4.1 Support

I'm hoping to find a sound card the supports 4.1, or one I can at least "trick" into doing what I need it to do.

I have an older Auzentech card that worked fine, but it's starting to act up and I've since yanked it from the system.

I also have a Xonar U7 that I use as a headphone amp (albeit a bit weak for my 250ohm cans). I enjoy the external aspect as it completely eliminates any and all interference and noise from other components. That said, when I use it with my speakers, 4.1 eludes me. I'm either forced to go 5.1 (which results in a missing center channel) or 4.0 (which means no sub). Unlike the Auzen card, I cannot change the Windows 7 settings and the Xonar software settings independent of one another. And "removing" the center channel from the Windows settings has no impact on the 5.1 settings--it still attempts to output sound through a non-existent speaker.

Long story short (too late), I'm looking for a card that is capable of 4.1. I was hoping for an external solution, but I'll also consider intenal. Or a solution to my Xonar problem. I've been looking at the Sound Blaster Z, but I'm a bit leery of Creative. Though nothing "officially" supports 4.1, most major cards can manage it with the proper settings (besides my Xonar, apparently). Gaming is top priority, so besides requiring 4.1 output I also need software that excels at creating accurate surround for stereo headphones.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Let me put it this way: Is anyone using the Sound Blaster Z for 4.1 with a phantom center? Or any other card for that matter (be it internal or external)?

I don't see a 4.1 setting in the menus for my SBZ, but the center, sub, and rear pair can be disabled individually. However, I'm not sure if that forces the default 5.1 to appear to games as 4.1 but it does disable sound output on that channel and that channel goes grayed out in the windows sound config screen.

http://i.imgur.com/IXDEFxM.jpg

I don't care much for the surround effects, but the stereo headphone output on the Z is pretty good paired with my ATH-M50s.

haz_mat said:

I don't see a 4.1 setting in the menus for my SBZ, but the center, sub, and rear pair can be disabled individually. However, I'm not sure if that forces the default 5.1 to appear to games as 4.1 but it does disable sound output on that channel and that channel goes grayed out in the windows sound config screen.

http://i.imgur.com/IXDEFxM.jpg

I don't care much for the surround effects, but the stereo headphone output on the Z is pretty good paired with my ATH-M50s.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the image! The fact that they've split the sub and center and made them optional is great. In the past, I've always had to mess around with some combination of settings in both the card UI and Windows. The Xonar U7 doesn't allow for it, though, as it immediately changes the card specific output settings to match Windows and vice versa. Nor does it offer a way to separate the center/sub and remove only the center, and it ignores any attempt to remove center using Windows (which is the nail in the coffin).

Once properly configured to output 4.1, in my experience, the hardware should have no trouble handling 5.1. It simply outputs the center channel to the side speakers, which in turn create the phantom center (assuming your speakers are capable of a decent, wide sound stage).

Thanks again!

The only difficulty I had with 4.1 many moons ago was how to change the volume of the phantom centre channel.
I couldnt do it and havent seen a way of doing it with 4.1 on modern cards.
It was fine most of the time, but some media needed a boost.

Nenu said:

The only difficulty I had with 4.1 many moons ago was how to change the volume of the phantom centre channel.
I couldnt do it and havent seen a way of doing it with 4.1 on modern cards.
It was fine most of the time, but some media needed a boost.

Click to expand...

Yeah absolutely. I don't watch movies on my PC, so it's never been a big problem for me, but I did have to bump up the center channel on my 5.1 home entertainment system. Dialogue needed the extra volume. I have never had a problem with dialogue in games, however.