Stupid Noob question about 7.1

[Squeakeasy]

Hi chaps/chapesses

I have an analogue 7.1 speaker setup - all seems to work correctly but there is one thing which bugs me because I don't understand it.

When I play an mp3 using Winamp the audio uses all of the speakers. If I play the same with Windows Media player it uses the centre speakers/2.1 only. A limitation of windows media or have I missed something? The speakers are all configured correctly in win 7 and the asus xonar ds and I've also installed the k-lite codec pack for good measure!

 

[dragonhawke]

Itunes and commercially available MP3s almost always only have information for stereo, or 2 channels.

Windows Media Player by itself does not implement any digital signal processing as it assumes the user prefers pure direct signals.

If you want your 2 channel music to be converted by DSP into "fake" surround sound, your sound card control panel may have some sort of feature like CMSS or All Channel Stereo.

 

[Squeakeasy]

Cheers dragonhawke