Time to say goodbye to Creative X-Fi Platinum card? Don't want to lose DD, DTS...

[AnitaPeterson]

Hi folks,

I am contemplating the possibility of eliminating the Creative X-Fi Platinum sound card currently residing in my Win7-64bit system, and would appreciate some feedback, especially from people who are familiar with digital audio.

Here's the thing: I got this card back in 2007, and it's currently installed in my HTPC, where it sends digital audio (via a Creative "optical + coaxial" adapter) directly to a Yamaha receiver (via coaxial). I don't get to use any of its more advanced functions, and the front panel is basically collecting dust.

Now, for some reason, although the card has been functional since I built this machine (going on three years now), I cannot access any of the Creative features, such as the Console (Entertainment, Gaming and Creation). The software is installed, but won't launch.

I tried updating the drivers and software, but to no avail. And we all know how much of a problem Creative has with Win7, particularly the 64-bit version.

For what it's worth, I use VLC as the primary video player, with Arcsoft Total Media Theatre for Blu-ray and (gasp!) HD-DVD content. This means that I have audio ranging from stereo to Dolby Digital and DTS (and their variations). My receiver and speakers are only 5.1, so any 7.1 signal gets downsampled - I'm not worried about it.

However.... Considering the fact that I don't get to use this (otherwise impressive) soundcard for anything more demanding than playback (and that's done through the digital interface, so no DAC features, crystallizer or anything else), I'm starting to think that perhaps I can eliminate it from my HTPC setup altogether, and put it in an older XP machine (to be used for audio capture and editing from analog sources, including LPs).

The whole idea was triggered by an impending system overhaul, which includes a Windows reinstall (I want to install a larger SSD and replace a failing storage drive)...

But I'm wondering if by eliminating the X-Fi I wouldn't lose all the multichannel sound capabilities. My motherboard is an ASUS P8Z68-V LE, which has a Realtek ALC892 chipset. The motherboard's webpage says this is a "8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC with Blu-ray audio layer Content Protection and Optical S/PDIF out port at back panel"... I have to check if I can reassign the optical port on my receiver to the computer, but I don't think that will pose any problems (I also have a standalone optical to coaxial adapter, just in case).

So... what do you guys think? Is it worth staying only with the motherboard audio? Would I lose any of the current multichannel playback capabilities? Let me know!

 

[MichaelD]

After 130 views...and two of them mine, I figured I'd reply.

If all you're doing is outputting a digital signal via a coax or optical cable to your HT receiver, the receiver is doing all the decoding anyway. I don't think you'll lose anything by losing the card and just using the MB's coax out from the onboard audio codec. Your MB is relatively new and probably still in really good shape. I'm sure you'll be quite happy with the output of the onboard audio.

After a wipe and reload without the Creative product in there, you'll be much better off anyway. I had to say it. Don't have good history with Creative products. After moving to a pair of powered studio monitors for my primary PC about 6 years ago, I have been using onboard audio ever since. Though obviously the 2-channel analog output.

 

[mfenn]

Michael is correct, the ALC892 will bitstream out Dolby Digital and DTS, and 2-channel PCM just fine, which are basically all of the codecs that can be physically carried by S/PDIF.

 

[Automaticman]

Quick question - does your receiver support HDMI audio? What video card are you using? Almost all newer (AMD HD5000 / Nvidia 500 series) video cards support 7.1 LPCM, DD/DTS, and HD audio over their HDMI outputs. If your setup supports it, this is the way to go - otherwise, Michael and mfenn are right and you should be fine with S/PDIF from your mobo.

 

[PliotronX]

Quick question - does your receiver support HDMI audio? What video card are you using? Almost all newer (AMD HD5000 / Nvidia 500 series) video cards support 7.1 LPCM, DD/DTS, and HD audio over their HDMI outputs. If your setup supports it, this is the way to go - otherwise, Michael and mfenn are right and you should be fine with S/PDIF from your mobo.

Yeehaw! Thanks to your post about this a while back I got a different receiver that actually does 7.1 LPCM and it is a wonderful experience

 

[AnitaPeterson]

My videocard is a Radeon HD 6670 which has HDMI audio, but my receiver was the last generation before HDMI... I bought it in 2004, if I remember correctly.

Thanks for weighing in! I was in fact hoping for that answer

I also realized in the meantime that a) I have an Asus Xonar DG in my spare parts box (as a fallback scenario) and b) I can add a coaxial digital output to the motherboard, with very little trouble.

 

[Automaticman]

Yeehaw! Thanks to your post about this a while back I got a different receiver that actually does 7.1 LPCM and it is a wonderful experience

Happy to hear you got it all working!

My videocard is a Radeon HD 6670 which has HDMI audio, but my receiver was the last generation before HDMI... I bought it in 2004, if I remember correctly.

Thanks for weighing in! I was in fact hoping for that answer

I also realized in the meantime that a) I have an Asus Xonar DG in my spare parts box (as a fallback scenario) and b) I can add a coaxial digital output to the motherboard, with very little trouble.

In that case, just go with the optical out from your onboard audio. I wouldn't bother with the Asus. Since you plan to be bitstreaming everything, I don't think the sound card used will have any effect on sound quality.

As for the digital coax, I don't think there's any quality difference between that and optical (you could probably make the argument that coax handles longer runs better). If you've got an available optical port on your receiver, I'd just go with that. Digital inputs on receivers are almost always re-assignable.

*edit*

one last thought -
Depending on whether or not your onboard or Asus card support either DD Live or DTS connect, and you wanted to be able to play games with 5.1 sound using only the optical connection (which I don't think you mentioned) - that could be one reason to sway you one way or another. The same could be said for playing music using Dolby PLII or DTS:NEO to upconvert the sound to multichannel from stereo. My older Asus card supported this, but wasn't smart enough to detect how many input channels the source material was outputting and ended up being a pain to manually configure every time I switched sources. I'd rather just listen to music in stereo anyway. Just a thought, though.