difference

[poci_wasiat]

wats the diference between dolby5.1 with dts??i use x-fi.. is cmss 3d surround enable or disable when listen dvd moive?? i use earphone to listen it.. and play it with powerdvd with spdif

 

[Sycraft]

Different compression, different technology. Dolby Digital is the required digital audio film and DVD spec. It's printed inbetween the holes for gears on the actual film. It's a 5.1 system that can have a number of bitrates but is almost always 448k/sec for movies. DTS is an alternate spec and isn't manditory. It's not on the actual film itself, but comes off of CDs that are sync'd to the projector. On a DVD it's just anohter audio track. It can do 5.1 or 6.1 discreet channels, can can also do 24-bit 96kHz in it's 24/96 variety. It can be either 768k/sec or 1.5m/sec, but on DVDs is generally 768k.

The net effect is that, largely due to the higher bitrates, DTS sounds better. It tends to have better detail, better highs, etc. Since the X-Fi decodes both, if you have a DVD with DTS, use it.

I would use CMMS with this, espically if you are listening on headphones as it'll do HRTF to try and give you a real surround image through just your headphones.

I'm not sure what you mean by listening through S/PDIF. Do you have an external DAC, or do you have a reciever?

 

[poci_wasiat]

i use spdif mode in powerdvd.... is it true??

 

[Bones13]

Where does the SPDIF go though. You are probably ouputting a multi channel surround music stream if you have your sound settings in your card and PowerDVD (be sure you have the upgrade to this program for Dolby and or DTS) But it is where the digital stream hits the digital processor that is what matters.

If you are putting that spdif to a HiFi Stereo DAC - you are only going to get 2 sound channels out. - stereo

If you are putting that spdif to the input of a Dolby/DTS reciever and it plays to the multiple speakers attatched to it, then you are getting surround.

A computer sound card with 5.1 or better surround support, connected to a multispeaker array (using all 3 audio out jacks on the card) will play surround. SPDIF does not figure in this set up though.

The XFi can "simulate" surround in your stereo headphones by enableing CMSS, and playing with some of the settings. I dont think SPDIF figures in this scenario either.