Surround sound on PC

wildest_jjk · 17 Oct 2014 at 21:25

Hi guys,

So I was hoping to clear up a bit of confusion as I cannot seem to find a straight answer anywhere.

Basically I have just purchased the new Astro A40's with Mixamp Pro to work with my 360/One when I purchase. However ideally I would also like it working with my PC. The one thing that is confusing me is whether or not I will actually be getting virtual surround sound as soon as I connect up the mixamp?

Having spoken to Astro one of their support guys basically said that I need a sound card that supports Dolby Digital Live. Now I have onboard sound with an optical port as well surely that is all I need? I think the mixamp would do all the necessary processing but I'm not certain. One thing I have seen is that you only need to have the onboard sound etc running as stereo as the mixamp provides the virtual surround sound anyway.

Any help will be greatly appreciated as I have no idea at the moment!

Thanks

shankly1985 · 17 Oct 2014 at 21:32

Yeah that's correct. Pc games only send stereo over optical cable. You need a sound card with dolby live that will encode the game on the fly, send to your system and be decoded for play back.

wildest_jjk · 17 Oct 2014 at 21:34

Thanks for the response again pal.

So the mixamp can't provide this functionality?

Uriel · 17 Oct 2014 at 22:19

No it can't. Optical is natively stereo. You need a sound device to encode to Dolby Digital Live to get 5.1 over optical that the Mixamp can decode. A few motherboards can output dolby digital live but it yours doesn't then you'll need a soundcard that can do it.

If you have DVD playback software that can pass through the signal, you will be able to play DVDs with 5.1 with the mixamp but that's because Dolby 5.1 is pre-encoded on the DVD.

wildest_jjk · 17 Oct 2014 at 22:50

Thanks for the response.

So if I need a sound card either way it sounds like there is no point in even connecting the mixamp to the PC? Would you say that is correct?

How do I find out if my onboard sound supports Dolby?

Thanks

Marsman · 17 Oct 2014 at 23:19

What motherboard do you have?

wildest_jjk · 17 Oct 2014 at 23:22

MSI P67A-GD65

wildest_jjk · 18 Oct 2014 at 11:18

Anyone?

Thanks!

shankly1985 · 18 Oct 2014 at 12:16

Hello again

your motherboard don't support dolby live. So I would say sound card time.

Marsman · 18 Oct 2014 at 12:17

Sorry, forgot to check back.

That board doesn't, at least it hasn't been enabled by MSI. Many onboard audio codecs might be capable though, but have had the features disabled by the board manufacturer. Generally DTSC and DDL are only found (enabled) on high end boards. There is possibly a list of which onboard audio codecs support DTSC and DDL.

Have a look at this post. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=26958883&postcount=1

wildest_jjk · 18 Oct 2014 at 13:09

Thanks again for the responses.

So can my Mobo support it with that software or something? Or is mine never compatible with it?

wildest_jjk · 18 Oct 2014 at 13:16

You know what, I'm just going to get a sound card. These kind of problems keep happening and I'm kind of sick of it lol.

Which one would you guys recommend? I obviously want 5.1 surround sound (not sure if its virtual or not?), also would like the stereo mix option.

Thanks

wildest_jjk · 18 Oct 2014 at 13:34

Ok another post now, this is getting really confusing.

My motherboard uses the ALC892 codec, some people are saying this is just as good as the low-end Asus sound cards. I'm not sure how true that is but then I came across this:

Yes, if you are watching a DVD or Bluray that is already encoded in Dolby Digital 5.1 / EX then it will pass this through the optical SPDIF cable to a receiver or your headphones.

However, like mindbomb up above says if the content is not pre-encoded then you will need a real time encoding like DTS Connect or Dolby Digital Live.

So surely that means that as long as the games I am playing are encoded in Dolby Digital then it won't matter?

Is there any other way to make my onboard sound support Dolby Digital Live?

I really wish I understood this type of thing more but I think what's making it more confusing for me is the use of a the mixamp.

Thanks

shankly1985 · 18 Oct 2014 at 13:34

wildest_jjk said:
You know what, I'm just going to get a sound card. These kind of problems keep happening and I'm kind of sick of it lol.

Which one would you guys recommend? I obviously want 5.1 surround sound (not sure if its virtual or not?), also would like the stereo mix option.

Thanks

Whats your budget? Does your system support both DTS and Dobly Live or Just Dolby?

If it supports DTS the Asus xonar DS or DSX is a very nice card for its price only supports DTS though.
Next would be Asus Xonar D2X what I am using this supports both..

shankly1985 · 18 Oct 2014 at 13:37

wildest_jjk said:
Ok another post now, this is getting really confusing.

My motherboard uses the ALC892 codec, some people are saying this is just as good as the low-end Asus sound cards. I'm not sure how true that is but then I came across this:

So surely that means that as long as the games I am playing are encoded in Dolby Digital then it won't matter?

Is there any other way to make my onboard sound support Dolby Digital Live?

I really wish I understood this type of thing more but I think what's making it more confusing for me is the use of a the mixamp.

Thanks

Your Onboard can send over a Dobly Digital sound only if the sound is already encoded in the content. For example a DVD will already have the Dolby sound and it will just pass it over the Optical cable.

PC games dont use Dolby, so for a PC game to use Dolby or DTS you need hardware that can Encode on the fly and send over Optical cable the 5.1 audio to your sound system what will the Decode and play it back.

wildest_jjk · 18 Oct 2014 at 13:40

Thanks again this is a making a bit more sense!

Budget I'm not really sure I mean I've just spent £200 on the Astro's lol. This is what annoys me about the fact it's not very clear. I had no idea that my sound card has to support it as well as I always though that the mixamp did that!

I will take a look at the ones you have suggested now.

Thanks mate

wildest_jjk · 18 Oct 2014 at 13:46

This might be stupid but would something like this work:

http://software.store.creative.com/software/dolby-digital-live-and-dts-connect-pack/106-18034.aspx

shankly1985 · 18 Oct 2014 at 13:53

wildest_jjk said:
This might be stupid but would something like this work:

http://software.store.creative.com/software/dolby-digital-live-and-dts-connect-pack/106-18034.aspx

That only works with there sound cards. I believe

wildest_jjk · 18 Oct 2014 at 13:55

This is a mess! What would be ideal is a single device (amp/external sound card etc) that I can connect my consoles and PC into. That way I wouldn't need to buy both a mixamp and sound card. Does anyone know if this is possible?

Thanks

shankly1985 · 18 Oct 2014 at 14:08

wildest_jjk said:
This is a mess! What would be ideal is a single device (amp/external sound card etc) that I can connect my consoles and PC into. That way I wouldn't need to buy both a mixamp and sound card. Does anyone know if this is possible?

Thanks

What amp do you have? you shouldn't need the mixamp..

You could have PC with sound card, connected to amp by optical
If your amp supports more then one optical in you could then have other devices connected like PS4 etc