Audigy 2 ZS Hookups

[EstoyLoco]

Hi,

I'm interested in picking up an Audigy 2 ZS nonpro version.

My questions is:
I have a receiver that supports both Digital Input via Optical or Digital Coax, as well as 6 channel analog inputs via RCA.
Whats the best way to hook up the audio cables from the card to the receiver.

I know using stereo mini-plug > stereo RCA x 3 will work into my receivers 6 channel Analog inputs.
However, I would somewhat like to have the card output DVD audio streams to my receiver for decoding (instead of the card doing it)

So I was wondering if a Mini (1/8") plug > RCA female adapter or Stereo plug > RCA cable will work, and then I can just hook that up to the cards Digital Out jack, and then to my receivers Digital Coax.

With this setup, will I get the same (if not better) performance in games, using the single digital output vs. the 6 channel analog outputs?
Are there any downsides to using the single digital cable vs. the analogs, interms of gaming, music, movies.


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Also I'm currently using K8V SE Deluxe version, hooked up to the digital optical outputs to my receiver.
How much of a difference will I notice going from onboard sound > Audigy 2 ZS,
will it be worth the $110 it will cost for the soundcard?

 

[oupei]

DVD audio must be decoded in your soundcard. even if your receiver decoded DVD Audio, there's no way to send it to the receiver. However, for DVD Video, the audio portion(DD5.1, DTS5.1, DTS-ex) can be sent to the reciever throught the digital optical or digital coax outputs. I think either of the two products you linked will work for digital coax, though it's worth mentioning that the second is not a stereo plug, it's a 1/8' plug just like the other one, which is what you need. In games, digital output will only give you PCM (CD audio) which is only two channels, so it would be better to use the analog outputs.

 

[EstoyLoco]

Thx alot oupei,
That answers alot of the questions that I had.

BTW yeah the 2nd one is a mini (1/8") plug, I dont know why I put stereo.

I did not know about the Digital Output only doing PCM (2 channels) while playing games, helps alot.

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Is there a way to output both digital and analog at the same time?
On my K8V SE Deluxe and my other AN7 w/ Soundstorm,
I have the option of using both digital and analog at once.

The reason I ask, is I was looking at some screens on the net of the settings and software package. And in speaker setup it only gives the option for only Digital or Analog at once.

Seeing as how I will have to use analog of my games, and digital for my DVD's. I do not want to have to go into the settings and switch Digital > Analog output and vice versa everytime I want to watch a movie or play a game.

 

[Auric]

Yeah, hook up both analog and digital for best in all situations. For digital, use the "inline adapter" you linked with a common video cable (generally bog standard RG-59 coaxial "cable TV" cable with yellow RCA plugs, also marketed as digital audio cable). The important thing is that it is coaxial as opposed to braided wire audio cable (as in the other you linked). The digital output PCM is 2 channel but can be matrixed for DSP surround modes. Usually, the receiver will offer similar DSP effects but you may find Dolby Heaphone or such useful. Otherwise, for normal use disable any player/decoder decoding by setting its speaker mode to SPDIF (of course Audigy decoding should always be disabled by setting SPDIF pass through). Then it should simply be a matter of switching the receiver input from digital to analog when playing a game.

 

[EstoyLoco]

Yep thats how I have it hooked up now.

So it is possible to do this as well with the Audigy 2 ZS, that is to run both digital and analogs at once?

I dont mind the AV switching, as it takes a press of a button on my receiver, but software enabling and disabling of each one inside the creative drivers would be kind of annoying.

 

[Auric]

Digital output is always active and analog is active unless the "digital output only" option is toggled in software so it should work but personally I have not hooked up the analog as I use headphones for gaming (on the receiver output). Let us know how it works out.