View Full Version : Sound Blaster Audigy.... ARGH
Has anyone gotten their SB Audigy to work with 5.1 AC-3 sound? I'm trying to hook it up to my Denon AVR-3802 receiver (which supports PCM) to work. Is it just me, or does Creative SUCK at making drivers? ARGHHHH....
I have the 3.5mm mono to RCA from my Audigy to the receiver. Digital is set to 44.1 KHz.
Bires
07-20-2002, 06:00 PM
Not with the digital connection, no. I use the 6-channel (3 plug) component audio and it works great.
PrObLy
07-20-2002, 09:54 PM
Like Bires, I use the 3-plug analog 5.1 surround for my 5.1 monsoon speakers and originally had driver problems with windows XP, but the 5.1 still worked.....you might want to try checking the plain old windows sound "volume" icon that usually puts itself in your taskbar, or access it from the control panel in "sounds, speach, and audio devices" then click on advanced and make sure "digital output only" box is checked.....I had that problem with a set of digital 2.1 boston acoustics speakers one time.
SnowSurfer
07-20-2002, 10:09 PM
thats the reason i got a turtle beach sound card. imo creative sucks at making drivers and is a shoddy company for that. but thats just because of the horror stories i have with them
Yeah, I should have gone with a different card... Or even the older SBLive 5.1. Ah, well...
Yeah, I have the software selected at "Digital Output Only" for Creative taskbar. "Digital Output Only" is also selected when I am in the plain Windows volume control.
The receiver is set to accept PCM. I am truly at a loss. Maybe it's time to get a better sound card.
PrObLy
07-20-2002, 10:40 PM
well Leon, I think you've stumped me as the only other thing I can think of would be going into the Audio HQ and into the surround mixer or whatever they call it and make sure nothing is muted ,and all the devices are at maybe 90% volume and make sure line out is available, I'm sure you've probly done all this already but it's all I can think of........I am also not 100% happy with my audigy card, when it's working, it works and sounds great, but sometimes it decides to make "clicking" noises even with that de-clicker on "high" in the eax menu, then the clicks will just stop and not come back for a few days...beats me. I also wish there was a way to amplify DVD playback for AC-3 sound because it is far too quiet even with all the volumes on everything turned all the way up...maybe someone can help with that?
Bires
07-20-2002, 10:44 PM
Idea:
Borrow someone's reciever and check to make sure the component output is working, then test the Dolby AC3 output. My reason is this:
I have an older Pioneer Laserdisc player that has dolby AC3 output, but it isn't digital, like those found on DVD players. Apparently older recievers used this format. Also, if you could borrow a platinum breakout box and use its output, it would tell you if the port on your card is working properly.
Tommy Boomfiger
07-20-2002, 10:48 PM
i dont have an audigy card, but i do have a 5.1 live.
just wondering, did you install the surround mixer bloat? if you did, run the app, click the speaker button then click advanced. in the popup box, there should be a button for AC-3 decoding. turn it off. actually i dont know if mine is off, but its white so i think its off. thats what did it for me. the problem is that the card is sending a decoded signal to the reciever which is trying to decode it again. hope that helped, not sure if it will work with an audigy
Bires: Hmm.. I'm pretty sure the problem lies with the Audigy's digital output. I'm just not sure whether it's hardware related or if it's a driver issue. I downloaded the Compaq Audigy drivers which are supposed to be more stable than Creative's. It installed fine, but still no digital out. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone with one of those overpriced Extigy thingies.
Tommy: Yeah, I went ahead and did a full installation. The AC-3 decoding option is off. Thanks for trying, though.
LPMiller
07-21-2002, 10:03 AM
Best way to fix it? Large hammer and a trip to Compusa for a Turtle beach or Fortissemo.
Hammer? Nah... I have my Benelli just for times like these.
http://www.benelliusa.com/nova_pump/images/nova_popup04.gif
PoloM1
07-21-2002, 03:13 PM
I'm not a big fan of sound blaster cards, I currently have the first Fortissemo and if I ever get around to upgrading, I'll probably end up getting the new Fortissemo.
