Does my sound card support 5.1 surround sound with speakers?

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merigoldsass

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#1 merigoldsass
Member since 2011 • 575 Posts

I own the asus xonar dg sound card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132020&Tpk=xonar%20dg i know it has dolby headphone technology to simulate 5.1 surround sound, however i want to know if it can perform DOlby Digital 5.1 surround sound (a lot of tv broadcasting uses this, and if it capable of DTS surround sound. I have it connected to my logitech z906 5.1 speakers through an optical cord and the sound does seem to be coming out all the speakers i just can not tell if it is some type of virtual surround feature or if it is running true dolby digital 5.1 and/ or dts 5.1 surround. i called asus and they said that the card only has dolby headophone technology, however the box says under sample rate and resolution "Dolby Digital, DTS" this wear I am confused. Can anyone verify this?

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C_Rule

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#2 C_Rule
Member since 2008 • 9816 Posts
Not sure exactly how it works, but the hub for those speakers can decode DD 5.1 and DTS sent over optical (the speakers/amp need this to get surround sound from optical signal). This vid is good for testing surround sound.
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merigoldsass

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#3 merigoldsass
Member since 2011 • 575 Posts

Not sure exactly how it works, but the hub for those speakers can decode DD 5.1 and DTS sent over optical (the speakers/amp need this to get surround sound from optical signal). This vid is good for testing surround sound.C_Rule
that vid is useless as youtube does not supprt 5.1 sound.

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C_Rule

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#4 C_Rule
Member since 2008 • 9816 Posts

[QUOTE="C_Rule"]Not sure exactly how it works, but the hub for those speakers can decode DD 5.1 and DTS sent over optical (the speakers/amp need this to get surround sound from optical signal). This vid is good for testing surround sound.merigoldsass

that vid is useless as youtube does not supprt 5.1 sound.

Don't let the top comment fool you, I tried it yesterday and was getting 5.1 through my Z5500 (via optical from mobo).

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NamelessPlayer

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#5 NamelessPlayer
Member since 2004 • 7729 Posts
It seems like the Xonar DG actually lacks Dolby Digital Live, so the only way you can get 5.1 out of it for most sources is to use analog 3.5mm cables if your speakers permit it. Note that while content with pre-encoded Dolby Digital tracks like DVD movies won't have any issues, PC games most certainly will (since they keep their channel data in PCM, and S/PDIF only has enough bandwidth for two PCM channels).