5.1 Sound from Intel D945GCCR

[coolshrey]

Hello Friends, I have Logitech Z906. I want to connect it with my Desktop having intel D945GCCR motherboard which have Green, Blue and pink Jack. I have read that it support 5.1 surround sound and you don't need any sound card for that. Can you please tell me how to connect it to get 5.1 Surround sound.

 

[ssddx]

according to specifications i saw for that board it looks like it does support 5.1 however it looks to share ports on the back for multiple purposes. the specification indicates that they should be assignable within your sound drivers provided for the motherboard.

the above would be using your onboard sound (which technically is like a soundcard, just on the motherboard).

to connect the z906 WITHOUT using a soundcard or onboard sound you would need a spdif optical jack. your motherboard does not appear to have one.

in short: to get 5.1 you need to configure your audio drivers to output 5.1 on those ports. if you can not seem to get it working, you might want to think about buying a cheap soundcard.

 

[Alabalcho]

According to the documentation, that board does not have any digital audio output. Although the ALC883 is 7.1 capable, you have to check whether you can reconfigure the audio ports on the back to provide discrete 5.1 signals.

If I was you - I would spend $10 on cheap USB audio adapter with optical out, another $5 for optical cable, and use your Z906 to its full potential.

 

[ssddx]

imho, he would be better off with something like a xonar dg (or other cheap soundcard) and using 3.5mm out. optical out is going to be compressed, and in order to get 5.1 over optical on pc the usb soundcard would need dts-connect, ddl or similar support or the best you would get is stereo. both ways would worth though.

 

[GamingMaster]

The Xonar doesn't suppot Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. If you want true experience with the best sound qualtiy get the Creative Sound Blaster Xi-Fi. Its encodes audio into 5.1 and 7.1 using Dolby DTS or Dolby Digital! Cheers

 

[ssddx]

yes, the xonar dg does support DD 5.1 (on analog outputs) but no, the xonar dg doesnt have dolby digital live or dts-c for 5.1 over optical however given that all audio is compressed over optical and not via 3.5 and that the dac inside the z906 is of similar quality i'd say it might even work out a bit better in terms of audio quality than going full optical.

that isnt to say that going optical is a bad thing. this is certainly another option. many people somehow think digital optical is superior and it really is not - unless you have an issue with certain devices on your desk introducing a strong EMI signal which affects your audio (which is rare and would give you other issues) in which case optical is less affected or in the case of ground loops - optical breaks that. otherwise, uncompressed audio has a slight edge on it.

the op could use either - if they cannot get their onboard working. ultimately its their choice. they could even get a card that has both options if they arent sure which they want to use.