Sound isues with Audigy 2 ZS

[BugsBMD]

I have a Audigy 2 ZS Platinum. I am having troble getting the digital out to work with 5.1. All it will do is 2.1. I have tryed every thing I can think of to get it to work. I changed the settings and tryed all the different drivers that I can find and it still does the same thing. I know it can work because I have had it working on windows Vista with the new beta drivers. But for some resion I can't get it to work on XP.

[BugsBMD]

any one??

[BugsBMD]

again is there any thing I can try?

[SNIPoR]

download the new Drivers for the Audigy 2 ZS and it will fix your problem

[BugsBMD]

I have done that but nothing changes. :(

[Adam217]

It can't output 5.1 unless it is passing it through from a dvd or a program that supports Dolby Digital/DTS output. It was a nice feature of the SoundStorm nforce audio, but no creative card can do it, real time 5.1 encoding that is. There was some other card that came out recently that could do it, but I don't remember what it was.

Anywho, the only way for you to get 5.1 from games or music or anything else for that matter is to use the 3 analog outputs. That is, unless you have a set of Creative speakers that has their proprietary Digital DIN connector, and that doesn't use a single digital signal either, it actualy uses 3 seperate 2ch digital signals. To top it all off, the new X-FI cards don't support that anymore either, go figure the #1 add in audio provider can't manage to get things done that other half as experienced sound providers can.

Creative has really dropped the ball on alot of things over the years, but they still sell their products because they have a name and some support from game publishers, they also seem to buy any company that threatens thier monopoly.

I'll stop rambling now, but Creative has really annoyed me over the years with some of the decisions they've made.

I hope some of this rant has helped.

P.S. If it's the Dolby Digital or DTS that you are trying to output, you should disable the built-in decoder that Creative enables by default, that can be found in the the audio console program you can get from your installation disc or from the web site, a new version was released at the end of August.

LMAO, P.P.S. Alot more information about Creative and other sound cards can be found in the Driverheaven.net forums. http://www.driverheaven.net/forumdisplay.php?f=33

[BugsBMD]

My problem is when I do a speaker test it will only come through the 2 frount speakers. But in longhorn it works fine (all five + sub). Same with games it works in longhorn but not XP. My speaker are 5.1 digital only speakers. I would be running longhorn full time but it still in not stable enough for me.

KaptCrunch I bought this card on ebay It is the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum (it is stampt on the side of the card and I have the frount audio drive). I am not sure what you mean by CT?

[BugsBMD]

I have gone through the drivers again and nothing work in XP. At the moment I would like to get all channels working on a speaker test. Right now all I get is the two front to work in XP. I reinstalled vista again and all channels work fine. I know this is software or driver related because it works fine it vista but not in XP. I would be running vista for every thing but it is not as stable as XP and games have directx issues.

[Turok]

I dont know if you have tryed this, but check your advanced audio options for this:


This is the Surround Mixer settings. Make sure your volumes are at max and that any sources being used are enabled. This way volume is hardware dependent. Check if your speaker controller thing has the speaker volumes balanced, or if the surround speakers are at a really low volume

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7822/13gc.gif



This is the THX settings. Make sure this is setup as 5.1 Speakers

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2551/22kw.gif



This is the EAX option menu. Turn on CMSS 2 for a more 3D feel. With this option on, even music recorded as mono will sound more like 5.1 surround, because the sound card splits up certain sounds to each speaker.
Also make sure that your speakers are balanced. Set it to 0% if it's not balanced

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6013/35dn.gif

[BugsBMD]

Okay I have all the sound settings all the way up and it is balanced back to front and right to left. In the picture below in XP when I click either of the two buttons in read I get the front two channels but in vista I get all five or six.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=39756&stc=1

[Turok]

Okay I have all the sound settings all the way up and it is balanced back to front and right to left. In the picture below in XP when I click either of the two buttons in read I get the front two channels but in vista I get all five or six.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=39756&stc=1

Dont your speakers have a Analog cable (the green, black, and orange cables)? Right now you're running on Digital. You need the 3 analog cables for a direct output of all speakers. Change in "Output Selection" from Digital to Analog in your THX settings, and then plug in your 3 Analog cables on your sound card. Afther connecting the cables, your THX options should look like this:

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/8471/53ci.gif

[BugsBMD]

My speakers will do 4 channel on analog as a secondary input but the main input is digital only. They are Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theater 5.1 DTT2500 Digital.

