analog or digital?

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sdat1333

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Hey my Z-5500's are on there way and my sound card is an audigy 2 ZS. I can hook it up thru analog or digital, which is better? I like the surround sound in games, and i love 5.1 DVDs.

Thanks
Sean
 
Probably digital would be the better choice. Since those speakers have a built in Dolby Digital Decoder, I would get a sound card that does Dolby Digital encoding like the HDA mystique, and take advantage of that. Games will probably sound alot better.
 
i thought that since the card did decoding the sound card didnt have to do much
 
sdat1333 said:
i thought that since the card did decoding the sound card didnt have to do much
Click to expand...

How I understand it, it stills need to be encoded so the speakers can decode it. I am new myself into all this audio stuff. But that is how I understand it. Im sure a audio guru will see this thread soon, and clear it up.
 
1. your games NEED an analouge connection to run in 5.1 with the audigy 2 zs. the a2zs CANNOT encode the seperate channels of audio from the game into a digital sound stream to pass to the speaker systems. with a digital cable, you will be playing in PCM 44.1khz sound, 2.1

2. movies do something called "digital passthrough." it passes the AC3 audio stream through the sound card wtih no processing directly to the speaker system over a digital cable. the speaker system decodes the stream and outputs to speakers

3. if you want to use a singular digital cable to use 5.1 in all circumstances, you need a card support dolby digital live, such as teh HDA digital x-mystique (which is waht i use) or the turtle beach card that supports DDL, i cant remember what its called right now... but i wouldnt go with taht one becuase turtle beach has said they wont be writing a 64-bit driver for it, while a 64-bit driver already exists for the HDA card.
 
sdat1333 said:
Hey my Z-5500's are on there way and my sound card is an audigy 2 ZS. I can hook it up thru analog or digital, which is better? I like the surround sound in games, and i love 5.1 DVDs.

Thanks
Sean
Click to expand...

Just connect it via analog.
 
hook it up using both, thats what i do with my audigy2 and 680's - analog for games, coax for externally decoded DD/DTS dvd's, just be sure to turn off the card's onboard decoding for digital movies or else the control pod wont decode it for you
 
I would really have to agree w/ the use both connections solution. Its just a much better approach.

Analog for 5.1 in games
Digital for music and movies.

on a side note, i wouldn't say using a digital connection to the z5500 would sound better than analog. This is cause the digital connection uses the DAC's on the decoder. While an analog connection uses the DAC's on your souncard. I really question the quality of the z5500 decoder. Assuming the pricepoint of the whole product, the z5500's DAC's can't be that much better than the DAC's on the a2zs
 
so on the audigy 2 ZS config, its possible to tell it not to decode what it sends thru digital, but to decode what is sends thru analog?
 
sdat1333 said:
so on the audigy 2 ZS config, its possible to tell it not to decode what it sends thru digital, but to decode what is sends thru analog?
Click to expand...

?????

you don't have to "tell" it that, that's what the difference between digital and analog is...
 
ccotenj said:
?????

you don't have to "tell" it that, that's what the difference between digital and analog is...
Click to expand...
yes. you do. programs like WMP dont do digital passthrough automatically - i use the NV dvd decoders to tell it to.
 
alright so i realized that i need to disable the decoder in the creative settings, and disable the decoder in whatever DVD program i use, but how do i get it to send audio thru the analog and digital jacks on the card? Then I'll just use the switch source button on the speaker control panel to choose analog or digital, so ill use analog for games, and digital for movies and music.
That sound alright?

Thanks
Sean
 
lithium726 said:
yes. you do. programs like WMP dont do digital passthrough automatically - i use the NV dvd decoders to tell it to.
Click to expand...

that may very well be true, but you aren't going to ever send a "decoded" signal digitally...
 
ccotenj said:
that may very well be true, but you aren't going to ever send a "decoded" signal digitally...
Click to expand...
really now?

cause whenever i dont select digital passthrough, it sends a PCM stream to my reciever... digitally.
 
