N00b question, trying to figure out surround sound on my PC

[Pyroja]

I'm a total n00b here, as I've been running a stereo setup for pretty as long as I've had my own desktop to mess with.

Well, I've been using home theatre receivers and home stereo speakers to provide that stereo sound for a long while now (using SPDIF or Optical, whichever was more convenient) but I inherited a 5.1 set of speakers this past weekend so I thought I'd finally try to set my PC up for some surround sound goodness.

As it is now, I'm using a Harmon Kardon AVR430 and an Asus Xonar DS. They're connected via SPDIF and I have audio working (that was never really a problem) but I want to know how to make sure I'm getting actual surround sound when gaming.

I'm pretty sure the Xonar DS can do DTS Connect, but it seems that trying to turn that on in the settings panel just kills the sound from my receiver. I suppose it's possible that it just won't work with my hardware, but for kicks, here's a list of the different surround formats my receiver claims to support:

DTS 96/24, DTS Neo:6, DTS-ES Discrete 6.1, DTS-ES Matrix 6.1, DTS-ES decoder, Dolby 3 Stereo, Dolby Digital Surround EX, Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Pro Logic II

For what it's worth, the receiver has a full set of analog inputs for each channel, so I suppose if the digital connection doesn't work, it's possible I could use those connections.

So... What am I missing?

EDIT: Figured it out! Installed the Uni Xonar driver and everything now works as it should.

 

[gamerk2]

Should just have to enable 6 channel audio, check the SPDIF box, and enable DTS Connect. Looks like the receiver should have no issues with standard DTS or even the enhanced DTS specs...

 

[spaceman]

Games are going to sound weird in surround btw. Unless you use anaolgue 5.1, the dts connect compresses the crap out of the sound and it is just strange. So, you can use DTS digital for movies and music but for games, either use stereo or analogue 5.1. Or if you have an hdmi receiver, the gpu can output the best, uncompressed dts sound.

 

[XenIneX]

I'd use the analog direct-ins. In addition to compression artifacts, DTS Connect and Dolby Digital Live introduce noticeable latency -- one to two tenths of a second. Some games that's a non issue, but for twitch games it's fatal. Not to mention it's obnoxious when watching movies.

 

[Pyroja]

Thanks for the info guys. My receiver lacks HDMI inputs, unfortunately. That said, I did get DTS working last night by switching over to the Uni Xonar driver.

But once I dig up enough cables, I'll try out the analog connections. I'm usually pretty partial to the digital connections just to avoid noise, but I did that with the onboard sound; I never did check to see what it sounded like with the Xonar.