Sound card issues.

  • Thread starter Gdog96
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Gdog96

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So this has been going on for ages but I couldn't be bothered to posta thread about it until now.

Basically I bought a new sound card a while back, this one: http://www.ebuyer.com/246650-asus-x...card-with-built-in-headphone-amp-xonar-dg-oem and I cant get the 5.1 sound to work.

In the driver software, I set the audio to 5.1 channel, and set a few other settings so that I can get audio. Thing is, only my front left and right speakers will play any sound when testing it in the drivers and in games etc. When I click on the central, and two rear speakers to test them, the bars go up as if the driver thinks sound is playing, but no sound comes out.
I'm connected by optical digital cable by the way.

I know the speakers themselves are working as I have tested them with a CD put straight into the DVD player that they are hooked up to.

I know this is probably very vague, but I literally know nothing about sound cards, so, does any one know how to get my other speakers working?

Also, on the sound card itself it has a few pins that say something like SPDIF or something, and a few others (sorry my PC isnt in a convenient place right now). What are these for? I have nothing connected in them because the sound card didn't come with anything to connect to them.

Again, sorry, I have no idea what I'm talking about. lol
 
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Are you trying to use one of those all-in-one home theater systems where the speakers connect directly to the DVD/Bluray player or whatever?

On the sound card:
The pink, green and black jacks are for front, surround, and center/subwoofer repectively. You would use these if you had a 5.1 PC speaker system that you wanted to connect directly to the computer (i.e. Logitech 5.1 systems or similar.)

The orange jack is Mic in.

The optical jack is the SPDIF. I think these can send either uncompressed 2 channel audio or compressed dolby digital/DTS format. Seems as though your DVD player is only looking for the 2 channels from its optical input. Might want to poke around in the settings for the DVD player and see if you can change what type of input it is expecting on the optical port. Dolby/DTS should use all 5.1 speakers but either way I don't know that it will be true 5.1. Probably a few people around here who have a better understanding of this than me.
 
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Thanks for the replies guys. In response to Nick, my speakers plug into a DVD player (a pretty old one) and I connect the DVD player to my PC via optical. The thing is, all speakers used to work with my PS3.

I just found out that windows noises (like when you first log in) play through all speakers, but nothing else does, unless I'm hearing things.

Unfortunately, my DVD player doesn't have the pink green and black connectors on it.

If I can't figure it out I might just but a new set of speakers that connect directly into the computer, it seems easier and would probably give me better audio than the speakers I have now.
 
It could be that the optical connector is loose in the DVD player. The household has a Sony Receiver unit that has a broken port and require the cable to be in the right position to even work.
 
nick09
The household has a Sony Receiver unit that has a broken port and require the cable to be in the right position to even work.
Click to expand...

Weird, our Sony all-in-one home cinema has a busted S/PDIF too, the metal tab which normally clips the connector in place is all bent up. I had to push it back so the wall would hold the cable in place.

I have a Xonar DX and I presume the ASUS Audio Centre software is the same across all models, do you have a speaker test option? That helps when debugging multi-channel issues, of course. Have you had a poke around in Windows' own audio settings? Have you disabled the on-board audio and possibly your graphics card's audio too? I was having trouble with stuttering a while back (different issue, I know) and had to disable my 580's audio drivers in Device Manager to fix it. Maybe that could help you?

Someone, I can't remember who (could've been Pako or bergauk maybe?) told me the best way to get audio is through your graphics card, but that relies on your receiver having HDMI in and you not requiring HDMI for your monitors. And your graphics card having HDMI out. Might be something to think about, but I got the DX because I wanted to use headphones and got suckered in to the 'OMG fake 5.1!' lie.
 
I'll try that neema, thanks, I'll get back to you guys, most likely tommorow because it's getting late where I am now :P
 
On second thought I think I'll just say this. When I test the S/PDIF pass through device within windows, all of my speakers make the noise. But when I go into the drivers, only the front two do? What's happening?
I only have the S/PDIF pass through device and the speakers enabled in windows, I have disabled all GPU audio as well as the audio on the motherboard. Any ideas?
I appreciate your help by the way everyone.

EDIT: Sorry for the triple post, I forgot you could edit stuff :P
 
Th DVD player doesn't have HDMI in, its really old. And I have an asus gtx 550ti (the non direct CU top version)

Just some update on what's going on in windows.

