Audio Is there any need of sound card for z-5500 ?

avinash4 said:
^ I really dont think so, with optical outs on your MOBO doesnt make any difference. BTW,which sound card are you using and what codecs do you use.
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Optical Out on Motherboards (Realtek on-board) do not output Dolby Digital 5.1 which is required by Z5500 to output 5.1. Learned it the hard way myself. One can still use the analog outputs on the motherboard, but for analog, there is a tonne of difference between on board and a dedicated sound card. And yeah, even the DAC on Z5500 would never be able to match the ones on decent dedicated sound cards.
 
Lord Nemesis said:
Optical Out on Motherboards (Realtek on-board) do not output Dolby Digital 5.1 which is required by Z5500 to output 5.1.
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Not true. It may be chipset dependent. I am pretty sure when I had the Gigabyte G31 board with the Realtek audio chip plus the DIY coaxial-out port, I was able to get Dolby-D 5.1 and DTS signals when connected to my Philips HTIB. I saw the prompt change on the OSD of the receiver when the respective blu-ray files were played. Why would optical out ports be any different here?

What board did you have? And I am assuming you connected the Astro A40 to that?
 
You will not get Dolby Digital 5.1 via on-board optical unless you are playing media specifically encoded in Dolby Digital 5.1. The on board sound solution cannot encode any other audio format (even if it is 6 channel) into Digital 5.1 like it does not analog 5.1 which kinda makes your 5.1 speakers useless with Optical for all the while you are not playing Dolby Digital encoded content. Dedicated sound cards like X-Fi can convert any signal into 5.1 and then encode it into Dolby Digital 5.1.
 
Optical Out on Motherboards (Realtek on-board) do not output Dolby Digital 5.1 which is required by Z5500 to output 5.1.
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I am on VIA audio drivers which definately gives you Dolby Digital and DTS tracks via Optical out. With K-Lite codec pack and certain audio options in WMP-Classic like DTSHD, DOLBYHD, DOLBY Digital, DTS enabled. I get DTS and Dolby track on my decoder.
 
^^ As I said, you will get Dolby Digital only if the media itself is encoded Dolby digital or the media player is capable of encoding to Dolby digital on the fly and route it to driver. Try that with a game that supports surround sound but not Dolby Digital, you will not get 5.1 from on-board. Basically, I am saying that Realtek drivers themselves cannot construct a Dolby Digital signal on their own from what ever source you are playing. My X-Fi can do that regardless of the source.
 
Basically, I am saying that Realtek drivers themselves cannot construct a Dolby Digital signal on their own from what ever source you are playing. My X-Fi can do that regardless of the source.
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Agree that. But the decoder converts it to Dolby Pro Logic II, where I get the proper surround effect while gaming but not Dolby Digital.

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jassi said:
my mobo have supreme fx-x-fi audio (VIA) ..will it able to give 5.1 dolby digital ???
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Which MOBO do you have?
 
Lord Nemesis said:
You will not get Dolby Digital 5.1 via on-board optical unless you are playing media specifically encoded in Dolby Digital 5.1. The on board sound solution cannot encode any other audio format (even if it is 6 channel) into Digital 5.1 like it does not analog 5.1 which kinda makes your 5.1 speakers useless with Optical for all the while you are not playing Dolby Digital encoded content. Dedicated sound cards like X-Fi can convert any signal into 5.1 and then encode it into Dolby Digital 5.1.
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Thats so not true.

The gigabyte mobo provide support for DD Live. If you enable theis and then enable DD Prologic II then every audio aource which is not 5.1ch gets converted into that.
 
Sorry to bump up and hijack an old thread but here are a few doubts I had regarding the legendary Z-5500 digital.

One of my close relatives recently got a 46" Samsung D550 LCD TV . They also need a not so expensive , decent sounding 5.1 system to watch HD movies/ Dvds etc. Their budget isn't sufficient to buy one of those Onkyo sets which start at 25k+ as they need to keep it under 20k . Also they want the speakers to be as small as possible .

So I was thinking , will it be possible to get a Z5500 ( is it still available in market ? ) and then hook it to the LCD TV and get proper 5.1 ch output ?

