Guide how to make 5.1 / DD work through digital optical connection (Toslink, SPDIF)

[Ed-ward]

Hi,

 

this guide's purpose is to save you a lot of time and frustration trying to get surround sound from swtor using optical connection. And hopefully to make clearer how things work.

 

I have just wasted a huge amount of time trying to make my new Tritton AX 720 sound really 3D. I

I had a feeling that the sound is more an enhanced stereo than 3D sound and not in a great quality anyway. As it turned out, I was right.

I believe that this guide should apply to all speaker systems / heaphones that use optical connection and can decode Dolby Digital sound.

 

I am no pro, I learned all this during last two days so a more proffesional description might be appropriate. If you believe that I am wrong, I misunderstood something or that I use incorrect terminology I would appriciate if you point it out in a polite manner and I will tweak the guide.

 

Dolby versus Multichannel

First, swtor does not output Dolby Digital encoded sound. It outputs multichannel sound.

Dolby Digital encodes multichannel sound in a specific format. In order to get Dolby Digital from swtor you'll have to do it externally, the game itself can't do it.

 

SPDIF (optical connection) can only pass 2.0 (2.1?) or Dolby Digital or DTS sound

This is the a big secret you will not read about. You can't get uncompressed 5.1 sound or 7.1 sound through SPDIF (digital optical connection). The only way to get 5.1 sound or 7.1 sound from it is if it is encoded in Dolby Digital or DTS format. You will NOT get a 5.1 or 7.1 by just selecting appropriate Digital optical output in windows and setting the proper number of speakers.

 

How to get Dolby Digital / DTS sound from Star Wars - Dolby Digital Live

You will not get Dolby Digital directly from swtor. You'll need a way to encode mutichannel to Dolby Digital format. The magic word is Dobly Digital Live. This technology transforms multichannel audio to Dolby Digital format.

Now if you are lucky you accomplish this by turning on Dolby Digital Live encoding on your sound card. If your card doesn't come with Dolby Digital Live capability or the capbility to output sound as DTS through optical connection you are screwed. Your best shot is to buy a cheap sound card capable of Dolby Digital Live or DTS - check what your heaphones / sound system support.

 

I for example connected my AX 720 to my motherboard Realtek Digital optical output connection but since Realtek is not capable of converting multichannel audio to Dolby Digital (with Dolby Digital Live) I could not get surround sound. (Realtek does seem to be capable of outputting the signal as DTS via it's optical connection, but unfortunately my headphones can't decode that signal. If your headphoned support DTS input and you have Realtek onboard audio, you are probably fine. Just set it as default output format and you have a go.)

Fortunately I found out that my Sound Blaster does have an optical audio out.

 

Enabling Dolby Digital Live on Sound Blaster X-Fi / Audigy audio cards

If you have one of these the fortune smiles upon you.

Check Creative Audio Control Panel. If one of the Tabs (Mode, Speakers, EAX Effects...) is called Encoder and you see there Dolby Digital Live and/or Dts Connect you have a win. Enable it. If you don't have it there (which was my case) you'll have to purchase it from Creative for 5 US dollars (no comment). There are two sets - one for X-Fi series and the other for Audigy series. Please make sure that you buy the right one by checking that your model is in the supported cards list provided in description. I read somewhere that some higher end Sound Blasters already come with this feature so that you don't have to buy it (in that case you should already have the Encode tab anyway).

 

If your standard TOSLINK optical cable doesn't fit to your sound card...

If your sound card has Optical digital out but your cable doesn't fit there (as was my case with my SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer) you probably have a hole for 3,5mm jack (standard jack you find in most headphones for example). Creative calls this type of jack FlexiJack (I assume it's because you can stick normal 3,5mm jack there or you can use the optical 3,5mm jack too).

In that case you'll need a mini Toslink - Toslink cable like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOSLINK#Mini-TOSLINK

This is assuming that your headphones have standard Toslink hole.

