Question Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, & DTS, oh, my!

[Benwarz]

Hi, I've got the following hardware:

(MSI) PRO Z690-A WIFI
(MSI) RTX 4080
Sound Blaster Z SE
Samsung - 55" Class Q80 Series QLED 4K UHD Smart Tizen TV
Integra DTR 7.6 AV Receiver

So, I'm trying to get both stereo, and when available, multichannel digital audio from my PC to my receiver. If I'm sourcing stereo, I want it to output stereo. If I'm sourcing Dolby Digital 5.1, I want it to output Dolby Digital 5.1. And, if I'm sourcing DTS, I want it to output DTS. My receiver is pretty old and supports only up to HDMI 1.1, so I've connected the HDMI OUT from my GPU directly to the TV. For digital audio, I then have a toslink cable from the TV OUT to the receiver. When connected like this, I can only ever get stereo from my PC to the receiver because the NVIDIA HIGH DEFINITION AUDIO device supports only stereo format. It does not have an option for 5.1. So, I recently added the Sound Blaster Z SE, thinking I would go toslink OUT from the Z SE to the receiver and get additional format support for 5.1 and DTS. Alas, the only way to get 5.1 to the receiver from the toslink OUT on the Z SE is to configure the Z SE software to encode Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS (won't do both simulaneously)... The issue here is, when you do this you essentially lose stereo format, so anything in stereo just plays primarily through the front left speaker... You can use All Ch Stereo processing on the receiver to correct that, but when trying to use Pro Logic II or DTS: Neo for Cinema or Gaming, the sound stays primarily in the front left speaker. As such, you're stuck with All Ch Stereo or nothing when listening to stereo source. I primarily play games which are unfortunately all stereo, so this is bad. I need my Pro Logic II Gaming or DTS: Neo 6 Cinema back for games but I also want DD 5.1 or DTS when using Jellyfin or Disney+ or whatever for movies/TV. Obviously, I'm not going to turn on/off encoding each time I switch from stereo to multichannel content, so... I'm here looking for a solution... I thought I might be able to go HDMI from motherboard directly to receiver (for digital audio only), but when doing so the receiver doesn't show up as a playback device and just shows "no signal." Have I explained this well enough? Anyone else run into this and find a solution? Thank you!!

 

[Paperdoc]

I can suggest this, but it will require that YOU make small adjustments on your computer and the receiver each time you want to switch audio playback type.

You may be aware already that your computer really has three possible audio output devices installed - an on-board NVIDIA system, the sound chip in your video card, and your audio card. Windows can use only one of these at a time, and you can change that manually when you wish.

So, you make TWO connections between your computer and the receiver. One is the TOSLINK optical cable from the audio card to the receiver. The other is a standard stereo cable from your computer mobo's green rear stereo Left/ Right speaker jack to your receiver's Line In stereo jack. Then when you want to play stereo signals you set the receiver to use those stereo jacks as the input source, and set Windows to use the mobo NVIDIA sound output device. When you want the more complex audio sounds, you set the receiver to use the TOSLINK input and set Windows to output sound via the audio card.

On your computer at lower right type in sound settings to open a window. At the top under Output there is a drop-down chooser you can click on to show all three possible sound output devices. Choose the one you want and back out, and that us how sound will be produced. On a one-time basis you may need to go further down to configure the NVIDIA mobo system for what type of sound it should output and set that to 2-channel stereo. This setting should "stick" and not require re-setting. Similarly, use the utility for your audio card to configure its output. Initially you may have to play around a little with the master volume settings of each sound output device so that sound produced in each format comes out of the receiver and its speakers the same volume without having to change the receiver setting.

 

[Benwarz]

@Paperdoc, great idea! really appreciate that.. but changing both the input on the receiver -and- the windows audio device would get to be "a lot" pretty quickly... but that is definitely a great suggestion I hadn't thought of.. can I assume if this is the (only) "answer," is there no way to accomplish a single connection that will pass both stereo and multichannel depending on source app? I'm open to purchasing a different sound card, it's just I don't currently have the purchasing power to replace the Integra 7.6.

 

[dwd999]

Perhaps you could use MPC-HC instead of Jellyfin and get better movie/TV playback response. I use this along with TOSLINK from my Z790 motherboard to a Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver which is about 15 years old and it works fine in delivering Dolby 5.1 formats and DTS. Since its so old in only handles 6 channel formats; no 8 channel or Atmos. Also works with the Netflix app; don't have Disney+.

 

[Paperdoc]

I realized there is an easier way that uses connections ONLY to your Sound Blaster card. That way you would not have to change the Windows setting of which default sound output device to use.

Make the two connections I described, BUT at the computer end plug the analog stereo audio cable into one of the 3.5 mm stereo output jacks. I would suggest the jack for headset earphones (unless you are reserving that for actual earphones) because that jack certainly should send out complete Left and Right stereo. (IF you need that jack reserved for earphones, then use one of the numbered jacks and try to use the Sound Blaster card software to send out of that jack the full Left and Right stereo signals for a 2-channel sound system, and not 2.1 or 3.1 or 5.1, all of which would separate out the Bass signals for a subwoofer.) Now all of this PRESUMES (I could not get the manual for that card's software to download so I could see it) that, if fed a 5.1 channel sound stream from some source on the computer, that card would relay that info in that form out of the optical cable port PLUS re-process those signals to produce a simple 2-shannel stereo signal and send that out the earphone and a numbered stereo speaker jack at the SAME TIME. That is, I assume the signals would BOTH be available at those outputs and could thus be sent to the receiver simultaneously. IF that is how it works, you could use only the Sound Blaster as your Windows Sound Output Device, and both signals would arrive at different inputs of your receiver. Then you need only change which input the receiver uses.

