Dolby Digital Live Encoder vs. Stereo Mix to Digital Output on SBZ Sound Card

thtran6

Upstanding
Oct 2, 2018
167
4
265
Hello guys,

I have a Creative Sound Blaster Z sound card and a 5.1 surround speaker system, which has Dolby Digital Live (DDL) decoder and optical jack. Therefore, I use an optical cable to connect this speaker to the optical jack on my SBZ.

In the SBZ control panel, there is an option to enable the DDL Encoder. My question is: with this option enabled, would any sound from youtube videos, games, and movies (that are not natively already in 5.1) be converted to 5.1?

Additionally, there is a feature in the SBZ control panel that says "Play stereo mix to digital output." What does this even mean (does it mean it will upmix any 2.0 stereo source into 5.1, if yes then isn't that what the DDL encoder is made for??)
And can this feature be enabled at the same time that DDL encoder is turned on? Or must I disable one and enable the other?

Any help is very much appreciated.
Thank you guys!

mobo Z370 A Pro
CPU i7 8700k
Window 10

 
Solution


No, though you can enable Dolby Pro Logic II on top of Dolby Digital Live to upmix the audio [I'll leave the wisdom of doing so up to you]. What DDL is meant to do is to allow a 5.1 audio stream over Optical by converting it to compressed Dolby Digital, where Optical can only carry uncompressed Stereo otherwise.

Additionally, there is a feature in the SBZ control panel that says "Play stereo mix to digital output." What does this even mean (does it mean it will upmix any 2.0 stereo source into 5.1...


No, though you can enable Dolby Pro Logic II on top of Dolby Digital Live to upmix the audio [I'll leave the wisdom of doing so up to you]. What DDL is meant to do is to allow a 5.1 audio stream over Optical by converting it to compressed Dolby Digital, where Optical can only carry uncompressed Stereo otherwise.

Additionally, there is a feature in the SBZ control panel that says "Play stereo mix to digital output." What does this even mean (does it mean it will upmix any 2.0 stereo source into 5.1, if yes then isn't that what the DDL encoder is made for??)

It's probably for SPDIF Loopback, or allowing you to pass audio from the Optical Input port to the Optical Output.

And can this feature be enabled at the same time that DDL encoder is turned on? Or must I disable one and enable the other?

If it's what I think it is (see above), leave it disabled and just enable DDL.
 
Solution

jajig

Distinguished
Mar 29, 2006
42
0
18,540
'Play stereo mix to digital output' mirrors your speaker output to your SPDIF (Optical out) port.

Why use this? If you have both power speakers using analog and a headphone DAC using digital you would need to change the default sound device every time you want to switch between the two. Using this option you leave the default sound device as speakers and send 2-channel audio to your DAC at the same time.

I know this is an old thread but now the answer is complete for those making random google searches.