X-fi sound card problem

JasonKnights · 27 Feb 2011 at 13:43

Hi there. I run my setup through a sony 5.1 surround system. I was using onboard sound device but optical out, I couldn't get my sound to come through in 5.1 so I went and bought a creative x-fi titanium 7.1 pci express sound card thinking this will use its hardware decoder to send everything out in 5.1 but it sends through 2.1? And I end up just using dolby pro logic 2 on the Sony amp. I've been through all the setting and just don't know what to do .

Marsman · 27 Feb 2011 at 15:53

What are you using the 5.1 sound from? Games? If so, SPDIF is only stereo. Dolby Digital or DTS is used to encode the audio, so multi channel audio can be sent via SPDIF. Without it, you will only get stereo. DVD's etc, have DD/DTS encoded tracks, which would be passed on to the external AV receiver, or similar, to be decoded. The majority of games however do not have Dolby or DTS, so the audio needs to be encoded with real time 5.1 encoders, Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect. That way the audio can be sent out as 5.1.

The Titanium you have has these features. So I'm guessing one of them has not been enabled or set up correctly.

JasonKnights · 27 Feb 2011 at 16:21

Hi thanks for the response, I have enabled the dts connect and Dolby live, but then no sound comes out at all? And when i got to windows media player an error message comes on, The only way it works is if i just go to spdif and tick the box, downsample for 2 channel audio, i mainly use it for games yes , but the games in question all have the option for 5.1 , I thought that when the game comes on it would say Dolby digital , just says linear PCM and come through 2.0. Sorry if i sound silly I have messed with it for hours without any luck!

Marsman · 27 Feb 2011 at 18:57

You can't use both DTSC and DD at the same time. That's like trying to convert a song to both MP3 and FLAC, can't be done, only one or the other. Whether or not that's the problem though, I don't know. You certainly will have to disable one, and go from there.

JasonKnights · 27 Feb 2011 at 19:35

Lol, you can't enable both at same time, I'll download a manual and see what it recommends

I just meant I'd tried both settings yet no sound, net it's something simple