Will my old Audigy2 produce true 5.1?

[alexbd88]

I am currently running on board sound with optical out to my receiver. I am suspicious that the on board sound may be limited (even though Asus advertises it as being great). My motherboard is an Asus P8z77v-pro and my old sound card is an Audigy2 (ca0102-ict). The Asus supposedly does 7.1 surround with DTS. I only need 5.1 but I do want DTS or Dolby encoding. Will I hear better digital 5.1 out of my mobo or my ancient sound card?

 

[bigkid]

I am currently running on board sound with optical out to my receiver. I am suspicious that the on board sound may be limited (even though Asus advertises it as being great). My motherboard is an Asus P8z77v-pro and my old sound card is an Audigy2 (ca0102-ict). The Asus supposedly does 7.1 surround with DTS. I only need 5.1 but I do want DTS or Dolby encoding. Will I hear better digital 5.1 out of my mobo or my ancient sound card?

I was using onboard sound on a gigabyte ga-p67a-ud4 board...realtek audio ....5.1 headphones(medusa nx true 5.1 surround) using analog jacks - under win7 64 bit i couldnt get the base to work properly. SO -- i dugout my old sb audigy - i remembered having driver issues but thought i'd give it a try.....downloaded 64bit win 7 drivers and alchemy app from http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?prodID=149&prodName=Audigy%202
only installed that driver and the alchemy app which you need to function properly.....i didnt install the other creative apps -- everything 5.1 works fine and the base works --- the sound quality also seems a bit better than onboard - since my audigy is about 10yrs old i may consider gettina a newer xonar sound card - but all seems well with the audigy -- good luck

 

[gamerk316]

When using digital, the device at the other end of hte audio chain does most of the audio processing. Unless you are connecting to a recevier, the rule of thumb is that you will get better quality when connecting via analog.

 

[bigkid]

yep -- if you want 5.1 you're better off using the analog jacks ... thats where my onboard sound under win7 64 bit didnt handle the output correctly -- and i hat the latest realtek drivers installed --- if you go with your audigy don't forget to uninstall all old sound drivers....shutdown -then install audigy card - restart, and on reboot disable onboard sound in bios before windows starts ---- load the audigy driver, then install the alchemy app before you attempt to use sound.

 

[alexbd88]

It seems like I am getting real 5.1 with the onboard via optical. The tests check out.. As it plays through individual speakers when it is attached to my home theater receiver. However, I cannot get 5.1 through my turtle beach dx12 when connected directly to the mobo. The reason I may want a sound card is I have read that sound cards are superior to on-board sound and that I will not be able to take advantage of my dx12's without a dedicated sound card. Though, supposedly the onboard sound on the p8z77v-pro is pretty advanced.

 

[bigkid]

It seems like I am getting real 5.1 with the onboard via optical. The tests check out.. As it plays through individual speakers when it is attached to my home theater receiver. However, I cannot get 5.1 through my turtle beach dx12 when connected directly to the mobo. The reason I may want a sound card is I have read that sound cards are superior to on-board sound and that I will not be able to take advantage of my dx12's without a dedicated sound card. Though, supposedly the onboard sound on the p8z77v-pro is pretty advanced.

regarding your turtle beach dx12 headphones.....they need to have "dolby digital live" running for them to generate 5.1 sound (in some games anyway)

 

[alexbd88]

Best answer selected by alexbd88.