[Turok]

My speakers will do 4 channel on analog as a secondary input but the main input is digital only. They are Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theater 5.1 DTT2500 Digital.

Hmmm...
Im running out of ideas

Check your Speaker Settings. Make sure Synchronize with Control Pannel is disabled. Since you only have a Digital connection, probably enabling "Digital Output Only" will help. Make sure your speakers are set up at 5.1 speakers on top of this menu

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/7937/64le.gif

[BugsBMD]

I have tride that still no change.

[IluvIntel]

How is your hardware acceleration for audio devices in control panel ?

I had the same problem your having but have not tried Windows Vista Beta, I found just moving the notch one "click" will enable stereo or 5.1 after all the other software that is described above in this thread is set to 5.1.

[BugsBMD]

the hardware setting is set to full.

[IluvIntel]

the hardware setting is set to full.

BugsBMD, its well known how crappy creative drivers are. To solve my problem and it might help you too, I rolled back to the older drivers and now I can play my fav game atm - Q4 without issues like crashing or stuttering...:)

[BugsBMD]

Games play fine but in stereo. My problem is that I can't get surround from the digital out.

[Axylone]

The digital output is actually split into 3 bitstreams with 2 channels on each one (yes, the plug has 4 connectors, 3 for each bitstream and 1 for the ground). This means that the digital out is split into 3x channels of stereo output, instead of one 7.1 bitstream of Dolby Digital EX.

Unless you have Creative speakers, analog 7.1 output is the only way to get full 7.1, but you have to get 2x 4-pole 1/4" mini plugs for the last two plugs because they also have 4 connectors each.
SP-AVCABLE - SHINKIN - 4 POLE CABLE FOR CAMCORDERS AND DIGITAL SOUND CARDS WITH 4 POLE CONNECTORS (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?category=250&template=audio) <- thats what im taking about for the 4 pole connectors. Creative ran 7.1 out of 3 plugs instead of 4 because they only wanted full 7.1 support for their own speakers.

I would also recommend analog output beacuse the soundcard doesn't have to encode the sound from games, which offsets the sound by about 50ms. I'll try remembering how I got my 7.1 setup to work and then post a guide.

[BugsBMD]

okay, thanks for the info
I still don't under stand why it works in windows vista then. I will probly get a new speaker set some time (the set I have is digital only). But if it works in vista it would seem that it should work in XP.

[Axylone]

hmm that is very puzzling, I'm guessing that in the Vista drivers they added something new? Are you sure that you have everything set the exact same for both OS's?

[BugsBMD]

As far as I know every think is set the same. I have been just as puzzled it just does not make sense. The only thing I can think of is the when I use the card in vista something is not working right there. My digital plug on my sound system has three sections but it uses an adapter to do that. The plug that it has out of the unit looks like a s-video cable. Also if I do a speaker test in vista I get an err when it tries to do the sub. I can post some pictures of the connectors if you want tomorrow.

[Turok]

Are you sure you're experiencing full 5.1 surround on all speakers in Vista?
You could actaully be hearing stereo 3x on the front and middle speakers, and stereo 2x on the back speakers, so it would be something like 4.1 but one of the speakers sounds the same as another speaker when it should be each speaker with an individual sound

[BugsBMD]

I am using creative's software to do the speakers test in vista. It states each speaker separatly. Like this :front left, center, front right, rear right, rear left, and then sub (but at this point the program crashes).

I am using the sound test circled in red below.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41209&stc=1&d=1134680103