Check you sound card documentation and your headphone documentation for exact jacks you need. I can't help you in this regard. The only thing I can tell you is that if you have SB X-Fi Extreme Gamer model SB073 (Apparently they make others too) and Tritton AX 720 v1.0 you'll need the Mini Toslink-Toslink cable.

 

Setting speakers in Windows 7

Strangely it seems that you have set speakers connected to your card and not SPDIF as default sound device in windows. Set it to 5.1 or 7.1 and make it default device. I read you need to do this in Vista too.

In my case I have this in my sound devices:

SPDIF Out Creative SB X-Fi

Speakers Creative SB X-Fi (default playback device) - Set to 5.1

 

Ever present hum

I was getting a hum/buzzing/static all the time when I had my headphones connected to Realtek (Always started after playback finished. The only way to get rid of it was to switch amplifier mode. The hum wasn't present when it was set on stereo mode only). I get none in Sound Blaster. I assume it has something to do with lower quality of Realtek or incorrect encoding.

 

Quick Summary

1.) Plug the correct optical cable to your sound card.

2.) Enable Dolby Digital Live / DTS in sound card drivers.

3.) Set speakers in Windows to 5.1 / 7.1 and make them default playback device

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This will enable 5.1 sound in all other games that use 5.1 / 7.1 sound but do not output it as Dolby Digital / Dts (They very rarely do).

 

My opinion:

My headphones Tritton 720 are advertised as a headset capable of 5.1 / 7.1 sound. What the advertisement kind of ommited to say is that I'll get 5.1 or 7.1 sound ONLY when it's in Dolby Digital format. No Dolby Digital, no 3D just some not really great enhanced stereo. I believe this might be the case in other surround heaphones too.

 

I can see why they don't advertise that you might (probably will) need additonal hardware/software/cables to run most of the games in 7.1 as they claim. People might be scared off by finding out they need to actaull read their (often very lousy) manual to sound card figure out if it supports DD Live, buy a sound card if not. They also need the right cable and to set windows up properly.

 

What I find very shocking (ok, not so much, this is my 6431276123rd dissapointment with Evil World ) that it took me almost two days to put together how to enable surround sound via optical cable in games. There should be a warning / guide at least in MANUAL (hey, since you bought this gaming headset that connects to optical port you might want to know these details). There should be a guide from Bioware / EA. Maybe it exists but it's not easy to find.

 

Enough ranting, enjoy your surround! ))

[Owsley]

Great guide. I gave up on digital output a long time ago. maybe I'll revisit it. I suspect I need a sound card since the onboard is Realtek, which has always been flakey. Edited July 24, 2012 by Owsley

[Ed-ward]

If your headset can decode Dts you might be ok even with Realtek, I saw that option in control panel.

 

Plug optical in

Go to Realtek control panel -> Digital

Enable Dts as output frequency (I have 44, 48, 96, 192 in various bit depths and Dts there)

Set headphones (not spdif) as defaul

Try it out.

 

...it's just a theory, I haven't tried it though.

[MMoudry]

Here is a guide to unlock Dolby Digital output on almost any realtek chipset. Worked for me on my Sabertooth X79.

 

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/unlocked-realtek-hd-audio-drivers-with-dolby-digital-live-and-dts-interactive.193148/

[Venea]

I know it's a sin to necro a thread, but it's got some good information in it already.

 

But.... my problem is (kind of) different. I've got both Optical and....well, 3.5mm jacks. When I've got it on Optical, it automatically uses all the speakers (I've a console that lights up what speakers are being used if the input signal changes, IE when I start a game that does 5.1 sound)

But....almost everything comes from the front 3 speakers. The rear are....just ambient, it seems. Even if the NPC talking is behind me, it comes out the front speakers.

When I switch to 3.5mm jacks, though, the sound moves around properly, but as soon as it switch to a rear speaker, they might as well not be talking. The speakers work, as speaker tests have proven numerous times, but in actual practice....not so much.

 

So...who wants to be Obi-Wan Kenobi and help me this time? (oh, also, if it's relevant, Asus motherboard with RealTek HD audio.)