Question Is there a way to add surround capability to a Motherboard ???

[indianajune1]

I know this isn’t wholly a motherboard question but don’t know where else to post: my motherboard the Asus Apex IX came with only stereo sound since it’s an extreme overclocking board and they figure people don’t care. I’d like to add surround but my graphics card is a three slot so it would have to be externally and my surround headphones are USB powered . Do they make an external sound card that will give my pc surround capabilities or I guess the driver , so I can plug into other USB ports and not directly into the surround card adapter. Or worst-case scenario does anybody know of a relatively cheaper surround card that has a USB port I can’t seem to find one?

 

[Karadjgne]

Audio

ROG SupremeFX 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC S1220A

• Impedance sense for front and rear headphone outputs
• Supports : Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking
• ESS® ES9023P

Audio Feature :

• SupremeFX Shielding™ Technology
• Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel

Dude, you got surround sound for days. Just gotta get it configured.

 

[boju]

As said, your motherboard has surround capabilities but this can get confusing and i don't believe your question was intended this way. I believe you want surround sound to your headphones via USB. What headphones do you have?

Only way of getting true surround sound from games is either gpu HDMI to an AVR with speakers, 5.1/7.1 analog PC speakers, headphones with multiple jacks or USB headphones with inline amplifier processing multiple drivers. Other headphone variants are virtualised, two drivers, using software to mimic surround but Windows will still be limited to two channels.

What's the Difference Between Virtual and "True" Surround Sound Gaming Headsets?

Moviegoers already know the bliss of a good surround sound setup, but PC gamers have an even better reason to invest in a little audio immersion: beating the snot out of their online opponents.

www.howtogeek.com

 

[Karadjgne]

Meaning to use via USB, the headphones will require their own software be setup in windows, playback will need to be set up as default to the headphones and sound profiles in the software set for surround usage.

I'm personally not a fan of the usb system, every time my headphones got unplugged, during playback/games, you loose the handshake, sound defaulted back to pc speaker output and I've have to restart the game with the USB intact for it to apply. It's a one shot deal. With standard audio plugs, they can be removed/replaced as needed and sound will automatically switch to the headphones.

 

[boju]

Yes all of that, i agree.

We'll see what op says.

 

[indianajune1]

thanks guys, and sorry for the late response ! I meant what I asked , and yes I'm a dope I had read that the board has worse sound then the rest in the line becuse its geared to OC'ers. when I saw on the product page it said " stereo sound " instead of 7.1 like my old board I took that to mean just stereo. I didn't know that's what 8.1 means. I called asus to confirm this and they told me that it is indeed just stereo I guess just parroting back to me what I said , you know. . .cause its asus support 🤷‍♂️ so I always thought I needed a sound card down the line, so this is good news ! on the other hand I guess it means that my usb headphones that come with dts head phone x 7.1 surround aren't working correctly lol

 

[boju]

What brand/model is your headphones?