Issue: No 5.1 S/PDIF sound with alc850 in Vista 32

[sorrow]

So seeing as creative has ****** all over every consumer other then their x-fi consumers i'm stuck with onboard sound. My audigy2zs is pretty much useless in Vista. Oh it works for a bit the it fails in all sorts of ways I don't need to go into. Lets just say this i've tried, the drivers from M$ drivers from creative and even the modded x-fi > audigy2zs driver. Without any luck. They all fail at some point in some way.

So I've been using my al850 onboard audio. Which is ok other then hearing a lovely sound whenever i move the mouse. Even if i can only hear it when no music is going and the sound is up, its still there. Plus the dips in audio you get sometimes.

But recently i was like oh hey well why don't i try s/pdif because i couldn't use it with my audigy 2zs card.

So i hooked it up and after much fuxoring around i got 2channel to work. No 5.1 sound with s/pdif and alc850 that i can figure out though.

Has anyone had experience with this or possibly have a suggestion?

thanks

[traveler]

I think it's vista aka Micro$oft thats screwed over everyone with its total disregard to the computer user and what the computer user uses with his computer. Add the DRM crowd in there too.

That being said ....

TQ says that the sound capabilities in vista are superior to XP and prior. But then I think TQ uses professional grade sound cards.

Your post is just another example of ---> vista does not work.

Regarding the Audigy2 zs, I use mine with the digital out only, but I'm running win2000.

[sorrow]

I don't blame MS for this, i blame creative. I'm sure MS gave creative many months if not over a year of notice that they were going to remove the sound layer from ther kernel or whatever it was. Because it was causing too many blue screens and looked bad for ms even though it was a sound issue that caused it.

[TQ]

Originally Posted by traveler

TQ says that the sound capabilities in vista are superior to XP and prior. But then I think TQ uses professional grade sound cards.

Well, that's close to what I've said. The potential is there, certainly, with the redesigned audio stack but if you can't get the hardware to work properly then it doesn't matter how good it's supposed to sound. Personally I've never heard audio over Vista but, like I said, it looks good on paper.

You might consider biting the bullet and getting a new sound card that's certified to work with Vista. If I were a Vista user/gamer I'd get one of the HT Omega Claro cards. See them here.


Just for the record, I do use pro-level sound cards (an Echo Audio Gina24 and an Mbox2 Factory) but I'm running an X-Fi Elite in my game machine. I don't use the X-Fi for external speakers, preferring instead to route the 2.1 audio through a Denon power amp. I do use the X-Fi's breakout box for headphone connectivity, as I am a big fan of the X-Fi's headphone surround upmix feature.

[TQ]

Originally Posted by sorrow

I don't blame MS for this, i blame creative. I'm sure MS gave creative many months if not over a year of notice that they were going to remove the sound layer from the kernel or whatever it was.

Not exactly. Microsoft made some significant, last minute changes to Vista shortly before releasing it. One of them was moving the audio stack from the kernel to user space. Creative's been playing catch up ever since, though they weren't the only people caught by MS's eleventh hour switch. That's one reason why Vista has had such a rocky start.
Well, that and the fact that it's just not giving people a compelling reason to change.

Creative might be to blame for not putting resources into developing solid Vista drivers for lines other than the X-Fi but if your resources are limited you might have to make some potentially unpopular decisions.

[ATINUT]

Originally Posted by TQ

Well, that's close to what I've said. The potential is there, certainly, with the redesigned audio stack but if you can't get the hardware to work properly then it doesn't matter how good it's supposed to sound. Personally I've never heard audio over Vista but, like I said, it looks good on paper.

You might consider biting the bullet and getting a new sound card that's certified to work with Vista. If I were a Vista user/gamer I'd get one of the HT Omega Claro cards. See them here.


Just for the record, I do use pro-level sound cards (an Echo Audio Gina24 and an Mbox2 Factory) but I'm running an X-Fi Elite in my game machine. I don't use the X-Fi for external speakers, preferring instead to route the 2.1 audio through a Denon power amp. I do use the X-Fi's breakout box for headphone connectivity, as I am a big fan of the X-Fi's headphone surround upmix feature.

I own an HT OMEGA CLARO and really like the card on Vista, for music, games, and movies. Tried a Creative card, but that gave me trouble, and ended up taking that X-Fi Xtreme Gamer card back to the store I bought it from.

I run my card with Dolby Pro Logic IIx decoding enabled all the time.

[TQ]

Originally Posted by ATINUT

I own an HT OMEGA CLARO and really like the card on Vista, for music, games, and movies.
I run my card with Dolby Pro Logic IIx decoding enabled all the time.

Can't beat a real-world endorsement!

[ATINUT]

Originally Posted by TQ

Can't beat a real-world endorsement!

You got that right, and it also helps to have a set or speakers, that can decode surround sound, without the need of an external decoder if you have a set of speakers that can do that.

The can also do SPDIF out to an external Dolby Decoder if you have one, but in my expierence with the analog speakers I have, there is no need for an external decoder.

[TQ]

Doesn't the card handle the decoding?

[ATINUT]

Originally Posted by TQ

Doesn't the card handle the decoding?

The card handles the primary decoding functions, but there are 5.1 speakers on the market now from Altec Lansing, and Logitech, you push one button, and the speakers upmix 2 channel audio in to 5.1 surround sound, but if you have those speakers and already have them set for 5.1 sound, pushing that same button gives you fuller and richer surround sound.

I tried out the X-540 speakers at Best Buy within the last few weeks, and they sounded really good with the stereo upconvert enabled.

Some of the speakers I mention are the Logitech X-540's, the Logitech G51 speakers, and the Altec Lansin FX5051 speakers to name a few.

[sorrow]

Yeah my logitechs will do the upmix... stereo x2 and pl2 music and movie.

I'd just like to have it function properly is all.

As for a good card for vista and gameing. from what i can see the asus xonar d2x is the card i would want to get. I just don't have the money right now... its sad really ):

I'm so telling everyone in my family that talking to my wife and pooling resources to get me the xonar is the gift i want! hehe

Hopefully that will work out.

[jamestehrippa]

It seems Microsoft dropped ball on audio in Vista big time, actually. This is an interesting reading I guess.
Why Vista sounds worse | Technology | The Guardian
Sound Blaster worked around this already as my X-Fi is fine in Vista now but it took time. Latest Vista drivers are good though.

[TQ]

I've read that article. It's mostly based on data that's no longer valid (nearly everyone has working Vista drivers now) and will only add to the somewhat unfair mythology surrounding Vista.

[TQ]

Originally Posted by ATINUT

You push one button, and the speakers upmix 2 channel audio in to 5.1 surround sound, but if you have those speakers and already have them set for 5.1 sound, pushing that same button gives you fuller and richer surround sound.

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that these speakers send an emulated "5.1" signal to output? That they have some sort of on-board processor take will take a stereo signal and break it apart into some sort of faux multi-channel audio?
Or that they have genuine, Dolby-certified hardware mutli-channel (5.1/7.1) decoding?
If it's the latter I'd be very surprised if the audio would compare to the sound you'd get using the Claro for decoding chores.

I need to do some reading on those speakers. I'm very suspicious of any powered/amplified speakers at consumer level price points.

[sorrow]

These are the speakers i have if you are interested in the linkage.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/sp...s/224&cl=us,en