Xonar D2X and Yamaha 7.1 receiver issue

Nacsit · 13 Feb 2012 at 00:25

Hi guys.
Recently I bought Yamaha AX 795SE AV receiver and I've been trying to get true 7.1 sound in games (I know that all Steam games support 8 channel audio). The only thing i can get is Dolby digital live or dts interactive stream with DD EX/Matrix on the rears. But that's more like 5.1 with fake rear channel. I connected my Xonar card with AV with RCA connections and rear channels won't work. I've been through card and windows sound settings many times, I tried everything and still no results. Can anybody got this kind of issue? Is it AV receiver problem or something with the card? I must say I had plethora of drivers problems on Win 7 64. Maybe that's one of them.
:confused:

Thanks
Ps. Sry for my bad english

Marsman · 13 Feb 2012 at 01:05

Dolby Digital and DTS don't support 7.1, only 5.1/6.1.

The only way to get true 7.1, is to use analogue connection to your AV receiver, if it has it. Although, it appears you have already tried that.

Did you have the output set to 8 channels, and 7.1, in the Xonar CP?

Nacsit · 13 Feb 2012 at 07:13

Yes. That's the problem. I used analog connections. Set up 8 channels. Unticked any digital connection and still nothing.
In my understanding my sound card should pass 8 channel audio (if source media allow to) to AV receiver (which is 7.1) and then I should get full "immersive" sound (like in games). But still I'm missing sound from rear speakers. When tested in sound settings in control panel they are all working without the problem. Did I missed something? Or there is no games that support full 7.1 audio. Like i said before steam games have an option to use 7.1 sound.

PS. I tried different settings on my receiver as well. No luck at all. There is only one multichannel option. No other settings.

Subliminal Aura · 13 Feb 2012 at 09:10

I assume that you've done a sound check on each channel ?

Alternatively check each channel individually by swapping cables to inputs on the amp that are known to work

Nacsit · 13 Feb 2012 at 10:12

Yes I've checked each channel and it works when playing test sounds. When using 7 channel stereo option on my receiver it works as well. Only problem are games and some movies (these with 8 channel soundtrack). I think I tried everything. I build this home cinema system hooked to my pc to find out that 7.1 its just marketing hype and not really exist in real world. Of course you can get fake 7.1 but I don't think it's really worth it. Unless somebody has better understanding of this topic and can prove me wrong. Please

Uriel · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:05

What software are you using to play back movies? For example PowerDVD needs the premium version to decode 7.1.

For games - anything with hardware based sound should support 7.1. Increasingly games have a software sound engine though. Quite a few only go up to 5.1 (or pseudo-7.1).

For older hardware sound based games you will probably need to turn on DS3D-GX on the Xonar to allow 5.1 or 7.1 properly (although implemenation can be a bit hit-and-miss).

Nacsit · 13 Feb 2012 at 23:50

I'm using Corel WinDVD Pro 11, VLC Player, Best Player, WMP. About GX mode. It seems that it helped but I'm not sure it isn't another DSP mode which simulates additional channel. Need some more testing.
Ps. BTW GX mode have a tendency to crash my games and leaving me with annoying high pitched noise in windows. Only reboot helps. I've read it's common problem.