[TheNew007]

The audigy 2 ZS has a digital out but it's only a mini. If i split it into two rca connectors, will the sound quality be compromised? Also, if I connected it through digital out then that means I bypassed the soundcard's DAC right? Does that mean that EAX and other features won't be available anymore? Does anybody know can I have digital out while still having EAX?

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

EAX (along with all eq and volume controls) should still be effective even on the digital out, because those features modify the digital stream (along with resampling to 48khz) before it's sent to the DAC, unless you're using ASIO drivers those features should work just fine.

The analogue 3.5mm -> RCA splitters in and of itself doesn't compromise SQ too much, assuming you're feeding this into an amp, since amps are easier loads to drive than headphones. HOWEVER, many people have reported group-loop problems when connecting things in this fashion, so it's a safer bet to utilize the optical out to an external DAC.

 

[pheonix991]

The Audigy ZS2 is not capable of digital output in 5.1, just incase that was a question you had on your mind!

 

[TheNew007]

what why not? Are you saying it's only capable of 2.1?

 

[pheonix991]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNew007 /img/forum/go_quote.gif what why not? Are you saying it's only capable of 2.1?

Yes, creative wants you to go buy a break-out box so you can have digital 5.1.

 

[lini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNew007 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The audigy 2 ZS has a digital out but it's only a mini. If i split it into two rca connectors, will the sound quality be compromised? Also, if I connected it through digital out then that means I bypassed the soundcard's DAC right? Does that mean that EAX and other features won't be available anymore? Does anybody know can I have digital out while still having EAX?

I'd rather recommend to use an appropriate cable than a splitter solution. And yes, you'd be bypassing the internal dac. And what you can get from the digital out is either digital surround sound (in Dolby Digital or DTS) or stereo PCM (with or without EAX), but not digital multichannel surround sound with EAX. The only cards that support the latter are those that support some kind of real-time DD/DTS encoding (e.g. using Dolby Digital Live or DTS Interactive software encoders), but these are limited to EAX 2 max.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini