Audigy 2 ZS Notebook has great SQ but...

[sharkeeper]

Isn't that defeating the purpose of listening to DVD-A in 5.1? They expect you to hook an umbilical up to your preamp that's capable of sustaining a SATIV rocket? Ridiculous!

Cheers!

 

[DaveSimmons]

DVD-A uses more bandwidth than the Dolby 5.1 spec allows for. That's why all DVD-A capable DVD players only use 6 analog channels for DVD-A not the digital connection.

(The only exceptions are proprietary manufacturer "link" cables using firewire or cat5 cables, but it's still not a Dolby or DTS 5.1 signal.)

 

[Accord99]

It's also a requirement of DVD-A that the SPDIF must be disabled when playing the high-resolution DVD-A track for security reasons.

 

[ViRGE]

Let's not also forget DVD-A is supposed to be a strong copy-protection format - they don't want you routing an unencrypted digital signal anywhere.

Edit: Doh, beat by 2 minutes 😛

 

[sharkeeper]

This copy protection stuff is quite dumb as it could be copied with very good quality through analogue if one desired... (Kind of ironic since they are worrying about people trading MP3's with HORRIFIC quality)

As far as bandwidth being an issue even though the VLED doesn't have the bandwidth of say a 1530nM laser device, it should have ample headroom.

I'm sure there's a way to turn this off with a hardware / software mod. I will inquire with Dr. Jung next week. 🙂

Cheers!

 

[DaveSimmons]

Your receiver couldn't decode the DVD-A digital data even if you could somehow mod the Creative, since the digital data is not in either the Dolby or DTS formats that your receiver understands.

Just like an iPod or CD-MP3 player can't decode the FLAC format I use for my music server. Either one could read the data in the FLAC file, but it looks like gibberish since it doesn't match the AAC or MP3 formats they know how to decode.

 

[sharkeeper]

Actually I am able to play a DVD-A disk via DTS 5.1 digital from the DVD transport to the decoder and it works!

Using a Theta Carmen transport and Lexicon MC-12B.

Ok the original point of this post was to attempt to play HL2 on my notebook through a nice HT setup. I have a 132" screen and it would be nice to get true DTS-EX working in a game. A long shot, I know. 🙂

Cheers!

 

[txxxx]

So its finally available ? 😱

 

[txxxx]

Does this card drain the CPU for simple Direct Sound tasks etc?

 

[Accord99]

Originally posted by: sharkeeper
Actually I am able to play a DVD-A disk via DTS 5.1 digital from the DVD transport to the decoder and it works!

Using a Theta Carmen transport and Lexicon MC-12B.

Ok the original point of this post was to attempt to play HL2 on my notebook through a nice HT setup. I have a 132" screen and it would be nice to get true DTS-EX working in a game. A long shot, I know. 🙂

Cheers!

If it's a DTS signal, then most likely you're just playing the backup DTS track and not the high-resolution, losslesly encoded MLP track.

 

[sharkeeper]

I haven't done much with it but I can say it's as quiet as the USB (Audigy NS) and doesn't seem to glitch like the former when BT or WLAN (G) is enabled.

I haven't tested it too much...yet.

I like the fact that I am not dragged down (literally) with a box and wires hanging from the computer. The NS also requires a wall wart but I made a dongle that pulls AUX power from another USB port. Still clumsy compared to a small PCMCIA solution. The optical output is kind of hack and doesn't include a cable/adapter to use SPDIF. You have to purchase this separately which is a letdown but one can make one if they are remotely handy.

Much better (obviously) then onboard delta audio. (Dell Inspiron XPS)

I'll try it on a old Toshiba Satellite 1.1 GHz P3. The box says 1.2GHz minimum so I think that will be a fair test. 🙂

If it's a DTS signal, then most likely you're just playing the backup DTS track and not the high-resolution MLP track.

The D/A converter tells me it's 24/96 PCM DTS. 5.1 is available and it is discrete. Quite obvious when listening. Nice soundstage is present throughout the listening area.

Cheers!

 

[Dug]

Originally posted by: sharkeeper
I haven't done much with it but I can say it's as quiet as the USB (Audigy NS) and doesn't seem to glitch like the former when BT or WLAN (G) is enabled.

I haven't tested it too much...yet.

I like the fact that I am not dragged down (literally) with a box and wires hanging from the computer. The NS also requires a wall wart but I made a dongle that pulls AUX power from another USB port. Still clumsy compared to a small PCMCIA solution. The optical output is kind of hack and doesn't include a cable/adapter to use SPDIF. You have to purchase this separately which is a letdown but one can make one if they are remotely handy.

Much better (obviously) then onboard delta audio. (Dell Inspiron XPS)

I'll try it on a old Toshiba Satellite 1.1 GHz P3. The box says 1.2GHz minimum so I think that will be a fair test. 🙂

If it's a DTS signal, then most likely you're just playing the backup DTS track and not the high-resolution MLP track.

The D/A converter tells me it's 24/96 PCM DTS. 5.1 is available and it is discrete. Quite obvious when listening. Nice soundstage is present throughout the listening area.

Cheers!

Which is what Accord99 is saying, you aren't playing the high resolution track. You're playing the even more compressed DTS track. Most DVD-A's fall back on that automatically.
And as far as the game, unless the game is encoded in DTS-EX, your stereo system won't be able to decode it through spdif out of your sound card. Only the nforce boards can encode a 5.1 signal out output it spdif to a stereo.

 

[sharkeeper]

Yes there are way too many variables here to figure out what is going on. As if it wasn't complicated enough with movies. 🙂

The D/A is a good quality and the processor is also quite good so it does sound quite nice for *digital*.

Frankly, I really don't care what format the game/hw uses as long as I hear things accurately off the screen as in most movies and HD content. One thing I hate is delay to simulate an environment. If someone shoots a rocket and I duck, I expect to hear it hit something behind me...

Cheers!