x-fi computer audio to reciever

[gshisme]

Btw, im the nephew of gshisme... That said...

Ok, i want to connect my SoundBlaster x-fi extremusic to an A/V reciever. However, there seems to be some connection problems. Ideally, I want a coax or digital output from the computer. Does anybody know how to achieve this? There is a 3.5m jack on the card that says Digital Out, but its a 3.5mm jack... Any ideas?

[Schris22]

converter?

I have the audigy ZS and when I was looking up info everyone just said go to radio shack and pick up a converter to the standard RCA plug which is probably what your digital coax is.

Chris

[gshisme]

Schris22, we will check out the nearest R/S. Never saw or heard of a digital mini plug to digital coax RCA converter though. See what we come up with and thanks for the info.

Greg

[TheReaper]

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062459
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102693

[gshisme]

Ok... this is the nephew of ghsisme still...

So, the coax output works now (thanks Schris22 and TheReaper). However, the reciever will only detect a stereo, 2 chanel signal. In the drivers for the sound are set to 5.1 DD, yet the output is still just stereo 2 chanel. Any ideas?

[TheReaper]

As a guess (I don't have an SB X-FI). Except when playing DVDs, you will normally only get 2 channel digital output.

When playing DVDs, if you go into the dvd player (eg WinDVD) settings, find the SPDIF passthrough (or similar option), and turn it on (you also may have turn a setting on in your soundblaster settings). This will pass the digital audio stream from the DVD directly to your receiver, which will then do the DD5.1 or DTS decoding. Note that some of the DVD Player programs, only have the SPDIF/DIGITAL passthrough option on the Full (paid) version.

You will be out of luck with DVD-Audio, as the copyright police don't allow a DVD-Audio stream to go out through spdif.

For multi-channel games (and some HD movies), you need an audio card that does Dolby Digital Live, or DTS Live. Which will Encode the multiple channels into a DD or DTS stream. I do not beleive your SoundBlaster card has this feature, as it is mainly a Decoder.

As for getting multiple speaker output when playing mp3s and cds. Use the options in your receiver (Dolby PLII, DSPs, other surround modes). These are probably just as good at making phoney surround, as your SB card. The whole idea of using a digitial audio output from your pc to your receiver. Is to get the audio stream to your receiver, and to do the audio processing there. Making some of the functions of your sound card useless.

One thing you may want to play with, is bit rates (44.1, 48, 96). To see if you hear any differances. CDs are normally 44.1, and may sound best at that rate. For other sources you may prefer 48 or 96 (Note: this also could all be in my mind :) ).

[Fallen Kell]

Ok... this is the nephew of ghsisme still...

So, the coax output works now (thanks Schris22 and TheReaper). However, the reciever will only detect a stereo, 2 chanel signal. In the drivers for the sound are set to 5.1 DD, yet the output is still just stereo 2 chanel. Any ideas?

Yes, you will only have stereo except for DVD's. Its a real pain and disappointment for many people. There are only a few computer sound cards available which will allow you to listen to video games and other surround sound efffects from a digital connection to a computer.

The first is the NForce3 motherboards with the built-in sound chipset which did DDLive Encoding.

The second is the X-Mystique 7.1 Gold sound card which does DDLive Encoding.


Obviously there is really only one choice since the first is a system motherboard and not a seperate sound card that you can plug in. New versions of the X-Mystique will also be available in the next month. Mainly the X-Mystique Explosion, which does both DDLive and DTSLive Encoding (using the full 1.5mbps DTS format as well). There is another one which will just do DTSLive encoding (forget its name, begins with a "R" I think).

Anyway, you have basically run into the main problem that most gamers hit when dealing with connecting their computers into a home theater. I think Creative has an external pack which you can connect the analog outs (the 2-3 stereo outputs) from the Creative (or other) sound cards and does DDLive encoding on it. Creative is not allowed to offer this product integrated into their main audio cards because of licensing agreements with the MPAA/RIAA/DVD-A, since the DVD-A group does not want any sound card to be able to play their music on a digital stream in a computer (paranoid of piracy).

[gshisme]

Again, its teh nephew. . . . . . . . . . .

Well, looks like im going to sell the x-fi and get the card that supports DDL. Im going to try the integrated audio in my mobo, which is using the nForce4 SLI chipset... dont know whatll happen. Anyways, thanks a bunch for the great information, truely a great forum.

[gshisme]

Ok, and just for the reccord, the nForce4 SLI chipset doesnt work with the digital out on more than two chanels either....