What is this Audigy 2 don´t output bass issue?

O

oqvist

[H]F Junkie
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Except for Creative speakers?

Would I have a problem with connecting my HT speaker Digitheatre Platinum in analogue or digital mode?

Analogue they connect via the red and white phono or what it´s called. Digitally coaxial probably since the Audigy 2 I am getting don´t seem to have any coaxial or optical out just the 3,5 mm connections.

So analogue I will be running with speakers either stereo or dolby pro logic and with headphones stereo.

Is this a problem for me? Heard something that the bass don´t make it´s way to the satellites or something and my speakers are off the kind that the bass only takes care of the really low bass and such since my satellites got really good bass extention taking care of the upper bass regions.

And do this issue affect headphones as well??
 
Well, it's a little disheartening as the problem has apparently been known by Creative for nearly 2 years. It existed in the original Audigy, Audigy 2, and so far, the creative thread has many 2ZS users reporting the same.

Essentially, there appears to be a difference in the subwoofer signal output by that port vs. what an external amp (receiver) is expecting or can process. If you are going directly to a set of speakers, I'm unsure of your results, but if you go thru a receiver, according to MOST users (some say it's ok but they are the minority) the subwoofer signal is very weak.

This is for the analog connection, btw... if you use the coax/optical connection to your receiver, the subwoofer is fine but you should know that if you do this, you will NOT have positional sound in things like games (dvds should be fine, however, since they are encoded in the digital stream where games, MP3s, etc. are not).

Several including myself have done some testing and the bass signal to the front channels is very strong. So theoretically, if you used 1 (or more) Y adapters to funnel a copy of the front channel to the sub input, your sub output will be fine (I, in fact, had to turn my sub down when i tried this because it was so strong).

Alternatively, depending on your sub's input/output options, you could run the front channels into your sub and then out from there (using the sub to crossover the signal instead of the receiver). There's good and bad with this but one thing it does is essentially chain 2 amps, freeing up a little power for your other channels (assuming your sub has the power behind it to support this).

Not sure if what you're referring to is a set of speakers or a receiver, but this problem seems to be most prevalent (and reproducible) when a receiver is in the equation. Below is a link to the creative forum where the problem has been discussed for a long time.

As always, your results may vary :)

hope this helps...
pb

Creative forum discussing subwoofer prob
 
Thanks so for headphones directly connected to the Audigy 2 there should be no problem?

However my digitheatre Platinums may be another story. It has a combined bass/receiver box. It has as I said the analogue connection is a RCA phono?? connection. One white and one red. Those who looks like coaxial you know?

It´s not as my old Inspire where I have tree connections one for rear one for front and one for center/bass.

This allows me to run either in dolby prologic or stereo which is fine since I am using my soundstorm for surround gaming. My audigy 2 is mainly for my headphones or music or stereo gaming.

So if I run my speakers in analogue mode in either stereo or dolby prologic do you think I would have a problem? It´s home theater speakers so they just connects to eachother with wires and no plugs.
 
Yeah, if i were to guess based on how you described it (as a receiver), I would guess you'd have a problem.

Here is what i've seen firsthand... Using the stereo mini-plug to RCA plug that carries the center/sub signal (like you're describing, i think), the sub plug has almost no signal. According to creative documentation that came w/ my audigy, the red plug is the subwoofer signal and the white is the center. The center signal is output fine, but the sub is missing. I have also tried 3-pole miniplugs with similarly disgusting results.

But the kicker to all of this is where is that plug going... if it is going to a receiver, the signal is dead. If it's going to a set of speakers, I just don't know. I can't belive that it doesn't work going directly to a set of speakers (or more accurately, the DSP for a set of speakers) simply for the fact that this forum isn't lit up with logitech and klipsch users setting creative on fire about it. AFAIK, the setup works fine going to a set of those speakers so I honestly don't know if yours are more like those speakers or more like a receiver. I can confirm that it does not work on a Sony receiver and users on the creative forum also confirm it does not work on Yamaha, Pioneer, and JVC.

Headphones should be fine (mine are). And if you opt for the digital coax connection, your sub is also fine (I had mine running thru a set of Promedia GMXs via coax and it worked fine except for the maddening hiss from the crappy GMX DSP). But boy, once I put the receiver in the circuit it all fell apart.

My current workaround is to use the speaker-level inputs on my sub (instead of line input) and I'm running my front channels thru the sub. Bass is great, and the sound field separation is still intact.

I guess all you can do is try it. Someday I will probably upgrade my soundcard (still A1) but if the sub issue isn't resolved, I will have to change brands.

I apologize if my explanation is more muddy than clear, I'm sort of in the 'baptism by fire' stage of this whole HT/PC project myself...

pb
 
Damn damn damn. Audigy driver team has done it again. Or even worse their hardware team have messed up!

So Audigy is the only cards with such problems? How could they have missed such an issue? I mean they have to know about it but I guess they just can´t fix it with their current hardware??

I would have wanted to use the Audigy DAC instead of my Videologic DAC:s. Sure they are very good 16-bit but Audigy got 24-bit so it should be better for me running analogue then digital.

And since my receiver is build in my bass unit my possibilites are kind of limited. Am limited to optical/coaxial and RCA phono line-in.
 
Well I have an Audigy 2 ZS with the z-640 (analog) and I get subwoofer on mp3s, games with no cmss/dsp/bass redirection without any problems... Although I think you guys mean home theater speakers, it is definately not on all analog speakers...

-MoOfAsA~
 
Originally posted by oqvist


I would have wanted to use the Audigy DAC instead of my Videologic DAC:s. Sure they are very good 16-bit but Audigy got 24-bit so it should be better for me running analogue then digital.
Click to expand...


Did I miss something? When did an Audigy 1 get a 24-bit DAC?
 
