Which Dolby Digital Live Sound Card Should I Buy?

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Cytomax

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Hello all I have a very long and troubling story that i guess I deserved for it to happen to me for not fully researching the Audigy 2 ZS and support for digital 5.1 channels. I have bumped my head once and will not anymore. Anyways on to my question.

I would like to buy a Dobly Digital Live Sound Card because i would like to plug this sound card using either a S/PDIF (digital Coax Cable) or Toslink (Digital Fiber Optic Cable) into my Home Theater System which includes an old Harman Kardon AVR 310 Receiver and a Bose 5 speaker 1 subwoofer sound system. Now I have been reading a lot and I know that there are 2 ways i can get Dolby Digital Live which is to buy an Intel Motherboard since they come onboard (not an option for me) or to buy a soundcard . I am choosing to buy a soundcard unless there is an AMD motherboard with a built in Dolby Digital Live capabilities that for some reason does a lot better than any sound card.
I have found 2 cards that for sure will meet what i need/want which are the following:

Turtle Beach - Montego http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/products/soundcards/mtgoddl/specs.asp
The only review i can find on the sound card
- http://techgage.com/review.php?id=3708
- Uses the C-media CMI8768+ chipset

Blue Gears - XMystique 7.1 Gold http://www.bluegears.com/xmystique.html
The Blue Gears website has a list of reviews on this product
- http://www.bluegears.com/pressroom.html
- Uses the C-Media CMI8768+ chipset

1) I would like to know if there are any other sound cards that offer what i am looking

2) I would really want to know of all the Dolby Digital Live Sound Cards which is the best and buy the best i mean which is the clearest with the minimalist slowing of fps during gaming and the most stable drivers please keep in mind I mainly play Battlefield 2, Half-Life 2, and Doom III in that order of importance

3) Just incase anyone is interested these are the 2 chipmakers that i know of that now support both Dolby Digital Live and the new DTS Connect in one chip

http://www.cmedia.com.tw/product/product_pci.htm

http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/products1-1.aspx?lineid=2004052
 
I believe there is Terratec card, Aureon 7.1. PCI that can that, too. Check their site.

But I have heard many times DDL is not a real Dolby. DDL compresses signal and introduces some latency which you may hear. DDL is not very good and this seems to be the reason why it is not officially supported by Creative. I would not go for yet another card just to avail this very feature if you have Audigy 2 already.

DTS encoding is, however, much more tempting. It used to cost gazillion$ but goes down in price now.

For Doom3 and BF2 EAX HD effects you better off keeping your Audigy 2 ZS and get an encoder to translate audio into DTS stream. There is this hardware DTS610 encoder from Creative or you can pick some software encoders, too (e.g. Sony's Vegas has both surround mixing and Dolby AC-3 encoding capability built into the program).

Then you will really get the best of your setup. With just DDL your gain in quality (using Toslink instead of analog cables) may not even balance loss due to (1)compression (2) delay (3)lack of EAX HD support...
 
Eh.. most ddl options suck, like mentioned above. All cards that support it suck for gaming. Just get this and be done with it. Sure you might sacrifice a small bit of quality but you'll stil lhave 5.1 sound done properly. Creative Home Theatre Cables

Just to clarifiy somthing that might not be immediatly obvious.. Dolby Digital and DTS is a standard. If it's decoded properly it will soudn the same, no matter if it's decoded by a reciever, a piece of software or a soundcard. The end result is the same. The only sacrifice is audio fidelity.
 
I'd like to see a 6.1 or 7.1 speaker version of that Creative DTS-610? (DTS ES perhaps, that does discrete 6.1)
 
Don't even consider the DTS-610. Your sound goes out through your sound cards DACs and op-amps, into the DTS-610s op-amps and ADCs, only to be encoded into a lossy (albeit high bitrate) format like DTS. I like DTS, but that solution itself is absolutely terrible.
 
Does the 610 not accept digital input? If it does then the soundcard dosent touch the signal with dacs or opamps.. (Digital out is just a transport)

Regards,
Mike
 
S/PDIF can only do 2 channel PCM. So if you have surround output, it's either already in AC3 or DTS, defeating the purpose of the box. If you have surround that's PCM, you can only use analog, and then you'd connect it to the DTS-610, which is just stupid because of what I said before.

Anyone who uses the DTS-610 for anything other than running a signal for a really long distance where analog is too much of a pain and/or picks up too much interference is a fool.
 
dandragonrage said:
S/PDIF can only do 2 channel PCM. So if you have surround output, it's either already in AC3 or DTS, defeating the purpose of the box. If you have surround that's PCM, you can only use analog, and then you'd connect it to the DTS-610, which is just stupid because of what I said before.

