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Question regarding Dolby Digital

S

somebodysomewhere

n00b
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May 9, 2016
Messages
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So i have a USB based X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro soundcard that is connected to my laptop. I use stereo headphones connected straight to the soundcard 3.5 mm. My question is would i be able to hear Dolby with this simple setup at all, or do i need a separate receiver for it? For example if i connect 5.1 speakers directly to the soundcard? Or even Dolby Headphone?

One thing is also making me really confusing is the fact that i can either select Speaker or SPDIF-Out and they both make sound, but these outputs sound differently (both are configured for 24bit/96 kHz). How can i select SPDIF when i don't have any optical cable connected? Is it some Windows 10 and software related "bug"? Though when you do a sound test with SPDIF-Out, it only tests 2 channels like it should, but with Speaker output it goes through all the channels in your headphones. I have a Headphone selection in Creative settings. Windows 10 doesn't offer any Speaker configuration under sound settings when clicking Properties.

So can anyone enlighten me in this field? Thanks!
 
Dolby Digital (Live) means "encode analog 5.1 signal for 2-channel S/PDIF transfer to preserve 5.1-ness".
You can still hear both the headphones and a slightly delayed audio from the device connected to S/PDIF.

hearing 5.1 audio in headphones has nothing to do with Dolby Digital
 
Your optical has no way of detecting feedback. It's can't tell when something is connected to the port, so it's always active.

The 3.5mm can detect the electrical resistance of the headphones and can turn on the port that way.

The SPDIF is preserving the original sound stream. So if your system generates a 2 channel PCM signal, then that is what will be output over optical. But in the analog world, you can downmix to anything. So a 2.0 can mixed to Dolby Pro Logic II (2) which simulates 5 channels by matrixing the original 2. Have to remember that SPDIF itself is a standardized protocol. It was designed to send the original pure signal from the medium (CD, DAT, Laserdisc).

You cannot get discreet 5.1 from 2 channel analog (outside of weird stuff like embedding RF signals like Laserdisc). You can only get matrixed surround like Dolby PL2. Not enough bandwidth in the audible spectrum to embed the information.
 
You won't get "Dolby" with your headphones, you'll get virtual surround using SBX or CMSS-3D. If it's like most other Creative Labs devices, connect your stereo headphones to the headphone jack, in the Windows sound device settings set the USB X-Fi to 5.1 or 7.1 output (the highest available), then go into your Creative Labs software (Console Launcher or whatever they call it now days) and set output to headphones and then enable SBX (or CMSS-3D). Games and movies (with surround soundtracks) should then output in 5.1/71 sound but the Creative driver will mix it for your stereo headphones.

I can't really provide any more specific info than that since Creative doesn't put manuals on their site. Dig around in the Creative software.
 
Thanks people!

Okay, optical has no way of detecting feedback. Still, why do SPDIF-Out and Speaker output sound different? When you enable SBX with Speaker output, it sounds terrible (has this metallic clanky sound), with SPDIF-Out the soundstage gets a nice juicy touch. Is it because with SPDIF-Out the software runs it with 2 channels only, while with Speaker output it tries to "emulate" 5.1? I'm saying it because when you do sound test with either output in Windows mixer, only the Speaker outpu twill go through 5.1 channels (tho it sounds horrible and you can't feel any surround whatsoever). With SPDIF-Out it goes through 2 channel test only.

With Windows 10 sound mixer you can't select between 5.1/7.1 or 2.1/stereo. Look at the pictures. With Creative Studio my output is on Headphone setting.

Also a little sidenote: with new games you get absolutely no surround feeling with headphones, is it supposed to be like this? When you run old EAX-capable games through Alchemy they have nice surround feeling without any Surround (SBX) feature. Fallout 4 has absolutely NO surround feeling, even with SBX=100% it sounds as if everyone is in your head. Why is it like this? Do you really need proper 5.1 speaker setup with new games ?

SPDIF:
SPDIF.PNG


Speaker:
SPEAKER.PNG


Creative setting:
Creative_setting.png
 
If you have nothing connected to the SPDIF output, you need to disregard it. Also, SBX does change the way audio sounds, so it's really only good to use when you're trying to mix 5.1 to stereo for headphones, I would disable it for music and I would also disable Crystalizer if they still have that. ALchemy is actually designed to handle surround effects properly through OpenAL, but since games now days no longer use Creative-related technologies (EAX and OpenAL), you don't get the same effect, when using headphones, you just need to make sure you have Windows and your sound card software set properly.

From here:
image.png

With 'Speaker - X-Fi Surround Pro' highlighted, click the Configure button at the bottom-left and then tell it your "speakers" are 5.1, then in the Creative audio control panel set the speakers to headphones and enable SBX. Go play a game and see how it sounds. You're right, surround sound in headphones is dull. I don't know what your point of reference is, but I have a 7.1 speaker setup at my computer and I was given a set of Logitech G633 stereo headphones that use Dolby Headphone for surround virtualization that I've played with a bit. The virtual surround in stereo headphones really isn't bad, I tried it out in Fallout 4 and I could tell front from rear, but it's still not as fine as having discrete surround speakers.

If you have the room and can get away with making the noise, use speakers, but a lot of people have to compromise so I guess that's why headphones are so popular. I'm willing to bet that you get used to the headphones after a while.
 
Okay, I guess there's a confusion.

SB Control Panel allows you to configure the speaker mode - 2/2.1/5/Headhones. That affects how SB software handles the sound it receives from windows driver shim. If the source is stereo and speaker is set to 5.1, it would run it thru some algorithms to separate channels and transform the stereo signal into some pseudo 5.1. If the source is 5.1 and speakers are 2.0 or headphones, it would use a different algorithm to create a pseudo 5.1 on your headphones. No transformation if both the source and speakers have the same config.

The S/PDIF path on the sound card runs in parallel to the analog path, so regarless of what sound output you select in windows control panels, you should hear both outputs if you have a receiver and headphones connected at the same time.
Ideally, just set the windows control panel to Speaklers/SB X-Fi, set speaker configuration to 5.1 there so application would send 5.1 signal.

After that you need to use SB control panel to configure the actual speaker output algorithm and enable dolby digital out if you're using a receiver.
 
Okay, thanks! But if i have ticked the "let applications take exclusive control on this device" in Windows mixer, will it change anything?
 
somebodysomewhere said:
Okay, thanks! But if i have ticked the "let applications take exclusive control on this device" in Windows mixer, will it change anything?
Click to expand...
No, that only changes the behavior of certain applications. For example, a media player may want to take a full control of the audio stream so other applications and windows sound effects do not interrupt your media play.
 
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