Help

[swindlehurst]

ok so i just bought a new sound card
i need a sound card that gets 5.1 out of myPC to my onkyo amp a few people said buy a sound card with optical spidf out that supports dts then hook it up to your amp and you should be fine
so i bought the speedlink 7.1 sl-8871 it was cheap but it had all that i needed apparently.
but it still wont get a 5.1 signal
ive tried the software you get with it to test the speakers and i only get stero any help would be awsome

 

[icraig]

Can you clarify what you mean by 5.1 signal on your Amp? Are you referring to Dolby Digital 5.1?

 

[thefivetheory]

You need a card with a Dolby or DTS ENCODER. As far as I can tell (not much info seems to be available for it) your card only supports Dolby/DTS decoding, not encoding. Optical cables don't have the bandwidth to send uncompressed 5.1 audio, which is why you're getting stereo on your receiver. You'll need to either:

a) connect the card to your receiver via analogue cables
b) get a new sound card which has a Dolby/DTS encoder (examples include many of the Creative/Auzentech X-Fi, Asus Xonar, and HT Omega sound cards)

 

[hunter315]

What are you using to check your speakers? If you are only using music you will likely only get 2.1, use a movie or something and set it to surround sound mode and you should get 5.1

 

[swindlehurst]

i can get a dolby dts signal to my amp but its games im trying
ive used dead space theres a speaker test thing on there and you know the diffrence from stero to 5.1
so those cards you mention they are where its at

 

[swindlehurst]

Just look at the time im up im ive gotta sort this out today its driving me up the wall

 

[swindlehurst]

ok so ive seen the asus xonar ds for a round 35 quid will this card give me full 5.1 in games over optical out?