Newbie home 5.1 system

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Racheakt

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Apr 30, 2012
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Ok, I have recently installed a 5.1 setup at home with in ceiling speakers.

My video game systems and Blu-rays sound great and do surround without a hitch. all over HDMI.

Now since i only use my PC for gaming, i decided to go ahead and hook up my computer to the big screen TV and hook it up to the receiver.

This is where I am lost.

My receiver is Onkyo TX-NR515

My computer is a home made system; Asus p6t6 WS, with EVGA GTX 680. (running windows 8)

I have the HDMI of the EVGA going to the receiver, an in turn the receiver is controlling the speakers, and sending the video via HDMI to the TV.

I have been testing the HDMI audio off of the 680 for games and also the SPDIF optical from the onboard.

This is what I am noticing;

when I use the onboard optical SPDIF, windows shows and tests only stereo, and in testing my games it seems I am getting "all speaker stereo". It sounds good mind ya, but I want to take advantage of the 5.1 setup.

When i switch my system to use the HDMI audio of the 680, windows will test 5.1 sound correctly, and I can clearly hear the different channels. But game sounds are "flat" compared to the SPDIF if that makes sense (especially for games that are only stereo).

I was thinking of getting a sound card with SPDIF out that supports 5.1, but i was reading that (noob here) that the Optical SPDIF is digital, and that buying a sound card to use the SPDIF on it is a waste, as it is the same signal coming from the on board SPDIF.

So I guess am I doing something wrong with my PC and 5.1 suround, any pointers for improving game audio in 5.1?
 
Not doing anything wrong. You will not get 5.1 surround via optical unless you use Dolby live or DTS. That method works but isn't the greatest.

Your best solution is to get a sound card like the Creative Zx and use the analogue connections into your receiver.
 
Just use HDMI audio - the flatness isn't something I can explain though.
 
450 said:
Just use HDMI audio - the flatness isn't something I can explain though.
Click to expand...

Flatness is the best word for it I could come up with. With the optical (while in stereo) say in like a game like Boarderlands 2 I hear all the ambient sounds clearly, but all get is left/right sound. In the HDMI 5.1 the ambient noise is "muted" to a hard to hear point, but I am clearly getting the positional audio.

spaceman said:
Not doing anything wrong. You will not get 5.1 surround via optical unless you use Dolby live or DTS. That method works but isn't the greatest.

Your best solution is to get a sound card like the Creative Zx and use the analogue connections into your receiver.
Click to expand...

I would consider that, except my receiver does not not have 5.1 analog inputs from what I can tell; it does have analog stereo from what I see for some inputs, unless 5.1 is pushed across two wires.


EDIT:
I have been reading up on sound cards that support "Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect" (the Zx is one of them) Am I correct in assuming that works over S/PDIF?
 
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The flatness on HDMI will be down to configuration on your AV amp or configuration on your sound card where SPDIF comes from.
Look how they are set up for SPDIF and try to do the same on your amps HDMI setup.

If you use SPDIF for 5.1, it will be compressed.
Theres no way around this, 5.1 will not fit down SPDIF without compression.
HDMI will be better.
 
The change in audio between stereo and 5.1 might be due to the game trying to fit the audio environment into 2 channels so you would hear it much more loudly. While I don't think stereo should be louder, it has happened to me before in other games (TF2) where while in stereo I could hear distant sounds very loudly. Probably sloppy audio implementation on the developer's part. If you can still hear the ambiance in the 5.1 configuration, just quieter, that's fine.

Also, if you lack bass from the subwoofer in 5.1 mode, then your receiver probably isn't re-directing the bass. Borderlands 2 only outputs in 5.0 because they apparently don't know how to set their audio API to use the LFE channel so if you don't use bass redirection then that may contribute to the flatness. Some games are like that.

Listen to everyone else, HDMI is better than SPDIF. Better audio quality and better features.
 
Thanks for the input, when I get home tonight I will play the HDMI settings.

It is entirely possible that the flatness I was getting is due to the lack of bass (especially since BL2 was the main game I was using to judge things)

EDIT:

On base redirection, where would one set that? the receiver?
 
Yes, the receiver. Go into the options and look for speaker setup and set your speakers to small and yes for sub. Some receivers have more advanced options like crossovers, tone control, sub level etc.

I used to have my computer setup through the Zx to analog 5.1 to a receiver. That receiver's front channels stopped working so upgraded to a denon e300 that just has hdmi or optical. Running audio through my 670 and it sounds fantastic. On par or better than using the Zx and analog. Have not tried BL2 though
 
Sorry, for the late replies, you guys have been helpful.

I went and played some other games with the HDMI audio, chiefly Skyrim, and the sound was amazing. It appears using BL2 as a test case was a bad idea.

I will be using the HDMI, working those games with poor surround support differently.
 
BL2's audio just doesn't have a lot of punch to it, the audio in Borderlands 1 is actually quite superior. Now I'm curious as to if two different people did the audio for these games. Whoever did the audio implementation for BL2 dropped the ball.
 
Racheakt said:
Sorry, for the late replies, you guys have been helpful.

I went and played some other games with the HDMI audio, chiefly Skyrim, and the sound was amazing. It appears using BL2 as a test case was a bad idea.

I will be using the HDMI, working those games with poor surround support differently.
Click to expand...

The problem you are having as you are now noticing has more to do with the games you are playing then your setup. Even when you play games on your PC with PC speakers, you will probably notice a difference in how they sound. I have 5.1 DTS surround PC speakers and use SPDIF for that and most games sound great on them, because most PC games are designed better for that. Some games will have better sound quality engineering and thus will utilize a bigger soundstage where the HDMI will sound better. Then there is the caveat where some games still use technology like EAX or some other older 3d sound effects that you probalby just can't mimic well without a sound card that supports it properly.

Personally I have tried both HDMI and Optical, and until recently the Optical worked the best. But not with newer games coming out, the HDMI is definitely starting to sound better, especially now that I have a better H/T system. The receiver is really the biggest factor in all of this too, it can usually help make up for weak game quality sound with some EQ adjustments.
 
I do think the optical sounds better on a few of my games (namely BL2 and Torchlight 2).

Torchlight was playing in stereo in the front speakers only under hdmi, i set my receiver to do all speaker stereo on stereo signal and it sounds lots better.

I have not dug in my BL2 problems yet , I got back into Skyrim ;-)
 
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