X-Fi XM rear speakers sound funny

[rof3]

So I just got an X-Fi XtremeMusic and hooked it up to my Dell 5.1 (from woot.com, I don't have a Dell) speakers. When playing music, the sound coming out of the rear speakers sounds distorted, almost like it is getting the signal for the subwoofer. If I switch the 3.5mm jacks for the center/sw and rear, no sound comes out of the rear speakers. This is with CMSS Surround enabled...without it enabled nothing comes out of the rear speakers at all, even with 5.1 selected in the 'Speakers' tab.

My setup is the X-Fi to the amp for my Kinyo KY-100 headphones, which has leadouts that go to my speakers. I just unplugged the front and center/sw jacks from my headphone amp and listened to just the rear signal on my headphones...sounds funny there too. I had a crappy Chaintech sound card in there before and it didn't do this.

Does anyone have any ideas about what's up with this?

 

[Polish3d]

Try dling latest drivers from CL website if you havent already

 

[alcoholbob]

Rof3.

The answer is likely the most simple one.

That is, CMSS sucks.

 

[rof3]

OK, well I'll have to take your word for it since I don't really know anything about CMSS. Do you know if there's a way to get 5.1 without CMSS?

I had the latest drivers but then I installed some software off the CD, which might have installed the older drivers. So I'll try that.

Thanks.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Does the X-Fi have a 5 channel stereo option?

Music is meant to be listened to in 2.0/2.1 stereo anyway unless it's DVD-A or something.

 

[alcoholbob]

It should. It's called "Stereo Surround" on your Creative Speaker Settings program.

CMSS is just stereo, plus transients (highs) played in the rears. A sad attempt at surround 4.0/5.0. It's a poor man's Pro Logic/II.

"Do you know if there's a way to get 5.1 without CMSS"

You get 5.1 by playing 5.1 material. An mp3 is is only a dual channel format.

Buying a XiFi and then outputting CMSS to Dell speakers is just another unfortunate result of advertising leading to poor results.

 

[0roo0roo]

well there should be a mode where its 4.0 with rears as mirrors of front... my santa cruz does that

 

[rof3]

Stereo Surround doesn't make anything come out the rear speakers. I think what you guys are saying is that it's doing what it's supposed to be doing, and when I play actual 5.1 data it will sound right. Correct me if I'm wrong...it makes sense, except when I used my onboard AC'97 or my crappy CMI8738 sound card this didn't happen, so I'm surprised it does on a high-end sound card. Thanks.