTS Connect. If you want Dolby, then the cheapest would be the Xonar D1/X.

Xonar D2/X and X-Fi Titanium have both.
 
Thank you soo much for your help, yeah i would really love games to work on the PS3 it's quite the experience on 7.1 and im sure 5.1 on PC is even better due to the graphics being so much better.
I just bought a P8P67 Deluxe Rev3 which is the highest end P67 Asus board i think, so it may be capable but if it's not i will defiantly be investing in something like the Xonar D2/X will just top off pc gaming for me!
Again thanks for your help!
L15T3R
 
No bother at all. :)

All the Xonar cards have optical connection, save maybe the HDAV cards. They have 3.5mm mini toslink sockets, and come with adaptors so a normal toslink cable can be used. Only the DG has a standard toslink socket.

A lot of people are confused by the lack of a standard optical connection. Seems a lot don't know about mini toslink.

DG is no use to you. It has no real time 5.1 encoding capabilities. DS is the card you want, if you are not wanting to spend too much. As long as your receiver can decode DTS, which I'm sure it can.

Just connect your standard toslink cable to the included adaptor, then plug it into the card, and you're good to go, once you have enabled DTS Connect in the Xonar control panel.
 
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Haha thanks for you help my friend! You've really helped me out here I will then get a DS and yes my reciver supports DTS I was wondering how it could share a different type of socket without an adapter of some sort but seeing as its included I'm good to go!
Again thanks for all the help!
L15T3R
 
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