How to connect a 5.1 speaker setup to a laptop?

[tomic888]

Hello,


I am looking to buy Logitech Z-906 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers and connect it to my Gigabyte P35X-V3 laptop.
My laptop has a single headphone jack with SPDIF (and a microphone jack) hence to my knowledge it will output 2.1 audio only.

I've heard that I can use HDMI to output 5.1 from my laptop, how can I do this? Which adapter should I buy?
My laptop also has a VGA port, could this be of any use?


As well, I will connect an external monitor through the Mini DisplayPort, can my laptop be hooked on HDMI and Mini DisplayPort
at the same time? (Monitor on Mini DisplayPort and speakers on HDMI)



Thanks!

 

[bob4933]

Any surround sound will be emulated, 5.1, 2.1, or otherwise. In most cases, will sound the same anyway. Much ado about nothing, just hook it up and setup the drivers.

 

[NiHaoMike]

Any surround sound will be emulated, 5.1, 2.1, or otherwise.

That's only correct for headphones. Proper surround speaker setups are pretty common nowadays.

In summary, use HDMI if you can. S/PDIF only supports surround with compression which degrades quality.

 

[tomic888]

That's only correct for headphones. Proper surround speaker setups are pretty common nowadays.

In summary, use HDMI if you can. S/PDIF only supports surround with compression which degrades quality.

That's what I wanted to know, thanks a lot!
Also, which adapter should I buy?

 

[Dlaw]

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like anyone makes anything like that. Why not just get an inexpensive 5.1 or 7.1 receiver, something like this? Or a better one, even.

 

[bob4933]

That's only correct for headphones. Proper surround speaker setups are pretty common nowadays.

In summary, use HDMI if you can. S/PDIF only supports surround with compression which degrades quality.

Unless the laptop has a dedicated 7.1 sound card, all surround sound is emulated, headphones or not. Dolby, DTS, realtek etc... all emulated. Hdmi still sends video signal which might be tough on a laptop graphics card.

 

[Robert17]

Did you consider something like this?

 

[Dlaw]

Unless the laptop has a dedicated 7.1 sound card, all surround sound is emulated, headphones or not. Dolby, DTS, realtek etc... all emulated. Hdmi still sends video signal which might be tough on a laptop graphics card.

I've personally seen low end 5 year old laptops deliver 7.1 via HDMI without any noticeable performance hit. It'd work fine.

 

[knoober]

Is this it? Might be what you need.