Logitech Z906

Synyster66 · 22 Aug 2019 at 03:08

Hi there

Logitech Z906 surround system.
Okay I got theses instead of the Katana soundbar I was using and instaled them into my TV and 4K Blu-Ray via optical cables, I figured this would be okay but I dont sem to get 5.1 I can get front and rear using the 4.1 on the controller but I think it is just the same sound on the Blu Ray it seems to play better in that the rear spealers sound like they are in 5.1 mode in 3D on the controller but I am not so confident.

After some research it seemed a soundcard would improve the sound as they where mainly for watching my 4K films.

I have a Asus H110M-A/M.2 motherboard, i7 7700k, 8GB DDR4 memory and a PowerColor RX 580 8GB.

Now a few things come to me so hopefully I can get some very simplified Tech Help I saw this soundcard
Creative Sound Blaster Z High Performance Gaming Sound Card although out of stock on OC I can get it elsewhere also whilst asking about the sound card will the RX 508 run 4K films fine.

Thank you in advance for any help I can get.

EsaT · 22 Aug 2019 at 13:24

Sound card doesn't help any in getting 5.1 sound with separate Blu-Ray players.
You need to have Blu-Ray drive in PC using it as player for sound card to help.

But for games sound card with DD/DTS encoder gives 5.1 sounds over optical.

Marsman · 22 Aug 2019 at 16:30

A sound card shouldn't be needed at all though, if the motherboard has optical. Optical on any motherboard is fully capable in passing on Dolby Digital and/or DTS found on DVDs and BDs to external decoders. A sound card should not do that any better.

It's with games that a sound card would be needed to pass 5.1 Dolby/DTS onto the Z906 via optical, as majority of games do not have Dolby Digital or DTS audio.

I'm guessing the OP has a 4K Blu-Ray PC drive? and is not talking about a stand alone BD player. Also not sure where the optical cable has been installed. OP suggests TV? If that is correct, then I'm not surprised 5.1 is not working properly. The speakers need to be connected to the PC, not TV.

Synyster66 · 22 Aug 2019 at 19:20

Okay the 4K player is a standalone connected to the Z906 via optical the other optical is connected via the TV to the Z906 I am pretty sure my MOBO does not have optical The sound is better when I play 4K films but I have been looking for 5.1 sound hence swapping the Katana for the Z906 I figured connecting the optical from the TV to the Z906 would be okay as the sound comes through the Z906.

So 1 I am figuring I am not going to get 5.1, 2 nothing I do is going to change this.

And thanks for the help so far

Synyster66 · 26 Aug 2019 at 02:55

Quick update I have the Z906 connected from the Sub my extrenal 4k Player and it seems to play 5.1 as far as I can tell and have the same configuration with my TV and when watching 4K from Rakuten it seems to play okay as well its just the computer that is not running 5.1 I got 3 cables with the System cloured Green, Yellow and black but dont have that on my MOBO just pink, green and blue. So just get the same sound through all speakers on the PC.

Marsman · 26 Aug 2019 at 11:23

What motherboard do you have?

Some, probably most have at least 5.1, even if there is only the three audio sockets on the board. I know my old Gigabyte Ivybridge board does have 5.1, and that has just the three audio sockets. That's more than 6 years old now and is just a basic board.

At least for mine, it needs to be configured in the Realtek options and if using microphone as well, at least one of the front case audio sockets needs to be used as well. Using microphone in a front case socket would be easier and using Realtek's port configuration, you should be able to use all three motherboard audio sockets for 5.1.