A dedicated soundcard like the A2 ZS is going to have a much better DAC and output stage than the one in any set of multimedia speakers, where it's an afterthought.
 
lithium726 said:
really now?

cause whenever i dont select digital passthrough, it sends a PCM stream to my reciever... digitally.
Click to expand...

again, maybe so, but that's not a decoded to analog signal... selecting "digital passthrough" may eliminate any dsp processing, etc. (don't know, not familiar with the card), but i do know you cannot pass an analog signal through a digital connection... which would be the only point that i've been making...
 
ccotenj said:
again, maybe so, but that's not a decoded to analog signal... selecting "digital passthrough" may eliminate any dsp processing, etc. (don't know, not familiar with the card), but i do know you cannot pass an analog signal through a digital connection... which would be the only point that i've been making...
Click to expand...
oh ok, i misunderstood you. i thought you meant that it wouldnt process the stream at all, when it is downmixing it to 2.1 PCM to be compatable with everything out there.
 
so i guess the question really is, which does decoding better, my sound card or the Z-5500s

anyone have an opinion?
 
sdat1333 said:
so i guess the question really is, which does decoding better, my sound card or the Z-5500s

anyone have an opinion?
Click to expand...
Most likely the A2 ZS. It uses the Cirrus Logic CS4382 DAC which is comparable in quality to (and sometimes used by) mid-level HT receivers.
 
lithium726 said:
oh ok, i misunderstood you. i thought you meant that it wouldnt process the stream at all, when it is downmixing it to 2.1 PCM to be compatable with everything out there.
Click to expand...

:) cool...
 
really? the onboard DAC is that good? mid lvl ht equipment? I've listened on my music through digital and through analog. Both connections are plugged into my hk avr-130 receiver. Digital definitely sounds better than analog. So i'm assuming that the hk receiver has better DAC's than the a2zs. However, if you say that the a2zs DAC is used in some mid lvl ht equipment and my avr-130 is an entry lvl receiver. Then..... what kind of mid lvl ht equipment would use the same DAC as the a2zs?
 
Xeero said:
really? the onboard DAC is that good? mid lvl ht equipment? I've listened on my music through digital and through analog. Both connections are plugged into my hk avr-130 receiver. Digital definitely sounds better than analog. So i'm assuming that the hk receiver has better DAC's than the a2zs. However, if you say that the a2zs DAC is used in some mid lvl ht equipment and my avr-130 is an entry lvl receiver. Then..... what kind of mid lvl ht equipment would use the same DAC as the a2zs?
Click to expand...
i can garatee you taht your HARMON KARDON reciver, which belongs in the HIGH END has MUCH better DAC's than the A2ZS or the logitech Z5500's (yes, i know the avr 130 is low end of HK recievers, but still MUCH better than mid level recievers from someone like insigna)

my Sony STR-DE575 sounds much better through digital than analogue. why? it cost twice as much as an a2zs or my HDA card, and cost the same as an entire logitech z5500 set. the quality is just higher
 
The CS4382 DAC found the A2 ZS are also found on Marantz receivers.

http://www.cirrus.com/en/press/releases/P323.html

I wouldn't be surprised if HK used Cirrus Logic DACs on their lower end receivers, considering they already use Cirrus Logic DSPs. And DACs are overrated, most of them are really good and dirt cheap, your limiting factors are the speakers and possibly the room.
 
well if that is the case then... i'm wondering why does analog output on an a2zs sound crappier than if i run digital out to my receiver? (i'm following your statement of "I wouldn't be surprised if HK used Cirrus Logic DACs on their lower end receivers, considering they already use Cirrus Logic DSPs. And DACs are overrated, most of them are really good and dirt cheap, your limiting factors are the speakers and possibly the room.")

i'm not trying to sound like a smart ass, i just want to get the facts
 
Xeero: I think you are not seeing the forest for the trees here.
But you are also pointing at one tree and calling it the forest. :p
In this case the tree is the DAC on the Audigy 2 ZS and the forest is the power supply, the analog section of the card, the analog cables and the noise from the components inside the case.
 
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