Steelseries Siberia 800 no 5.1 or 7.1 option in Windows 10

[BuddyGuy1011]

I'm using Realtek Digital Output from my mobo's optical out to my Siberia 800 optical in. I get stereo sound fine but all the format options are 2 channel except the last option, which is DTS and doesn't work.

Please help me get 5.1 working with this headset.

Thank you!

 

[Colif]

If I attach a Digital cable to my Speakers I only ever get stereo through them. Analog and I get 5.1.

what motherboard do you have?

ongoing story - http://www.tomsguide.com/answers/id-2960687/windows-playing-audio-stereo-surround.html

I too would like how to get surround through digital, I probably need something in between PC and speakers but that doesn't help you.

 

[gamerk316]

I'm using Realtek Digital Output from my mobo's optical out to my Siberia 800 optical in. I get stereo sound fine but all the format options are 2 channel except the last option, which is DTS and doesn't work.

Please help me get 5.1 working with this headset.

Thank you!

This is expected.

Optical can transport exactly three audio formats:
Stereo (2.0/2.1)
Dolby Digital (5.1)
DTS (5.1)

Optical is not able to transmit uncompressed 5.1 audio,, requiring the use of Dolby or DTS formats to transmit multichannel audio. Note this requires the device at the other end of the chain (in this case, the headset) to be able to decode Dolby/DTS formats. Your headset probably supports this.

The other issue is that PCs do not typically output Dolby or DTS audio formats. To output these formats, you need a soundcard that is capable of doing on the fly encoding (Dolby Digital Live or DTS-Connect). Some motherboards/soundcards support this, but most do not.

You'll need to check if your motherboard supports encoding to either Dolby or DTS. If so, you need to enable it. Aside from that, make sure the Default Audio Output Device is set to "Speakers" and NOT Optical Out (Windows is stupid here; it treats Optical Out as stereo no matter what. You have to select "Speakers" then configure your sound output device to output via Optical.)