Connect X-fi to external receiver

Just use the flexijack for digital out. X-Fi isn't really anything impressive in terms of sound quality. I would probably trust the Onkyo's audio processing over that of the X-Fi.
 
The newegg image isn't working and I'm not familiar with the card and there are many in the fatality series so I can't be sure which one you have. What is looks like you're going to have to do is get a mini to rca cable which goes into the sound card, then run some rca cable from there to the receiver end. I'd put it in CD but that's just what I use for computers, in RCA in would work.
 
@Seemslessthunder, I'm not going to connect digitally because surround won't work properly in games that way. (That's what I'm connecting trough analog.)

@Ladic, thanks! That seems like a proper solution. Altough getting more connectors on the other side just by splitting seems... strange. But I think this is the best solution.

@Reasons, it's the following card: http://www.guru3d.com/imageview.php?image=5514

- Connector 1 is Digital out.
- Connector 2, 3 and 4 are all Line out.

I already have mini to RCA cables.
 
Good so you should be all set. I was just saying go optical because I had a slightly higher end Onkyo HTIB at one point and it sounded like Creacraptive going from my creative card over analogue, but maybe they've improved their surround sound processing these days. I don't really trust Creative for that much, but if it works ok and you're happy with it that's really the important thing.
 
Psychoray said:
@Seemslessthunder, I'm not going to connect digitally because surround won't work properly in games that way. (That's what I'm connecting trough analog.)

@Ladic, thanks! That seems like a proper solution. Altough getting more connectors on the other side just by splitting seems... strange. But I think this is the best solution.

@Reasons, it's the following card: http://www.guru3d.com/imageview.php?image=5514

- Connector 1 is Digital out.
- Connector 2, 3 and 4 are all Line out.

I already have mini to RCA cables.
Click to expand...

you aren't splitting a thing, its TRRS connectors, not TRS, you've got an extra conductor in there, as two of those output jacks are TRRS, not TRS, and provide you with the 7th and 8th channels for a 7.1 solution

if you don't have 6.1 or 7.1 wired (as in, if you only have 5.1 speakers), don't bother with it, and if you do have them, buy the TRRS cables needed from monoprice, why spend a fortune on the Creative cable?

as far as digital not working for games, shouldn't be a problem either way, as long as you have DDL or DTS:C enabled in the card's drivers (if you have never seen these features you need a software update)
 
could you post the link to monoprice, i would like to get them myself.
 
I have 7.1 speakers. I guess I'll have to buy some TRRS speakers then. (Never even heard of them, I hope I can find them here in holland.)

As for Dolby Digital Live: I can't find it anywhere. I think the Windows 7 drivers don't support it yet. When it's available: Will it give me TRUE surround? I can get surround sound when I select DTS on my receiver, but it's not true surround. For example: When I throw a grenade and turn around, the grenade sound won't come from my back speakers.
 
Psychoray said:
I have 7.1 speakers. I guess I'll have to buy some TRRS speakers then. (Never even heard of them, I hope I can find them here in holland.)

As for Dolby Digital Live: I can't find it anywhere. I think the Windows 7 drivers don't support it yet. When it's available: Will it give me TRUE surround? I can get surround sound when I select DTS on my receiver, but it's not true surround. For example: When I throw a grenade and turn around, the grenade sound won't come from my back speakers.
Click to expand...

I believe it should as long as the game is set up for that. One of the few benefits of Creative cards - surround sound in pc games.
 
Psychoray said:
I have 7.1 speakers. I guess I'll have to buy some TRRS speakers then. (Never even heard of them, I hope I can find them here in holland.)

As for Dolby Digital Live: I can't find it anywhere. I think the Windows 7 drivers don't support it yet. When it's available: Will it give me TRUE surround? I can get surround sound when I select DTS on my receiver, but it's not true surround. For example: When I throw a grenade and turn around, the grenade sound won't come from my back speakers.
Click to expand...

its not TRRS speakers, its TRRS cables, you currently have TRS, as in Tip-Ring-Sleeve, you just need an extra conductor, this is very common on camcorder and ipod video cables, like here:

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/CB-219/CAMCORDER-/-IPOD-A/V-CABLE/-/1.html

although, thats a bit more than I thought it would be, compared to the Creative cable (which has come down from $25 to around $13), so it might just be worth it to get the Creative cable, sorry for the confusion

not sure what you mean by "True" surround, you'd have to tell me how you have things setup for me to really asses that either way

seemlessthunder said:
You'll need to get 3 pair (1 for front, 1 for center/sub, 1 for surround) if you have 3x 3.5mm(1/8") stereo output jacks on your soundcard.

3 different lengths for you depending on your need:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=5598&seq=1&format=2
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=5599&seq=1&format=2
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=5599&seq=1&format=2
Click to expand...

thats 5.1 not 7.1
he needs the four conductor cables for the extra two channels

and DDL/DTS will not encode 7.1 iirc, so he should just go with the TRRS/TRS combo setup, and be done with it

since it'll be about $7 for the non-Creative branded approach, he saves what? $3 over the Creative cable, just grab that, and be done with it at this point (unless you've got some of these cables laying around from things like camcorders, ipods, etc, in which case go with that (I have a room of cables, so I'm not used to having to buy things, hence the aversion to the retail solution (Creative cable), in this case, if you don't have the cable, buying the Creative one seems like the best option (assuming they ship to Holland and dont jack the price up)
 
Ah yeah, my bad. Missed that. It would be like creative to make some wanky sound card with too few analogue outputs for all the speakers it's supposed to feed. But yeah, looks like he's stuck with the Creative cable if he wants to do 7.1 from the X-Fi
 
Oops, I meant cables, not speakers. Can't find the cables on the dutch creative site, yet. If I can't find them I'll give them a call tomorrow.

