Can't have 5.1 on pc games via optical/digital connection on Z906 speakers

[Lampros Loumpis]

I have connected the Z906 speaker system with my pc (onboard card) via an optical cable.On movies when the source is dts/doldy digital the decoder enables and everything works great.When the sound from the source is 5.1 but it's not dts/dolby digital the speaker system doesn't recognize the sound as 5.1 but it treats it like it is stereo.

This happens when I play pc games.The Z906 has 3 modes/effects.The 1st mode emulates the stereo sound to 5.1,The 2nd mode emulates the stereo sound to 4.1 and the 3rd mode just play the stereo sound as it is.

There isn't a mode to play the 5.1 sound when it's not dts or dolby digital.Any solutions?What I should do?

 

[reedo_43]

I have been in your situation before and don't have a fix, but how do you know that the source is 5.1?

 

[Lampros Loumpis]

I have tested the games with my other speakers x540 and the sound is 5.1.Also if I connect the Z906 speakers with the 3 analog cables the speakers have 5.1 sound while playing games.This happens cause the speakers console only if I make an analog connection gives me a 4th effect to choose.This effect is available only on the analog input.If the input is digital this mode isn't available.The 4th mode allows the sound from the source to pass without any kind of emulation.

 

[thtran6]

In your first scenario you were able to hear 5.1 from optical cable because the source sound was already in DDL or DTS, which the speaker will take in and decode it (the z906 comes with DDL and DTS decoder).

In your second scenario where you have 5.1 sound that was not already in DDL or DTS format, you will need an ENCODER on the pc's end to encode and compress that sound. I don't know your motherboard so I'm not sure if it can do this (some mobo can, some can't).
However, you can always get a sound card (such as the Sound blaster Z) which has DDL and DTS encoder built into the hardware of the sound card. Connect the sound card with your z906 via optical cable and you should be set to hear 5.1 from sources that aren't DDL/DST.

NOTE: make sure you enable the DDL/DTS encoding option in the control software that comes with the sound card, because at default it might not do that.

 

[kerberos_20]

optical cable doesnt have enough bandwith for 5.1 uncompressed audio, your speaker has few more inputs, 3x 3.5mm jacks for analog 5.1, or coaxial spdif, that one also supports uncompressed 5.1