So no incompatibility problems with any games or anything with the Guilletmot? Don't need any of the new EAX3.0 or whatever?
skyline
07-21-2002, 07:23 PM
Currently I have a Live 5.1 and I hooked it up with my Cambridge SoundWorks DTT3500 (the one w/ Receiver Decoder) I use the mini->Digital din cable (came with the speaker, don't think sound card came with it) then hook it up the Receiver's Digital din (but it also take Coax from casual dvd player and stuff.. ) My current problem is that supposely I shall have 5.1 when I switch to digital mode (I checked everything includeing Surround Mixer ->Digital Out Only, and select right Input source on the Receiver), but for some reason I lost my center channel in pure Digital mode that I down graded to 4.1 ~~ and there is no way I hooked up the speakers wrong or anything, because if I change to analog mode and switch the mode of the receiver I can hear all 6 speaker playing. So, I concluded something might went wrong with my digital out sound card.
By far I just placed an order for the new Audigy card.
Regarding the Audigy driver issue, I hope it would be more stable now since is has been out for awhile and update patch are also out for WinXP. (I'll probably need to do couple fresh install to have everything settle down. ~~) I'll drop some notes once I got it and see how it goes, and hopefully can get my pure Digital 5.1 working.
Finally fixed my sound issue. According to Soundblaster's online manual, to connect to a Dolby Digital Receiver, you need to get a 3.5mm (mono) to RCA and connect that to the coaxial digital in on the receiver. Got one from Radio Shack. Didn't work. Had an old 3.5mm (stereo) to dual RCA cable. That one worked... sorta. The red RCA got me like two channels. The black RCA got me the other two channels. Well, there's only ONE digital input on my receiver. Blah. So I went out and got the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Digital works fine now.
hapoo
07-29-2002, 05:05 PM
Originally posted by Leon
Finally fixed my sound issue. According to Soundblaster's online manual, to connect to a Dolby Digital Receiver, you need to get a 3.5mm (mono) to RCA and connect that to the coaxial digital in on the receiver. Got one from Radio Shack. Didn't work. Had an old 3.5mm (stereo) to dual RCA cable. That one worked... sorta. The red RCA got me like two channels. The black RCA got me the other two channels. Well, there's only ONE digital input on my receiver. Blah. So I went out and got the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Digital works fine now.
oops, sorry leon guess that my fault :o
seems to work fine for me :shrug:
ohh well, good to hear you fixed the problem. Turtle Beach any good?
Naw, it's not your fault. Even the official Audigy documentation called for a 3.5mm mono plug. The stereo plug doesn't even work properly. It might be a combo of things like WinXP, SMP, drivers, etc. In any case, I'm through with Creative Labs until they hire some real programmers. Turtle Beach installed extremely easily, it's not bloated, and digital works fine.
Leon: How does the Santa Cruz compare to the Audigy in terms of sound, drivers and performance? Have you tested it with games?
It's a little hard to compare the two in terms of sound quality because I have the Santa Cruz on a true home theater system and the Audigy was on an Altec Lansing ACS-48 system. The SC sounds better because the speakers are better. I would test the Audigy on the HT system, but then it doesn't work, which is why I had to switch to the SC in the first place. :heh: In terms of games, the Audigy was always fine and it always worked and the SC is working just fine too. I have played it with Counter-Strike, Warcraft 3, and Quake 3 and sound comes out of all the speakers.
Basically, the Santa Cruz works where the Audigy did not. It installed easily and the drivers did not bloat my system. But, it is a pretty old card now that I think about it. I'm lucky that the only thing I need my sound card to do is play MP3s and games. It does that just fine. The Audigy did that fine, too. I haven't played any games that have stretched my system thin, so I can't say if there has been any changes in frame rates.
I guess the bottom line is that the Audigy chip is more powerful, but the Santa Cruz's drivers are superior.
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