Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater 5.1 for pc...GAMES!

You are correct. There are multiple sound cards available with coax and optical digital outs, although I think the M-Audio line is your best bet. Here's a link to a great option with a good price:

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Audio/revolution.asp

With this card, you can just get a cheap DD/DTS-capable receiver and pipe all your audio through that using it's digital coax output.

Craig, I don't do games, so I wasn't going to reply, but now that I see the direction you're going I'll make a comment. What I do with my computer is to bypass the crummy sound card, etc. by taking a digital output from the USB port with a Xitel Hifi-link(about $40)which includes a DAC and feeds an unused line level input on my receiver and then on to the M22s. My thing is listening to streaming audio(not the greatest, but okay)from classical stations all over the world while I'm at the computer(Moscow and the Shostakovich 7th at the moment). If my receiver had a USB input such as sushi's 45TX does, I wouldn't even need the Xitel link. Their Pro Hifi-link(about $80)includes all sorts of digital connectors and handles DD, DTS, etc. surround information so that a regular(not computer speaker) system can be used. You might take a look at the Xitel.com site.

ok...I think I'm getting close to figuring out what I'm going to do. I've got a line on an older 5.1 reciever that has digital inputs. I think I've decided on a set of speakers, so all I need is an audio card that has a digital out that I can hook into the receiver, no?

What I don't understand is these audio cards S-PDIF Output. What the heck is that, and how does that connect to a receiver?

I just checked out that xitel site, and that looks exactly like what I need. With that, will I still need to upgrade my current audio card as well? Right now he has a SoundBlaster Live! card.

Note:

Most games do not support 5.1 or any form of dolby processing. Thus, 5.1 for gaming is useless unless the game is designed for it.

99% of PC games support 4.1. However, you need PC 4.1 speakers because imagine you hook up all4 speakers (and a sub) to a standard stereo amp or home theater receiver, it can only handle one signal at a time. You can't say "Ok, input one go to front left and front right speakers and input 2 go to back left and back right"

5.1 as always is primarily for movies.

So, in fact you would need TWO receivers/amps, each hooked up to 2 speakers for this to work with "standard" speakers.

In the future when games support 5.1, "digitally", you can use ONE ht amp, and be fine.

Personally as I don't game, I'm hooking up 2 MZEROTISEs to a single stereo integrated amp hooked to my sound card.

I picked up some new in Box Mzero's for $125 CDN each, what a steal.

But for $280...meh, better to get the logitechs ams mentioned.

SPDIF is the proper term for coaxial digital connections. You have two options for digital sound connection (three really but you won't be dealing with 1394 at that price level), TOSLINK (fiber optic) or SPDIF (Coaxial). SPDIF is more common on soundcards and motherboards. You just need to make sure that whichever the receiver has, so does the option you go with.

Personally, a cheap receiver and a nice set of real speakers is my preference as well, however, you'll only be able to use Pro Logic on most games as they don't contain a pure DD or DTS audio track (Doom3 being one upcoming and noteable exception). This will somewhat limit the positional effect.

As to the sound card, again, I'll stress that you need to figure out what he has now. He may already have a digital output depending on his motherboard or sound card.

Another option would be to replace his motherboard with an nForce2 board that has the MCP-T southbridge (I can help you pick one if this is the path you choose). It will actually encode all the game sound into DD and then pass that off to the receiver to maintain the positional effect. Of course, this may mean you need to replace his processor and memory depending on how old they are...

kcarlile,

In my opinion, all computer speakers are crap. I've never heard any I particularly liked. I'm not surprised that you didn't like the Cambridge. I have a similar reaction to the Klipsch, though I hold that bias against all their speakers, not just their computer line.

I just don't like horns.

Zarak,

While it's a bit dated at this point, I still prefer the Santa Cruz. I've made the mistake of using Creative's products one too many times and I've always had to wrestle with their craptacular drivers.

The Live! has digital out. You don't NEED to replace the card.

"The Live! has digital out. You don't NEED to replace the card."

This is probably, but not necessarily true. The very first generation of OEM Soundblaster Live were 4.0 and did not have a SPDIF out. As an early adopter, it is my great pleasure to own one of these.