Question 5.1 Sound With my Z906

[Raging_Vampire]

Hi All,
Hoping you can help me as I'm tearing my hair out! I have an Aorus Z790 Elite AX mobo, paired with a logitech Z906 set of speakers and I would like to get 5.1 surround out of it. I feel like in 2024 this shouldn't be too much to ask. I have tried an analogue connection and rejected it for a couple of reasons:

• For some reason this motherboard has the analogue 3.5mm jacks spread between the back and front panels. That looks crap and I don't want it.
• I think something's wrong with my Mobo as when I do connect using the analogue 3.5mm jacks, I'm getting significant regular noise in the form of regular, loud, periodic pips of static at about 2Hz. It's sodding annoying. Possibly something to do with beta bios installed or a screening issue somewhere between the power supply and mobo.

So I'm left with using an optical connection. The consensus seems to be that you can't directly connect to a Toslink output with realtek on-board audio because it's not encoded with dolby digital and uncompressed won't fit using the available bandwidth. That leaves adding a new sound card that uses something like Dolby Digital Live, to encode over optical. If you check my Mobo's spec, it doesn't have any of the original PCI-E x1 ports to fit an internal sound card, which leaves USB sound cards as the only option.

Long story short, can anyone recommend any USB sound cards that include the capability to encode with Dolby Digital Live? I've looked at the Sound-Blaster G6, but user feedback indicates that it doesn't have that capability. Alternatively can anyone suggest a way of adapting a PCI-E x16 port to fit an x1 card?

Hoping someone can help!

R_V

 

[Lutfij]

For some reason this motherboard has the analogue 3.5mm jacks spread between the back and front panels. That looks crap and I don't want it.
This is where you read the manual for the motherboard, before you buy the motherboard, and see if the board meets your requirements in terms of (internal and external)connectivity.

Long story short, can anyone recommend any USB sound cards that include the capability to encode with Dolby Digital Live?
You didn't mention where you're located, your preferred site for purchase and your budget. Regardless, you could look into this;

Xonar U5｜Sound Cards｜ASUS Global

Xonar AE is a PCIe gaming sound card built with high-quality components to satisfy gamers who demand exceptional sound for the best gaming and multimedia experiences. Xonar AE delivers 7.1-channel, 192kHz/24-bit Hi-Res audio output with a high 110dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and comes with a...

www.asus.com

Assuming the Windows 10 drivers for the device will work with Windows 11(if you're on Windows 11, since that isn't state above).

 

[gptechman]

the built in realtek audio spdif can output 5.1 just fine, connect to it and configure the audio in its control panel.
then you're up n running!

 

[dwd999]

The consensus seems to be that you can't directly connect to a Toslink output with realtek on-board audio because it's not encoded with dolby digital and uncompressed won't fit using the available bandwidth.

Who are these consensus people anyway? If the audio is compressed at the source (e.g. a movie or video), and the program you're playing it with just passes it through, then it arrives at you Logitech unit still in compressed Dolby or DTS format when using Toslink. In the Control Panel Sound app if you select SPDIF as your output and select the Supported Formats tab, what does it show? It should show both Dolby and DTS and allow you to test the transfer to the Logitech unit which should then light up to indicate its receiving that format.

 

[Colif]

This move to not having 7.1 support on rear panel is reason I am going to use my external dac/amp to run powered speakers when I update next time, as I have same speakers as OP.

its worth trying the optical cable though you may still not get 5.1 - link

5.1 is more a driver thing than hardware, its been difficult for about 8 years to get actual 5.1 out of windows. See last comment in link above for reasons

Internal/external sound card might be only way to keep using speakers and/or get 5.1

Already have dac/amp, and well, my Z906 are 13 years old, won't last forever. By then I might be used to just using my headphones anyway.