could someone please explain this? totally lost.

jjmucker · 22 Dec 2012 at 00:59

My old rig, i had a gigabyte ud3r with the realtek drivers chipset. This allowed me to use dolby live and access Dolby digital for games either through my Tritton 5.1 headphones or through my dolby digital/DTS Yamaha amp.

Now i have a new rig, which has the gigabyte z77x d3h, which Ive just learned doesn't have Dolby live. Is it at all possible to again get Dolby digital through my games for when im playing them through my tritton headphones and/or my Yamaha amp?
With my old rig, my yamaha amp would simply switch from dolby pro logic to dolby digital when launching the games, as would the decoder box that came with my tritton headphones.
I'm using a Spdif connection which worked great with my old board.
OR, do i have to buy a sound card, if so do you haveany idea which ones i'd need for such a scenario.

Any help would be appreciated guys.

Marsman · 22 Dec 2012 at 12:48

If you motherboard does not have DDL, then you'll need to buy a sound card. Cheapest cards that have DDL are; the Xonar D1/X and Creative SB Z, OEM version.

jjmucker · 22 Dec 2012 at 15:06

Thanks. looked at the Asus Xonar D2/PM 7.1 PCI Soundcard, but what i need it to do and im not sure if its possible is have my tritton headphones connected to it via optical spdif, AND have my coaxial cable connected to it going to my yamaha amp so i can either watch movies/play games through my yamaha amp, but also switch to my tritton headphones to watch movies / play games

Marsman · 22 Dec 2012 at 18:38

You will need to get some kind of device if you want to connect both optical and coaxial at the same time. There is no sound card on sale with DDL that has both types of connection. Xonar D2/X has a coaxial connector that can also take mini toslink. You can only use one or the other though.

I know you can buy optical splitter/switches, but I don't know if you can buy them that output to both types of connection.

Kosmiche · 22 Dec 2012 at 18:48

Your tritton headphones should have come with a analog adapter so you can connect them to any non DDL sound source.

I know as I've owned two pairs of tritton headphones and they both came with this adapter.

jjmucker · 22 Dec 2012 at 19:32

I thought the asus would allow you to use either the headphones or amp, so if i were using the headphones then the amp wouldnt be on, and vice vera for the amp, i'd switch of the headphones, so this is simply not possible?

yes, the trittons come with a dolby digital box, but i dont have dolby digital live on my motherboard so i think this is the reason why i cant get dolby digital on games, likewise, i cant get dts movies through the headphones whereas i used to with my old rig through realtek drivers.
so i thought i could source a sound card that would allow me to do all this, surely there must be

jjmucker · 22 Dec 2012 at 19:35

there are the ones i have http://gamingshogun.com/tag/tritton-ax-pro/
I'll give a tenner to the first person who can source me a soundcard that allows me to switch between my headset spdif optical and my pc to yamaha amp with a coaxial cable that switch automatically depending on which source i use

Marsman · 23 Dec 2012 at 01:49

jjmucker said:
there are the ones i have http://gamingshogun.com/tag/tritton-ax-pro/
I'll give a tenner to the first person who can source me a soundcard that allows me to switch between my headset spdif optical and my pc to yamaha amp with a coaxial cable that switch automatically depending on which source i use

As I've already said; that isn't possible. You can only do this if the sound card has both optical and coaxial connections. I know some motherboards do, but no sound card has both. Not ones with Dolby Digital Live, anyway.

I thought the asus would allow you to use either the headphones or amp, so if i were using the headphones then the amp wouldnt be on, and vice vera for the amp, i'd switch of the headphones, so this is simply not possible?

It can, but the headphones would have to use the analogue 5.1 adaptor that Eames mentioned, and connect to the 5.1 analogue connections on the card.

The only way to have both optical and coaxial connected at the same time, and have both use Dolby Digital Live, would be with some kind of splitter/switcher. Would be a lot easier if you can use optical on the AV receiver, then you can just get an optical splitter/switcher. I don't know of any that have coaxial as well as optical.

jjmucker · 23 Dec 2012 at 14:52

thanks marsman. yeah my old motherboard had that as well as dolby digital live, i had the yamaha hooked up via coaxial and the headset hooked up via optical, as was good.

ive also decided to go the route you suggested and im hoping it works. i bought an optical switcher and will feed both my yamaha amp and my headset into that, and have the out going into my new sound card when i pick it up, which will be the xonar dx.
unless of course you can recommend a better card? although this one seems to do the trick and is getting great reviews, FAR better than the onboard sound

Marsman · 23 Dec 2012 at 17:03

Should work fine. The sound card will certainly provide DDL with whatever is connected to it, whether it be the AV receiver or headset. The switcher will allow both to be connected at once. All you have to do is switch over to whichever you want to use.

Xonar DX is a great buy. No need to spend any more on the D2X. DX and many other Xonar cards come with a little adaptor, in case you were wondering why it looks like it has no optical connection. Many a person has asked that. Just in case you don't know, the card uses a 3.5mm mini toslink connector. The included adaptor allows a standard toslink connector to be used.

You may wonder if the D2/X will provide better sound quality, being that it's a more expensive card. SPDIF transmits digital data, not actual sound. The digital data is converted into sound by the AV receiver, or the headset. All you need the sound card to do is encode the audio with Dolby Digital. Whether it's a motherboard, a £50 sound card, or a £140 one that does it, won't make any difference to the sound quality. It's digital data that is being sent.

When comparing the sound quality difference between sound cards, it's the analogue connections that need to be used. That way, the sound card is in charge of converting digital into analogue sound.

jjmucker · 23 Dec 2012 at 20:59

thanks man. so what your basically saying is i could use a
£30 sound card over spdif and a £300 sound card over spdif and i wouldnt hear a difference?
you see, im also a music and movie lover too with quite a good 5.1/dts/stereo setup so having the best possible sound is what im looking for too, without spending crazy money.