Optical Surround Sound in Computer
- Thread starter RhysAndrews
- Start date
RhysAndrews
In Runtime
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- 321
well thanks very much, to all of you! I'm pretty sure that's the best solution for me, so I'll work up the savings to buy the gear sometime soon.
Thanks again
-Rhys
Thanks again
-Rhys
Kage
Golden Master
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- 13,873
Got the connection today, and the first thing I can say, is it works like said. Its sending an Optical signal to my Z-5500's with only 1 3.5mm connection on the sound card going to the device.
Now, the clanger. No, I can't tell the difference like I thought I'd be able to.
It seems the Xbox 360 has a better sound processor than the X-Fi does
EDIT:
Also, the 6 channel output has gone. Its just stereo now.
I was expecting even music to use a Dolby Digital signal, so that games, etc would also work, but it seems its just outputting PCM
Now, the clanger. No, I can't tell the difference like I thought I'd be able to.
It seems the Xbox 360 has a better sound processor than the X-Fi does
EDIT:
Also, the 6 channel output has gone. Its just stereo now.
I was expecting even music to use a Dolby Digital signal, so that games, etc would also work, but it seems its just outputting PCM
Kage
Golden Master
- Messages
- 13,873
Yeah but the Xbox 360 for instance allowed for a Dolby Digital out for music, that sounded great, plus the usual Prologic affair, etc.
I was expecting this to do the same thing, and make the quality better, but it just hasn't, so I kind of feel a bit put out by it.
I think I will use the 360 for my audio once I get it back from now on, until I get a better sound card that is. The X-fi sounds muddy to me, and I have the bass/treble in Windows set to 50%.
I've tried to find a way to make it so the bass and treble isn't messed around with, and instead is controlled purely by the speakers, but don't know how to achieve that.
EDIT:
Well, I have it outputting using Dolby Digital now, by setting it to Bitstream out, rather than the sound card converting over in Digital mode.
So now its outputting a ACC 5.1 surround sound file using Dolby Digital
Oh yeah!
It also has the enhancement of disabling the Sound cards bass/treble settings, so I can use the speakers instead, as the muddy sound has now gone, at least on this surround file.
Found out its working due to a plugin I installed:
AC3 Filter Project Spdif
Bi-passes everything so the speakers get a pure signal with no processing.
Optical even sounds a lot better than Analog now for standard audio files. Tonnes better.
I was expecting this to do the same thing, and make the quality better, but it just hasn't, so I kind of feel a bit put out by it.
I think I will use the 360 for my audio once I get it back from now on, until I get a better sound card that is. The X-fi sounds muddy to me, and I have the bass/treble in Windows set to 50%.
I've tried to find a way to make it so the bass and treble isn't messed around with, and instead is controlled purely by the speakers, but don't know how to achieve that.
EDIT:
Well, I have it outputting using Dolby Digital now, by setting it to Bitstream out, rather than the sound card converting over in Digital mode.
So now its outputting a ACC 5.1 surround sound file using Dolby Digital
Oh yeah!
It also has the enhancement of disabling the Sound cards bass/treble settings, so I can use the speakers instead, as the muddy sound has now gone, at least on this surround file.
Found out its working due to a plugin I installed:
AC3 Filter Project Spdif
Bi-passes everything so the speakers get a pure signal with no processing.
Optical even sounds a lot better than Analog now for standard audio files. Tonnes better.
