Can't enable sound through toslink formy headset

[petefly100]

So i have an Astro a40s headset that i use in conjunction with the mixamp to connect to my computer via TOSLINK. i assumed through my playback devices that my headset was getting sound from the TOSLINK but instead it is getting the sound from the usb cable i use to connect the mixamp to my computer. The toslink connection is on my asus sabertooth z77 motherboard and i dont have separate audio card on my computer. Is there a way to enable the toslink connection to my headset or do i need to get a sound card to enable the 5.1 surround sound on my headset?

 

[Pinhedd]

So i have an Astro a40s headset that i use in conjunction with the mixamp to connect to my computer via TOSLINK. i assumed through my playback devices that my headset was getting sound from the TOSLINK but instead it is getting the sound from the usb cable i use to connect the mixamp to my computer. The toslink connection is on my asus sabertooth z77 motherboard and i dont have separate audio card on my computer. Is there a way to enable the toslink connection to my headset or do i need to get a sound card to enable the 5.1 surround sound on my headset?

TOSLink uses the S/PDIF protocol to transmit digital audio. S/PDIF supports only up to two channels of uncompressed audio, so Stereo is fine but 5.1 is out of the picture. S/PDIF also supports compressed and encoded bitstreams up to a certain bitrate but you'd need to have a Dolby Digital or DTS Audio source as well as a compatible decoder on your headset (some do have these, yours included). Don't confuse Dolby Digital with Dolby Surround or Dolby Headphones, they are completely different technologies.

If you have only onboard audio, just connect it over USB. If you have a discrete sound card that supports Dolby Digital Live you can enable this to encode 6 channels from your PC into a Dolby Digital bitstream which can then be sent over the optical connection to your headset. The sound quality from DDL is not great though so don't consider it too heavily. Some onboard audio codecs support DDL but most do not; if yours does not, your only options are USB or a discrete card.

Anyway, it doesn't even matter all that much because the Astro a40 is not a true surround sound headset. It has only a single driver in each ear, the surround sound is purely synthetic.

 

[petefly100]

Thanks for your help. i'll just stick with the USB connection then.