Anyone who uses the DTS-610 for anything other than running a signal for a really long distance where analog is too much of a pain and/or picks up too much interference is a fool.
Click to expand...
Or does not have analog in on their receiver, or uses it for games where the difference in sound would be unnoticeable, or likes real bass (the "bass fix" on the x-fi is better than the A2 but still not great). The DTS-610 is not a bad product like you make out to be, there are several uses to it, but I think the real question should be is it worth $100? Depends on the person. Would have it been a lot better if creative put the DTS interactive on the card? Of course. But I doubt someone with like an Elite Pro (with high quality dacs and such) would notice a difference between analog or this DTS solution. But perhaps there are people who can tell the difference.
 
There is a lot of discussion on latency and compression on these cards. People that have the cards swear by them and no one makes any mention of sound issues with the cards - latency, compression or sound quality generally.

If someone makes mention of compression and latency then ignore them unless they claim they have one of these cards and have had some issue with them.

That said, I do not have any of these cards. I am just reinterating what others appear to be saying about these cards.
 
a receiver w/o analog, yet you're dropping $100 into a stupid encoder? You put that $100 more into a receiver and what have you got? Something still shitty but at least usable, unlike that POS that didn't even have analog inputs.
 
dandragonrage said:
a receiver w/o analog, yet you're dropping $100 into a stupid encoder? You put that $100 more into a receiver and what have you got? Something still shitty but at least usable, unlike that POS that didn't even have analog inputs.
Click to expand...
I know going from analog to digital (compressed) back to analog isn't the greatest way, but is it really that "shitty" as you say? Have you actually heard the DTS-610 or are you just posting pointless banter? Please don't offer opinions if you have never even tried the product. I am not saying it's good by any means (I have not used it either), but that is no reason to talk about things that you never heard of. Why don't you purchase one, try it out, and write a review about it for us.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys if you have any more info or comments to tell me i am all ears... I wish someone would review both of these cards to see if they can tell a difference but since they use the same CMI8768+ chipset i guess i wouldnt expect much of a difference...

@Uncle Jim
Thank you for the recommendation for DTS-610 but i just dont feel right buying more creative products... I had already called creative and the tech support guy recommended me this product and i almost fell off the chair when they said it was $100. I am pretty upset at them (maybe foolishly since i dont know much) that them being the biggest and best soundcard company wouldn't be the first and best to implement DDL and DTS Connect. So after spending $90 on a Audigy 2 ZS Gamer Edition they want another $100 for a piece of hardware that does the same thing as the 2 sound cards i mentioned in this post. Please correct me if i am wrong but i tend to ramble sometimes.... anyways that was off topic of the last 3 points you mentioned the first 2 i dont think will bother me but the third one which is lack of EAX support after EAX2

@Elderblaze
Thanks for the recommendation that is exactly what i would use for now but alas they dont sell it to Americans (i just called them and asked) because they prefer us to purchase the more expensive DTS610 instead of buying the cable. The DTS 610 uses the 3 analog outs which then connect to the DTS610 which then go to your Receiver through a digital cable.

@dandragonrage
Right on!

@Moofasa~
My point exactly why has Creative not put the DTS Connect or DDL in thier cards yet... I wouldnt be upset if say the new XFi cards had this but they dont have it either... what gives...

@dandragonrage and Moofasa~
Guys please dont argue about the DTS 610 it is just opinion and i see both sides... one says dont knock it till you try it the other says all the converting back and forth is pointless it should just be integrated on the card and be done with it...

If anyone would happen to know a place i could buy 3 cable at least 15' long that are 1/8" ( or 3.5 mm same thing) to 2 rca for about 10 bucks a piece.. let me know please..

Thanks in Advance
Eddie
 
I recommend Python (AKA Steren) cable. Check Froogle. Try this search term: Python Cable 3.5mm RCA
 
Going through useless DACs, opamps, and ADCs may not be too noticible with computer speakers. But since the DTS-610 is meant for a real receiver, it is quite possible for it to substantially lower the sound. I'd have to know exactly what DACs, opamps and ADCs Creative is using to tell you how bad the effect will be, but even if they're of amazing quality, it will STILL lower the sound quality. And I bet they're only using fair quality components.
 
The DTS format may be lossy and such, but it's not as bad as the Dolby format.

As for why would you want to do it? I wouldn't, but I am not running 15 foot away from a receiver.

I would still recommend using dedicated audio cables.
 
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