Will it be a good idea or are there any other better 5.1 speakers from Philips / Sony etc ?
 
FaH33m said:
Sorry to bump up and hijack an old thread but here are a few doubts I had regarding the legendary Z-5500 digital.

One of my close relatives recently got a 46" Samsung D550 LCD TV . They also need a not so expensive , decent sounding 5.1 system to watch HD movies/ Dvds etc. Their budget isn't sufficient to buy one of those Onkyo sets which start at 25k+ as they need to keep it under 20k . Also they want the speakers to be as small as possible .

So I was thinking , will it be possible to get a Z5500 ( is it still available in market ? ) and then hook it to the LCD TV and get proper 5.1 ch output ?

Will it be a good idea or are there any other better 5.1 speakers from Philips / Sony etc ?
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I have Samsung 40" C630. Connected Z5500 to TV through Optical cable. I play movies through USB from the TV. The TV can passthrough Dolby (AC3) and DTS audio and to Z5500 (it cannot decode AAC). The Z5500 can decode these and does a pretty decent job. I haven't experienced costly onkyo's and Polks's or sony's for extended period. So cannot comment on the quality between Z5500 and other decoders. But you will not be disappointed. This is a very cheap and efficient set up. The TV has option to enable and sync subtitles also so there is no need for an external media player.
 
^In my case, I have the similar setup minus the Z5500 but a Philips HTIB with optical/coaxial inputs. With the USB input, the receiver cannot recognise DD/DTS signals whereas when playing a game it switches to DD accordingly.
 
^^^ I would say get the Onkyo base model which comes for something like 15k.

I had used the Z5500 for a few months and was highly disappointed. Had used a Samsung HTiB purchased from TE market which sounded better.

Tomorrow my Zonar DX is coming and I think that should make a diff with my current setup.
 
Gannu said:
^In my case, I have the similar setup minus the Z5500 but a Philips HTIB with optical/coaxial inputs. With the USB input, the receiver cannot recognise DD/DTS signals whereas when playing a game it switches to DD accordingly.
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I assume you have also tried changing the sound settings to Dolby or DTS from tools when playing files from USB.

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hellgate said:
^^^ I would say get the Onkyo base model which comes for something like 15k.

I had used the Z5500 for a few months and was highly disappointed. Had used a Samsung HTiB purchased from TE market which sounded better.

Tomorrow my Zonar DX is coming and I think that should make a diff with my current setup.
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I dont know why the sound fared that bad. Have you used optical connection.

There is quite a lot of difference when the optical connection is used.

I am not saying it is excellent choice but for 15 K instead of getting a low end amp and basic speakers z5500 can be a nice and easy set up.
 
FaH33m said:
^ What would you suggest ? Philips HTIB or Z5500 ?
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Not sounding partial here but I'd vouch for the Philips HTIB but none of the newer models have both the digital inputs. The Z5500's bass is pretty boomy. An entry level AVR based HTIB setup from Denon/Onkyo might sound better than the Z5500. There are chances that the Z5500 is retailing for cheap (~14k and thereabouts) since it has been discontinued now.

@hellgate: If it is going to be digital inputs, I can bet there isn't going to be any change in the perceived SQ because of the Xonar DX. Let me know if you felt otherwise! :)

@sg3707: You mean from the display? Never bothered with that since it used to switch to DD/DTS automatically when the source outputs it. For instance, if I play any game on the PS3, it switches to Dolby D. Anyhow will check it today and revert back.

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EDIT: Dude sg370-7, can I give you a candy? Pretty please! It just worked! OMGWTFBBQ yes my receiver showed DTS and Dolby D when I changed the Sound Setting from The Tools menu when the media was played. I feel like shooting myself after not having noticed this since Diwali when I got my LCD! :'(

I am damn sure I checked all the options minus this. Dude thank you so much!
 
hellgate said:
Thats so not true.

The gigabyte mobo provide support for DD Live. If you enable theis and then enable DD Prologic II then every audio aource which is not 5.1ch gets converted into that.
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Which Gigabyte board are you talking about? I definitely didn't have it on my Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6.
 
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