sound card 7.1 surround

[kiberniths]

i want to ask does the asus strix soar has virtual 7.1 surround or true?

 

[LordVile]

i want to ask does the asus strix soar has virtual 7.1 surround or true?

Would assume digital. To be fair if you're using headphones it's all digital.

 

[kiberniths]

yes i know that but they say that there are head sets with multiple drivers (true 7.1) and others with virtual 7.1 whats the output of the card?

 

[LordVile]

yes i know that but they say that there are head sets with multiple drivers (true 7.1) and others with virtual 7.1 whats the output of the card?

All headphones are virtual surround sound because they can't have drivers anywhere but next to your ear, For real surround sound you need speakers behind and in front of you. Again I would assume digital because it is a "gamer" orientated product and I didn't see 7 outputs for different channels.

 

[kiberniths]

some headsets claim that they are true 7.1 like the asus rog centurion are they true or not?

 

[LordVile]

some headsets claim that they are true 7.1 like the asus rog centurion are they true or not?

They are technically 7.1 because they have 7 channels but it's all software to fool your ears and aren't as good as a real surround setup. I've used 5.1 and 7.1 "true" headsets for years and they're better than virtual but not as good as a home theatre setup.

 

[kiberniths]

as i see this card has four ports for 7.1 home theater speakers but i guess for 7.1 true it need 7 outputs?

 

[boju]

That sound card can drive 7.1 analogue speaker set. It's optical output is a bit confusing with mention of pairing it with side channels so does that mean optical outputs 5.1 compressed dolby and additional 2 side channels from analogue connectors to make 7.1?, not sure.

Summary

No problems running 7.1 analogue speakers, true 7.1 as each speaker has it's own channel. Each 3.5mm jack accommodates 2 channels each.

Not sure about optical. Optical is usually limited to 2.1 pcm uncompressed audio, so not sure if Asus has payed for dolby/dts licencing to encode in real-time, so setting 5.1 or 7.1 might not be possible.


As for headphones with 7.1 drivers, it is kind of true surround but because each driver is in close proximity to ear, software is used to virtually create distances to seem like your in a surround setup with speakers placed around a room.

 

[kiberniths]

nice thnx alot