Z-5500 + New SoundCard

[HarryB]

Today I got my new Logitech Z-5500 speakers and there awesome, BUT I need a new sound card I and I have been over this before and thought I was settled on a Creative SoundBlaster ‘X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional’ but it hasn’t got an optical port, I’ve always been told optical has the best sound so I’m now thinking of getting one with optical, but I play games that benefit from X-Fi, and the creative X-Fi Cards don’t have optical they just have the 3 x Line Out, 6 Channel direct thing. Aghhh grrr im so confused.

I guess my main questions are...

• Is Optical Better than the 3 x Line Out 6 Channel direct thing

• Creative aren’t just about to release new stuff are they?

•

• And does anyone have some X-5500 if so how the hell do u get surround sound in games, what effect do u put it on.

Thanks everyone!

 

[FarFarAway]

Personally I wouldn't get a Creative card...ever again.

Mebbe get one of these, based on Creative...but not actually creative

I assume the speakers are digital in which case they should have a digital co-ax input

 

[Hyper]

I have had my Z-5500's and a Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic sound card for around 2 years now and they are still going strong. The sound is crisp as anything even when the speakers are loud.

I cant recommend them enough.

 

[HarryB]

Personally I wouldn't get a Creative card...ever again.

Mebbe get one of these, based on Creative...but not actually creative

I assume the speakers are digital in which case they should have a digital co-ax input

Thanks a bunch dude that seems perfect and it actualy has Coaxial/Opticle Combo Port! so its spot on! and all the X-Fi Features! Thanks for opening my eyes lol i saw that card but i only thought creative had X-Fi

 

[Pat123]

I had this problem with my Z-5500's and not getting surround in games.. First off make sure the game supports 5.1! I did this with cod4. I had to uninstall all sound drivers and go back to the orginal motherboard drivers.. Not the ones for my board of the realtek site.. (N).. so try that, worked a charm for me. Now i get 5.1 goodness in all games.. and also use the 6 ch direct mode for games, until you get optical.. my optical is taken up by my 360.. so im stuck on using 6 channel, but its great for me.

 

[Toxcity]

Quick question, a little of topic but hey..

Can I ask how can speakers be digital? Seeing as sound is analogue.. I was chatting about this in the pub and couldn't get an answer to why.

Might as well have analogue from the Soundcard.. but then I came to the conclusion that it was to take the strain away from the APU so it didn't have to convert the files.

That is my only conclusion on why.

Please enlighten me!

 

[Ty07allstar]

I have the Z-5500's and I have the Auzentech Xplosion and they sound great together with the optical. Also optical has the best sound.

 

[ali_james]

Regards the digital.. A sound signal can be quantitised, and chopped into bits. The height of the wave on this is converted to a number, eg lowest 0 up to x for the highest. This is then converted to a binary code before being hurled down the wire. At the other end it is reconstructed to become a likeness to the original signal, like the original wave though like it was made from lego. This is how it happens with telephones and I supposed the same should be true here. The sound is approximately the same, but as it is sent in digital it is less prone to interference. Well thats what A level Physics said anyway..

 

[ionicle]

•

That, my friend, is a gamer Port, for game controlers usually

 

[hshah]

I have an old Audigy 2 and the Z-5500 speakers, and apart from the small driver issue in Vista with the sound card, all I have to say is that these speakers are the best ever!

The only problem is that I have neighbours

 

[NickS]

Today I got my new Logitech Z-5500 speakers and there awesome, BUT I need a new sound card I and I have been over this before and thought I was settled on a Creative SoundBlaster ‘X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional’ but it hasn’t got an optical port, I’ve always been told optical has the best sound so I’m now thinking of getting one with optical, but I play games that benefit from X-Fi, and the creative X-Fi Cards don’t have optical they just have the 3 x Line Out, 6 Channel direct thing. Aghhh grrr im so confused.

I guess my main questions are...

• Is Optical Better than the 3 x Line Out 6 Channel direct thing

• Creative aren’t just about to release new stuff are they?

•

• And does anyone have some X-5500 if so how the hell do u get surround sound in games, what effect do u put it on.

Thanks everyone!

You can't get EAX effects in games w/Optical. Stick to Analog for games.

 

[hshah]

You can't get EAX effects in games w/Optical. Stick to Analog for games.

Really? I didn't know that... good job I didn't go digital when I was looking into it a few months ago