Duck - I think he just slang-typed Audigy in place of A2 or ZS (which he had mentioned in the first part of the thread).

Moofasa - Like i said, i think this problem is limited to receivers, because if it didn't work for logitech or klipsch speakers, there would be an uproar. Something different about how an amp from a receiver processes the signal vs. a set of multimedia speakers. I don't know what it is but i can attest that it stinks w/ a receiver.

oqvist - dunno, but it's been a problem for a long time and creative's official answer (from a tech chat w/ them) is "we are aware that there are intermittent issues when receivers are used, so use the coax output" They also mentioned there are no known issues w/ creative speakers... bleh.


pb
 
Your Logitech Z-640s are still computer multimedia speakers. They have their own bass management onboard, so they will take whatever signal input and process it accordingly. My old Creative FPS1000s, when only connected by the front analog, will reproduce the front for the rear. This concept can be applied with the function of most multimedia speakers.

A home theater receiver is different. All have to use the Multichannel mode when receiving ouput from the Audigy series of sound cards. Therefore, what's output for bass, treble and midrange for the left front channel, will be output strictly for that channel. There is no frequency mixing, crossover control, etc. etc. etc., short of volume level control for each channel.

This is where the Audigy's flaw glares. There is almost NO LFE output to the sub where there should be, as in Windows sounds, MP3s, audio CDs, etc. In properly ENCODED material, such as DVDs, AC3s, that have their own LFE channel encoded, the Audigy outputs it superbly.

I also found another flaw. On an Audigy 2 ZS, the rears get almost NO BASS, whereas the front has MEGA amounts of bass. If I wanna listen to my music in a 4.1 mode, or a 5.1 mode, which is possible with the ZS, the front sounds heaving, and the rear sounds tinny. There is an option for Stereo X2 in the settings. If I set that option, the same exact signal should be reproduced across ALL channels. REPRODUCED, NOT MATRIXED OR SOME OTHER CRAP. I have to keep making compromises to equalize the sound between the front, rear, sub and center channels. It just plain sucks.
 
question that's kinda OT, but it was mentioned. I have my Creative DTT2500 Digital 5.1's hooked up to my audigy 2 zs via the digital din connector.. Now, I am aware that connecting it like this, I sacrifice the center channel, but that's ok..

But, are you saying by using the digital din, I'm not actually getting 3d positional audio, and I have to have it hooked up through the analog?

Granted, this would make relative sense in a couple of games (like SOF2 Multiplayer), where it seems that 3d audio isnt' working, but I could swear that I get 3d audio from other games I've played...

Or does this only apply if you are connecting the audigy to a receiver?
 
Originally posted by Barnaby
question that's kinda OT, but it was mentioned. I have my Creative DTT2500 Digital 5.1's hooked up to my audigy 2 zs via the digital din connector.. Now, I am aware that connecting it like this, I sacrifice the center channel, but that's ok..

But, are you saying by using the digital din, I'm not actually getting 3d positional audio, and I have to have it hooked up through the analog?

Granted, this would make relative sense in a couple of games (like SOF2 Multiplayer), where it seems that 3d audio isnt' working, but I could swear that I get 3d audio from other games I've played...

Or does this only apply if you are connecting the audigy to a receiver?
Click to expand...

you sacrifice the center channel when using the Digital DIN? isn't that supposed to be one of the benefits of the connection - it is a 6-channel digital connection, whereas optical is 2-channel?
 
You mean the DTT3500s, right? I never heard of a DTT2500. :confused: Maybe I'm wrong; I own the DTT3500 Digital.

I'm sure I stated somewhere else that this issue does NOT affect Creative speaker systems, for some reason. In addition, connecting the digital output from the Audigy 2 ZS to a Creative speaker system will still give you full surround, because it is a Creative system. If you connect that same digital output to a home receiver, you will ONLY get 2 channel sterero.

The digital output on Creative souncards are not "truly" digital in the sense of outputting an encoded signal for an external decoder. It is more or less a proprietary connection for Creative's own brand of speakers.
 
Originally posted by SpaceMonkeyAndy
you sacrifice the center channel when using the Digital DIN? isn't that supposed to be one of the benefits of the connection - it is a 6-channel digital connection, whereas optical is 2-channel?
Click to expand...

yes, it was a limitation of the DTT2500's.. granted it'd be nice if I had it for games, but I dont' think there are any that really use it.. it's either 4.1 surround, or 6.1 and now 7.1 in games.. don't think they really did 5.1 for EAX...
 
Originally posted by Barnaby
yes, it was a limitation of the DTT2500's.. granted it'd be nice if I had it for games, but I dont' think there are any that really use it.. it's either 4.1 surround, or 6.1 and now 7.1 in games.. don't think they really did 5.1 for EAX...
Click to expand...


ah, i wasn't aware of that. i have the DTT3500's, but don't have a creative card currently (or any with the Digital DIN connection). i have a Fortissimo III, and was hoping that the optical connection would take care of it; but this was before i knew that soundstorm was the only option for realtime 5.1 through the optical connection. oh well. thinking about getting an Audigy 2 ZS to hook up to my DTT3500's cause i would like 5.1 sound while on the Fourpoint/ 5.1 DIN setting on the DTT3500 base station. the music setting and Dolby Pro Logic make music sound like crap compared to the Fourpoint/ 5.1 DIN setting (which sounds pretty damn good if i do say so myself - perfect for a dorm room)
 
the audigy 2 zs is pretty sweet, got rid of my original audigy for it.. definately worth the 83 bucks
 
Originally posted by leukotriene
Clearly then, you are not using a surround reciever ;)
Click to expand...

no, using computer speakers... I have no need to have the puter hooked up to the home theater, so no problems there for me..
 
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