I just bought myself a set of Logitech Z680 5.1 speakers, and mounted them on my wall. I then used an optical cable to go from my onboard sound (Realtek) to my Logitech box. Music sounds ok, but this system is mainly for games. So now I have run in to a few problems...
1) A lot of white noise. I then learned that this was probably due to the onboard sound card. I borrowed a friends Hercules Fortissmo sound card, and had better results. Minimal white noise. So I assume my onboard is to blame... which brings me to the second problem...
2) My rear speakers are very very quiet. Whisper quiet. However this was a problem with both the onboard and the Hercules card.
So now I am at a loss. I was thinking of going to a Creative card, however after reading that there is no optical (toslink) out (which isn't a huge problem) and that Creative's sound cards are ment to work best with Creative's speakers. Here is a snip from a comment....
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But don't buy them thinking you can use the digital connection for a Creative Labs Audigy 2, or Audigy 2 NX card to hook up to them. Audigy 2 cards do have digital output, but it is intended ONLY to work with Creative Labs Speakers. So if you try the digital out connection to the Z680's, you will be disappointed.
If you use a mono 1/8" minijack to RCA connection, all of the digital signal from the Audigy is getting to the speaker decoder, but the signals from the different channels all have different amplitudes. Creative is the only company to employ this technique. But what it means, is that the Z680's will only pick out the signal from the largest aplitude signal, which is the front channels. So you won't get digital surround sound. The rear speakers will be silent, very low, or mimic the front speakers.
Optical output from Creative Labs give the same result. Creative has chosen to support only their products this this regard as well.
Both Creative and Logitech are aware of this issue, but seem to choose not to make it public.
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So now I'm at a loss what to do. Any suggestions on a sound card that will give me better 5.1? Or perhaps I have something configued wrong?
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
1) A lot of white noise. I then learned that this was probably due to the onboard sound card. I borrowed a friends Hercules Fortissmo sound card, and had better results. Minimal white noise. So I assume my onboard is to blame... which brings me to the second problem...
2) My rear speakers are very very quiet. Whisper quiet. However this was a problem with both the onboard and the Hercules card.
So now I am at a loss. I was thinking of going to a Creative card, however after reading that there is no optical (toslink) out (which isn't a huge problem) and that Creative's sound cards are ment to work best with Creative's speakers. Here is a snip from a comment....
-----------------------
But don't buy them thinking you can use the digital connection for a Creative Labs Audigy 2, or Audigy 2 NX card to hook up to them. Audigy 2 cards do have digital output, but it is intended ONLY to work with Creative Labs Speakers. So if you try the digital out connection to the Z680's, you will be disappointed.
If you use a mono 1/8" minijack to RCA connection, all of the digital signal from the Audigy is getting to the speaker decoder, but the signals from the different channels all have different amplitudes. Creative is the only company to employ this technique. But what it means, is that the Z680's will only pick out the signal from the largest aplitude signal, which is the front channels. So you won't get digital surround sound. The rear speakers will be silent, very low, or mimic the front speakers.
Optical output from Creative Labs give the same result. Creative has chosen to support only their products this this regard as well.
Both Creative and Logitech are aware of this issue, but seem to choose not to make it public.
_______________
So now I'm at a loss what to do. Any suggestions on a sound card that will give me better 5.1? Or perhaps I have something configued wrong?
Any suggestions would be appreciated!