If I go into the control panel and click hardware and sound, then sound, I get two icons in the list.
1.Speakers, as the default communications device
2.S/PDIF pass through device as the default device.

Now, if I right click on the speakers and click test, I can see that it tries to test all of my speakers but only the front two work.
If I right click and click test on the pass through device, it only tries to test the front two, and they both work.

However, if I double click on the pass through device, and click on the supported formats tab at the top, and then press the dolby digital check box and test that, all speakers play....
The other two formats listed I have unchecked because no sound comes out of the speakers.

Hopefully that makes it a bit clearer, does anyone know how to sort this?
 
Well, for starters definitely set the S/PDIF as the default sound device and possibly just disable "Speakers." You would set speakers as the default if you had a PC 5.1 system connected to the other 3 jacks on the card.

I'm guessing for normal Windows desktop sounds the computer will only send a stereo (2 channel) signal to the dvd player. Seems like only things that actually ouput sound in Dolby or DTS will send a signal for 5.1 to the dvd player. I'm not sure if many PC games can output in Dolby or not. You might want to try playing a DVD on your computer (if it has a dvd drive). Make sure your dvd player software is set to dolby 5.1 or whatever and see if all 5.1 speakers are used.
 
Make sure you have Dolby Digital 5.1 encoding enabled in your driver software, (it goes without saying that your receiver needs to be able to decode that signal) and that the speaker type is set to 5.1 in sound properties.
 
Whilst doing that I found that in the advanced properties of the S/PDIF passthrough thing, in only gives me options for 2 channel audio...could this be the problem?
 
Ensure in the Asus Audio center that SPDIF/Digital is enabled and 5.1 is selected; select Dolby Digital (live) if it is available in that pull down menu. If this isn't available here then your card will not encode 5.1 through spdif.

Windows: under sound right click on spdif-out (the one that corresponds with the sound card), choose set as default device, then right click again and select properties. Click on the supported formats tab, select dolby digital and apply; click on the advanced tab, select dolby digital live under default format and allow applications to take control over the device.
If dolby digital live is still not showing up then reinstall your driver software.

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Audio_Card/Xonar_DG/E7802_Xonar_DG.pdf

Here is your manual.

I am reading online that your card has Dolby Headphone (virtual surround 5.1) and NOT Dolby Digital/DTS encoding; this means you cannot send 5.1 audio through the optical port (only stereo). You're limited to analog for surround.
 
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II-zOoLoGy-II
Ensure in the Asus Audio center that SPDIF/Digital is enabled and 5.1 is selected; select Dolby Digital (live) if it is available in that pull down menu. If this isn't available here then your card will not encode 5.1 through spdif.

Windows: under sound right click on spdif-out (the one that corresponds with the sound card), choose set as default device, then right click again and select properties. Click on the supported formats tab, select dolby digital and apply; click on the advanced tab, select dolby digital live under default format and allow applications to take control over the device.
If dolby digital live is still not showing up then reinstall your driver software.

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Audio_Card/Xonar_DG/E7802_Xonar_DG.pdf

Here is your manual.

I am reading online that your card has Dolby Headphone (virtual surround 5.1) and NOT Dolby Digital/DTS encoding; this means you cannot send 5.1 audio through the optical port (only stereo). You're limited to analog for surround.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that must be it. So does that mean the only way to get 5.1 surround it to use the coloured connectors on the back?

I apologise for my incompetence and for making you waster your time finding stuff for me, but I really appreciate it. :)
 
Gdog96
Thanks, that must be it. So does that mean the only way to get 5.1 surround it to use the coloured connectors on the back?

I apologise for my incompetence and for making you waster your time finding stuff for me, but I really appreciate it. :)
Click to expand...

Yes, the analog connections.

You should potentially still be able to get 5.1 from movies (depending on the player and your installed codecs) but not games.

http://www.ac3filter.net

Install the ac3 codec and movies should be in 5.1 through spdif just fine. No promises.
 
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Have the same problem, when I connect my system via optical.
That's because the optical signal is digital and the receiver selects the format.
One way to test, is if you open the panel in windows, where you can select the supported formats (right click/properties on the optical connection) and then you select test.
If your receiver, or headset supports that format, you will year a test sound from each channel.
Later on in game, it depends on the game.
Some games work fine with the standard settings, some games you have to select Dolby or home theatre in the menu.
But some games just don't like optical.
 

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