Help!! I need a sound card...

[Bob Romano]

So far I have tried Audigy and Philips Acoustic Edge and for some reason I can't get a DTS Encoded wave to play through the S/Pdif out into my receiver that has DTS decoding. Is there a card that I can buy that will allow SoundForge 4.5 to output through the digital out to my receiver? I don't think your sound card is available any more Jon. Any suggestions. By the way... even Philips couldn't help me after 40 minutes on the phone with tech support. Thanks for any help you can give.... Bob

 

[AllAroundSurround]

What are your settings in your computer, check it , you may have to change the settings ,... what o.s. are you using ? You'll have to make the priority out as spdif.
Rob

 

[Bob Romano]

I am using WinME. I changed everything in multimedia properties to be SPdif, along with the output of Soundforge. I got nothing. I downloaded new drivers, I used both DirectX 8.0 or 8.1... nothing... I used WDM driver (I got even less). The analog out works great on all of them, but, of course, then the DTS wave sounds like white noise. Creative's tech support sucks!!! I could never get them on the phone (even after a 30 minute wait on hold).

I kept getting a message that the wave file was not compatible with the sound card but even the Philips guy said that if it is a 44k/16bit wave it should have gone through the digital out with no problem.

What sound cards does everyone use and if you dont mind how much do they cost? I have about $200 to spend.

By the way, playing a DVD through the digital out into my receiver got me nice Dolby Digital 5.1/DTS 5.1 so I know it is not a receiver problem.

I even tried to resample the wav at 48k/16 bit 44k/24 bit 48k/24bit (these were in CoolEdit Pro) and still nothing.

Thanks again

 

[AllAroundSurround]

I use cool edit pro also and have no problem with the spdif out . try playing it out of c.e.p and make sure you set it to play via spdif out and let me know what you get also dont change the format of the d.t.s. file it wont play as anything but a 16 bit wave file . I don't use w.m.e. but it is sim to w98se so it should work. If you are getting noise its playing as anoulouge thru your anolouge out.check all your settings again , you have something set up wrong! are you trying to play it as cdr out ! via digital ? doesn't work !it goes thru the pci buss, you have to get a dvd player and go that way!

 

[winopener]

For what i've read on other forums, Creative cards are a no-go for dts cd, because they resample everything to 48KHz. This explain why a DVD audio stream can pass without a glitch while a 44.1 dts not (on normal pcm audio you can't notice the resampling).
A cheap solution, if you can find it somewhere, may be a sound card based on the CMI 8738 chipset - there are drivers that allows to select 44.1 or 48 k spdif out. A couple of manufacturer were MidiMan (DiO 24) and Leadtek. The MidiMan drivers are the one to get for this card. I've read some success stories with the MidiMan and spdif. With this chipset don't even bother for the analog, it just sucks badly.
This chipset is also present on some motherboard, but there are timing issues that prevent it to work well at 44.1 (48 k spdif works fine).

Other than that, probably you need to go with a pro card, but they may be out of your budget.

 

[JonUrban]

This may sound stupid, but I have to mention it.

If your volume control (in windows) is not totally maxed, you will not pass the DTS signal out your sound card!

It sounds weird, but it is true. And it drove me CRAZY at first!

:-jon


BTW - I checked and the Yamaha IS discontinued, but you can still find them on eBay, and they work with XP, as that's what I use!

 

[Bob Romano]

well... The soundcard winner is....

Midiman Delta 410.... Installed the card... loaded the drivers... opened Soundforge.... boom it played my DTS waves the first time!!! No problems at all.

And all for the low low price of just $199 plus tax

It does multitracking at 96k/24 bit and everything! Great sound... easy to use... what more could you ask for?

Thanks to all for your suggestions!

 

[winopener]

Romanotrax,

on which chipset is based the card you bought?

 

[Bob Romano]

I dont know what chipset this card uses but here is a link if you are interested...

www.midiman.net/products/...lta410.php

Hope it is helpful. After a couple full days of using this card all I can say is WOW!!! Great sound and unbeleivably easy to set up and use and a GREAT price. I got mine for $199.00 at Guitar Center.

 

[JonUrban]

Hey, that looks cool! Glad you found a card. Give us a reveiw after you've used it for a month or two!

:-jon