Sound blaster audigy 2 zs optical input

The optical input connector on the audigy can only accept 2 channel stereo PCM, you have to adjust the audio output setting on the ps3 to get an output which is compatible with the audigy.

I bought the X-Fi titanium from creative and ran into the same problem. It seems that to run the signal through the fiber optic cable you can't use any of the apps on the card for say speaker separation so if you use the fiber optic cable you're screwed

I'm having the same concern. I was intending to transfer a digital 5.1 sound source from an HD streamer to the sound card via the optical in via toslink cable.

So you're saying the sound card's digital input (optical toslink input) can only get digital stereo? How would the digital sound be outputted? Through the sound card's analogue outputs or via the sound card's digital output, which goes to a device that decodes the digital stereo to digital surround?

How much better would the sound be if the OP did what you said as opposed to using a regular stereo cable, from PS3 analogue output to the sound card's analogue input?

"Analogue" as in either 1/8mm (3.5mm) mini-jacks or RCA jacks.

So whatever sound that comes out of the sound card directly to the speakers are all analogue signal, unless one plugs a digital-surround-decoding-device between the card and the speakers.