X-Fi can't output 5.1 over optical for games!!

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Caporegime
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Rant coming up...

I've been trying to find a solution to the problem of getting a hi-fi setup for the PC involving:

X-Fi sound card [optical]-->AV receiver-->hi-fi speakers

I have in my research discovered that the X-Fi cannot produce 5.1 in games over the digital connections. I have also read that this is partly because PC games generally use EAX rather than Dolby Digital to create the surround effect.

Does this mean that, every time I want to switch between watching a DVD with Dolby Digital to a game utilising EAX, I will have to change the source from optical to analogue in the X-Fi control panel or something?

I find this fairly shocking but I don't know who to blame since although most PC games are developed for DD, why can't the 5.1 work over optical for games in any case?
 
So if I just use the analogue connections I will still get EAX in games and Dolby Digital 5.1 in movies and not have to fart about? I presumed that the optical offered a substantial improvement in quality over analogue, but if that's not the case, the only other issue is the number of cables going sound card to receiver.
 
Hen_Dawg said:
I understand your frustration but it was a simple fact to research before buying
Click to expand...

You are right on this point. It was because at time of purchase I never thought I'd bother with hi-fi sound on my PC.

Hen_Dawg said:
I think how necessary an optical connection is depends on how good your amp and speaker setup it is. If it's a logitech/creative PC 5.1 setup then you'd probably not tell
Click to expand...

If you read the first post in this thread you'll see that it's not a PC 5.1 setup. It will be a Denon 1507 receiver and Wharfedale 9.1 bookshelfs. Do you think this would merit changing over the connections for music and DVDs compared to games?
 
I've looked into this a bit more and what you gain by getting Dolby in games you often lose with effects such as EAX and headphone enhancements. As a result I'm just going to use analogue and switch manually to digital when I'm watching a film that I'm really concerned about.

For example, the first link you gave me - that card only supports EAX 2.0.

Many thanks for the idea though I really appreciate the help offered in this thread :).
 
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