Creative Digital I/O Module

NightWolf_8800 · Aug 25, 2006

Hey,

I have a Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music... And i have a mmpc... I have a 7.1 speaker setup and i need a way of connecting my sound card to my yamaha amp...

I have only digital coax and digital optical connections in the back of the amp... I have tried using a 3.5mm jack to rca for digital coax however i only get 2.1 sound... Leaving me with crap audio quality and 5 speakers unused...

Will the creative Digital I/O Module give me 7.1 or even 5.1 surround sound??? Also can i use a mic if i get a Digital I/O Module???

Will the sound quality be better using digital optical and the Digital I/O Module???

Thanks,

NW

TTP · Aug 25, 2006

NightWolf_8800 said:
Hey,

I have a Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music... And i have a mmpc... I have a 7.1 speaker setup and i need a way of connecting my sound card to my yamaha amp...

I have only digital coax and digital optical connections in the back of the amp... I have tried using a 3.5mm jack to rca for digital coax however i only get 2.1 sound... Leaving me with crap audio quality and 5 speakers unused...

Will the creative Digital I/O Module give me 7.1 or even 5.1 surround sound??? Also can i use a mic if i get a Digital I/O Module???

Will the sound quality be better using digital optical and the Digital I/O Module???

Thanks,

NW

If you're using the X-Fi, did you connect all the analog ports to a corresponding input on the Yamaha amp? There are 3 ports on the back of the X-Fi that handles front L/R (port 1), rear L/R (port 2), center/subwoofer (port 3). You need to connect all 3 ports if you want multi-channel output from your home theater receiver/amp.

FYI, I think the digital SPDIF is also designed to cutoff when you're playing a DRM music source on your version of the X-Fi.

NightWolf_8800 · Aug 25, 2006

Yeh thats the probelm with using the 3 ports... They dont exist on my amp... I need to use digital optical or digital coax...

TTP · Aug 25, 2006

In that case, you can opt for the IO drive interface, but because your card is the Xtrememusic, I don't think you can play DRM media through it. In addition, the optical connect only handles uncompressed DTS sources which means you won't hear game generated sounds out of it.

In your case, you may need to get a pre-processor or receiver that does handle 7.1 or get a set of powered 7.1 speakers and skip the HT connection entirely.

four4875 · Aug 25, 2006

the auzentech x-mystique and x-plosion cards do what you want, the multi channel surround over the spdif. theres no difference between the coaxial and optical, they're both the same digital information, over different medium.

i think if you're just playing a dvd in a rom drive, it should output the full surround. but thats just dvds, the card cant encode it itself.

TTP · Aug 26, 2006

Well I just tried it out on my system and it seems to work ok. I'm using the optical out on my IO drive that's connected to my X-Fi platinum. I routed the connection into the optical port on my Pioneer 1016TXV receiver.

I only have 2.1 speakers though, but the surround sounds are pretty good with the CMSS 3d positional effects. My speakers are B&W 603's and ASW1000 subwoofer.

You can probably try using a coaxial digital cable from your digital out port on the X-Fi to the digital in on your amp.

Creative Digital I/O Module

NightWolf_8800

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four4875

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TTP

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