 

[Benwarz]

Perhaps you could use MPC-HC instead of Jellyfin and get better movie/TV playback response. I use this along with TOSLINK from my Z790 motherboard to a Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver which is about 15 years old and it works fine in delivering Dolby 5.1 formats and DTS. Since its so old in only handles 6 channel formats; no 8 channel or Atmos. Also works with the Netflix app; don't have Disney+.

Good to know, ty. Never heard of MPC-HC but I'll look into it. I don't think it's Jellyfin (or any app) causing the issue, tho, because it does both stereo and 5.1 just fine.

 

[Benwarz]

I realized there is an easier way that uses connections ONLY to your Sound Blaster card. That way you would not have to change the Windows setting of which default sound output device to use.

Make the two connections I described, BUT at the computer end plug the analog stereo audio cable into one of the 3.5 mm stereo output jacks. I would suggest the jack for headset earphones (unless you are reserving that for actual earphones) because that jack certainly should send out complete Left and Right stereo. (IF you need that jack reserved for earphones, then use one of the numbered jacks and try to use the Sound Blaster card software to send out of that jack the full Left and Right stereo signals for a 2-channel sound system, and not 2.1 or 3.1 or 5.1, all of which would separate out the Bass signals for a subwoofer.) Now all of this PRESUMES (I could not get the manual for that card's software to download so I could see it) that, if fed a 5.1 channel sound stream from some source on the computer, that card would relay that info in that form out of the optical cable port PLUS re-process those signals to produce a simple 2-shannel stereo signal and send that out the earphone and a numbered stereo speaker jack at the SAME TIME. That is, I assume the signals would BOTH be available at those outputs and could thus be sent to the receiver simultaneously. IF that is how it works, you could use only the Sound Blaster as your Windows Sound Output Device, and both signals would arrive at different inputs of your receiver. Then you need only change which input the receiver uses.

Yeah, thanks, @Paperdoc for another good idea.. I also wonder if I'd get closer to what I wanted by using strictly the analog 3.5mm out from sound card to multichannel-IN on the receiver... I just wonder if stereo would come through properly at that point or if it would still primarily play through the front left speaker... I really wanted a setup where I was just passing digital audio to the receiver and letting the receiver do all the work.. I'm kind of surprised and not surprised that there isn't more support for this from PC hardware manufacturers? But I guess, I wouldn't even have an issue if I were just doing HDMI from PC directly to receiver... I suppose it would just work then... idk.

Right now I'm just flipping between playback devices and receiver inputs to get what I want... at least with the Z SE I can now get 5.1 from my PC with this setup, whereas I could not before (without using analog multichannel). And I guess since like 90% of the time I'm just doing stereo gaming, it's not too bad.

 

[Paperdoc]

Yes, if you used only three 3.5 mm stereo cables to connect from the sound card's three numbered jacks AND configured the card to output 5.1 surround sound on those lines to the receiver, that should work. Under normal circumstances if the source audio is stereo 2-channel only that is what you'd get on those two speakers. BUT you might find that the sound card itself has an option to synthesize 5.1 channel surround sound from simple 2-channel stereo sources, and feed that to your receiver. You may or may not want that active.

On the other hand, IF the connections system I suggested works, I understand many find that using the optical cable system produces cleaner signals at the receiver.

 

[Benwarz]

Yes, if you used only three 3.5 mm stereo cables to connect from the sound card's three numbered jacks AND configured the card to output 5.1 surround sound on those lines to the receiver, that should work. Under normal circumstances if the source audio is stereo 2-channel only that is what you'd get on those two speakers. BUT you might find that the sound card itself has an option to synthesize 5.1 channel surround sound from simple 2-channel stereo sources, and feed that to your receiver. You may or may not want that active.

On the other hand, IF the connections system I suggested works, I understand many find that using the optical cable system produces cleaner signals at the receiver.

Yeah, thank you. I wanted to exhaust all options before going 3.5mm... For one, I'm not finding any decent 3.5mm to RCA adapters for sale.. they all seem really cheaply made.. and again, I'd much rather my receiver do the lifting than the PC... Anyway, thanks to you, I have a couple more options available now.. really appreciate that!

 

[Paperdoc]

Sounds Good! (pun intended)

 

[gamerk316]

A bit late to the party here, but I have some thoughts:

The Sound Blaster Z *should* be able to pass-through Dolby/DTS signals that are already encoded to an external receiver via its digital output port. It's only *encoding* in realtime where you have to pick one or the other.

Now, I don't have a real good explanation why encoding 5.1 causes audio to only come out the front-left speaker only; this makes me suspect a settings problem within Windows. Remember to "always" set the "Speakers" option for output within Windows for the sound device you are using, and control whether or not you are using the digital output via the Sound Cards control panel. [Selecting "Digital Out" from Windows defaults back to uncompressed Stereo only, which might explain this problem].

At least when I used Digital Out, I just left Encoding on all the time and let Dolby/DTS pass through, and it worked without the problems you're seeing.