Thanks for all the help. :)
 
seemlessthunder said:
Ah yeah, my bad. Missed that. It would be like creative to make some wanky sound card with too few analogue outputs for all the speakers it's supposed to feed. But yeah, looks like he's stuck with the Creative cable if he wants to do 7.1 from the X-Fi
Click to expand...

well, when the first did 7.1 from the Audigy 2 ZS, the only 7.1 PC speakers available were from Creative themselves, and it was basically marketed as an incentive to buy their speakers (basically "you already spent $200 on this board, when buying your speakers, buy ours, you get an extra two channels")

I don't think the notion of hooking up to 8ch pre-ins on a receiver was even remotely considered at the time, and the design has just been translated over to X-Fi (which is some 4-5 years old in design itself)

and hey, its an upgrade from that DIN crap

Psychoray said:
Oops, I meant cables, not speakers. Can't find the cables on the dutch creative site, yet. If I can't find them I'll give them a call tomorrow.

Thanks for all the help. :)
Click to expand...

found this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/DC-3-5mm-to-3-R...3ca526d5c8&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ht_1629wt_812

basically anything in that "camcorder cable" genre that will match that up with connectors will work, if you've got a local equiv to ratshack, they sell such a cable, the ratshack themselves want $30 a pop for that cable though :eek:

and yeah, this is basically the only option (some form of TRRS cable) to get 7.1
so I wouldn't worry too much about DDL/DTS, as the card will decode the AC-3/DTS signals to analog internally, and pass it over these cables to your receiver, won't do a bad job either
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
yep
go for it

you'll have to play with it to figure out which "yellow" is which channel on 7.1, so you may be switching them from your original plug together, but that isn't really so much of a hastle
 
One thing to remember is that most receivers don't do bass management on their multi-channel inputs. They just pass the signals they get straight to the speakers. This means you'll want to do all that on your X-Fi. You can do some tests, it is always possible your receiver digitizes the sound, or that it has an analogue crossover for bass, but most likely it just passes stuff direct.

Also do make sure that if it does bass management, you only have the receiver doing it, or only the X-Fi doing it. If you have them both doing bass management, you can have sound problems.
 
I'll be doing this within the next month.

Thanks for the link to the monoprice cables below.

Which inputs did you connect to on your receiver as there are only 3 outputs from the sound card but 4 inputs on the reciever?

Psychoray said:
I want to connect my X-Fi Fatality soundcard to my Onkyo TX-SR576, but I have 1 question.

The onkyo receiver has the following analog inputs:

- Front speakers
- Surround speakers
- Surround back speakers
- Sub / Center

That's 4 connections.

Now here's the problem: My X-fi has only 3 analog outputs:
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/29-102-005-02.jpg

What's up with that? Am I missing something here?
Click to expand...
 
For 5.1 you'll want to hook up left/right, center/sub, rear left/rear right.
 
Thanks for the prompt reply!

One question of which you may or may not know the answer....

Here is what I'm working with:

onkyo_tx_sr605_rear.jpg


I will not be using a sub, just center, front left and right, and rear left and right. (5.1 without the .1)

Do I still connect the sub input? I am assuming since I have told my receiver there is no sub that it will continue to send the bass output to the front left and right speakers.

450 said:
For 5.1 you'll want to hook up left/right, center/sub, rear left/rear right.
Click to expand...
 
1. Are you certain your X-Fi is only 5.1? If its 7.1 connect all 8 wires.
2. Connect 6 wires for 5.1. Include the subwoofer connection. Although you don't have a subwoofer, in case the X-Fi sends subwoofer/LFE signals the receiver will route it to the appropriate speakers.
 
This is more so a question for Psychoray, just wondering if this Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect Pack would allow us to connect to our receivers using one single digital cable?

http://buy.soundblaster.com/_creati...ail&category=Software&pid=F2222DDN6Z2H2ADDEZD

Features:
Uses a single digital cable connection - This ensures the integrity of the audio signal and eliminates the confusion, hassle and clutter of multiple analog and digital connections.
Transforms all PC audio signals into a Dolby Digital or DTS signal - This enables playback of PC audio over millions of home theater systems equipped with Dolby Digital or DTS decoding.
Optimized for low-latency interactive applications - No perceptible delay between video and audio in game play.
Provide realistic 5.1-channel surround sound effects during interactive video gameplay - Immerses PC and game console players in a highly realistic game experience
 
BTW, I confirmed the DDL pack works.

One cable out from the SPDIF to the coaxial digital in on the back of my receiver.... the Dolby Digital light is even illuminated on my receiver. Woo Hoo! :cool:
 
Oh yeah, something else I forgot to mention. I did order the cables linked earlier to go the multichannel route, however, the diameter on the input end of those cables is so large that you cannot fit 3 of them side by side into the soundcard outputs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top