[DJINFERNO806]

I see.  

Well that certainly makes things a bit more confusing, where DD encoding is affected when making adjustments in the control panel.   :confused_face:

I'm not sure what you're asking here:
"However would the DD live or DTS encoding matter it were 5.1 or headphones?"

The reason he was trying to get DD live was to feed his DSS.



Is there any particular reason you're using your mixamp in conjunction with the SB Z, if your simply using analog outputs from the SB Z and using it's own SBX Pro surround?  Wouldn't it be simpler to plug directly in the SB Z?

I mean, would the way the z processes certain effects before encoding it matter based on whether headphones or 5.1 speakers were selected in z panel.

This needs more testing. As the way this card does certain things isn't always transparent to us. Just look at all the stuff we have found out ourselves about this cards functionality so far. Creative needs to stop dumbing down or "streamlining" settings. They think the average Joe gamer is too dumb to play around with sound card settings.

 

[chicolom]

I've noticed that (with the DSS hooked up via optical and the SB Z set to encode DDL), that the sound changes when you toggle between 5.1 and Headphones in the SB control panel.  Maybe it's toggling between DD 5.1 channel and DD 2-channel digital stereo. 
 
I'll have to test it more, but I though toggling SBX Pro ON/OFF also affected the DDL encode...

 

[DJINFERNO806]

Well even without encoding. Sbx affects everything even with 5.1 speakers selected in z panel. It upmizes 2 channel sounds to surround.

And if all DSP effects get encoded, it would stand to reason that sbx should be no different.

 

[chicolom]

I assumed that when DDL encoding was enabled, it would bypass all other SB Z processing and just go directly from the source (game's multi-channel audio) to Dolby Digital with no stops or processing in between.
 
So I assumed that when DDL was enabled, nothing you could do in the SB Z control panel would affect it, but it turns out most things affect it.

 

[DJINFERNO806]

If you weren't able to encode all the effects on the z, it wouldn't really have it stand apart from say a motherboard that can encode as well. Creative has to offer more to justify the price.

I haven't tried yet but when encoding is enabled, does the z still output from analogue as well?

 

[chicolom]

It still does analog out when DDL is encoding on optical.

 

[SaLX]

Got a reply from Creative about the enhancements setting.
 
Me:

I have a question regarding a particular setting in Windows (7 or 8) for the Soundblaster Z, Zx and ZxR, and whether it is appropriate to select it or not: In Windows Mixer (or Sound Control Panel) there is an entry under Advanced Properties for ***Signal enhancements***. Does Creative recommend ticking the "enable audio enhancements" box or not? I am scratching my head as to what that exact setting does. Any ideas?

  Creative:

I was advised by the relevant department that we have no technical information about the audio enhancement feature as this is implemented by Microsoft on how they look at our soundcards. I suggest to contact Microsoft for more information.
 
Please note that we rely on our own software for audio enhancements, normally audio enhancement in active, however if you encounter any issues with our soundcard we recommend to disable the feature as it may also cause an issue with our software. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to get back to us.
 
Regards,
John
Creative Worldwide Customer Response

 

[Anarion]

Lol?! What a response...

 

[Meduseld]

Hi !
 
To gaming, you prefer Stereo or Surround with SBX ? 
 
 
ty

 

[DJINFERNO806]

Most of us on this thread prefer sbx surround as that's the primary reason we bought the card. With that said, nothing wrong with stereo.

 

[Meduseld]

Ty
 
 
Surround must be used on any type of game ? Only FPS ? 

 

[DJINFERNO806]

Surround can be used in all kinds of games for more immersion. Its not limited to fps. Its all depending on your taste and style.

 

[GrayRaven]

If i hook up a console to the card via optical in, would i benefit from the dac, amp and SBX surround?
 
If only they put a line/mic out too

 

[chicolom]

  If i hook up a console to the card via optical in, would i benefit from the dac, amp and SBX surround?
 
If only they put a line/mic out too

 
I believe the optical IN only accepts 2 channel audio (not DD 5.1), so it would be upscaled/interpolated surround - not worth doing IMO.

 

[Fegefeuer]

Yeah, kinda sad. Those few bucks for the lincensing fee. Creative cheapened out again.
 
I remember watching movies with the X-Fi Xtreme Music by letting the media player send the ac3 via passthrough to the spdif out (nothing connected there). 
That's where the hardware decoder of the X-Fi came in and grabbed the stream to decode it to my headphones.