Sound Blaster Z Optical to speaker issue/question

[primetime]

I tried hooking up my speakers with the optical cable that came with the speakers just for the sake of trying it out....I can get some of the windows sounds working like the vol up and down tone....but couldnt get much else to work. Honestly i have always used the analog hook for this card since i bought it....

I was just wondering if anyone ever uses the optical?

 

[pendragon1]

I tried hooking up my speakers with the optical cable that came with the speakers just for the sake of trying it out....I can get some of the windows sounds working like the vol up and down tone....but couldnt get much else to work. Honestly i have always used the analog hook for this card since i bought it....

I was just wondering if anyone ever uses the optical?

I use onboard optical with DD Live to get "5.1" from everything. you also need to make sure that it is enabled in the sound options as the main output device.

 

[primetime]

I use onboard optical with DD Live to get "5.1" from everything. you also need to make sure that it is enabled in the sound options as the main output device.

I guess its sorta working......except it sorta bypasses all the pro control panel options like EQ and Crystalizer or anything in the creative panel. Maybe its supposed to do that?

 

[pendragon1]

I guess its sorta working......except it sorta bypasses all the pro control panel options like EQ and Crystalizer or anything in the creative panel. Maybe its supposed to do that?

if its a DD or DTS source it will, I think, bypass the SB stuff. that's how it worked with my onboard before I got DDLive working. I know im comparing onboard vs SB but im pretty sure that's how its supposed to work.

 

[primetime]

if its a DD or DTS source it will, I think, bypass the SB stuff. that's how it worked with my onboard before I got DDLive working. I know im comparing onboard vs SB but im pretty sure that's how its supposed to work.

Cool ill see if movies or music sound any better.....i guess its what its mostly about with optical

 

[pendragon1]

Cool ill see if movies or music sound any better.....i guess its what its mostly about with optical

yup. anything DD/DTS should switch automatically and anything else, including most games, should be stereo. that's why I use DDLive, I get decent surround in everything.

 

[Nenu]

Maybe you have set up stereo speakers as 5.1.
This explains the loss of many sounds as they will be fed to the centre speaker which you wont have when using stereo.
Be sure to set the output from the SBZ to stereo under the Windows Playback Devices panel.

 

[primetime]

the 5.1 suggestions are a little confusing but ill play around with it....cause this is speakers im using https://www.amazon.com/Edifier-R1850DB-Bookshelf-Speakers-Bluetooth/dp/B073W1R4XQ and of course there just 2.0 stereo. I think in most cases people are sending optical or what not to their digital receivers which sends out to 5.1 or higher speaker set ups. My case is a little different of course...If i can do away with the rca cables feeding my speakers then its all the better cause im always for less cables.....its not like i need the optical but was just experimenting around with it.

 

[Nenu]

Use whichever sounds better.
This will be primarily dependent on the quality of the analogue stage used.
Analogue out from the soundcard uses its onboard DAC and analogue circuits/pre-amplifier.
Digital out to your speakers will use the DAC and analogue circuits in the speakers.

You have the option of choosing which sounds best to you, take advantage.

ps you have stereo speakers, dont set them up as 5.1.
Optical can send stereo or 5.1 if the sound card supports it.
Set it up correctly as optical will not complain if you get it wrong, it will just try and use what you set.

 

[runward]

I tried hooking up my speakers with the optical cable that came with the speakers just for the sake of trying it out....I can get some of the windows sounds working like the vol up and down tone....but couldnt get much else to work. Honestly i have always used the analog hook for this card since i bought it....

I use motherboard optical out to Behringer MS20s. I miss most of the Windows sounds, too. It seems that there is a ~1 second initialization for all sounds that go over optical to the speakers. Most windows sounds are less than 1 second, so they are missed entirely. If you "spam" a windows non-stop you will hear it.

I looked for an option to always output the audio stream to prevent this initialization delay, but I did not find an option like that for my motherboard.

 

[pendragon1]

I use motherboard optical out to Behringer MS20s. I miss most of the Windows sounds, too. It seems that there is a ~1 second initialization for all sounds that go over optical to the speakers. Most windows sounds are less than 1 second, so they are missed entirely. If you "spam" a windows non-stop you will hear it.

I looked for an option to always output the audio stream to prevent this initialization delay, but I did not find an option like that for my motherboard.

https://blog.rhysgoodwin.com/htpc/spdif-keepalive/