CREATIVE LABS SOUNDBLASTER "Z SE"
|
AUDIOMODS |
HOME THEATER and OPTICAL Toslink was released in 1983 and high-end CD players of the era typically came with both an optical and coaxial (S/PDIF) digital output. Sending a PCM bitstream from your CD player to an outboard DAC soon became all the rage in audiophile circles. Dolby Digital came out in 1991 and when DVD players appeared in 1997 they used the optical outputs to transmit the 5.1 digital channels for home theater. When Blu-Ray players appeared in 2006 they came with 5.1 optical outputs on the rear for the same purpose. Largely forgotten is that in 2002 Windows XP came in a special version known as the "Media Center Edition". The intent was to make your PC an entertainment hub by playing content stored on its hard drive. Ripped CDs, DVD's, and TV programs could be played back on your TV or PC monitor which spawned the concept of a Home Theater PC (HTPC). Microsoft expanded the Media Center concept by making the program standard in Windows 7 in 2009. This meant that for over a decade a home theater PC filled with A/V content was commonplace. Yet when Windows 10 arrived in 2015 it dropped the Media Center program much to the frustration of the home theater community. This gave the impression that Microsoft had been pressured by the movie studios to stop encouraging home theater libraries. Coincidentally, with smart phones and Ipads using subscription-based streaming the movie studios breathed a sigh of relief. Instead of obsessing about piracy and file-sharing they now had a more secure model. HDMI which had appeared in 2002 was promoted as the new audio connection because it supported DRM and inhibited piracy, optical did not. So its no accident that Smart TVs with HDMI became the new hub for home theater as the industry steered people away from a HTPC with an optical cable. HDMI lobbyists discouraged optical by stating the 5.1 surround it carried was compressed and lossy. This was no surprise. CD, DVD and Blu-Ray all use some form of compression to fit data on the disc. Dolby and DTS use an algorithm to compress the soundtrack at the film level as well. The pundits avoided mentioning that HDMI transmitted the same compressed 5.1 signal despite its higher bandwidth. It wasn't until years later when lossless formats like TrueHD or DTS-HD appeared that the extra bandwidth of HDMI was needed. |
||
 |
Dolby Digital versions include Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Digital Live, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby AC-4, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Atmos. Of note is Dolby Digital Live (DDL) and competitor DTS Connect that Creative began including on its soundcards in 2008. The two effects were not meant for home theater but were intended to create surround effects for gaming on a PC, laptop, or console. Instead of playing the original surround track they encoded all audio including mono and 2-channel stereo into 5.1 in 16-bit/48 kHz at 640kbs. I wanted a modern solution for my HTPC and looked at the Creative Z SE sound card with a signal-to-noise of 116 dB and "Hi-Res" 24 bit/192khz DAC. The card is marketed as a "High-performance PCI-e Gaming and Entertainment Sound Card and DAC" yet nowhere in its feature/benefit statement is home theater or hifi playback mentioned. The only reference is "Advanced Entertainment Audio to provide you with low-latency and high-fidelity audio, even for your recordings!". The specs state the card "supports 5.1 discrete channels on speakers and up to 7.1 virtual surround on headphones". This requires that you install their Creative Command software in Windows. The software then encodes all audio into old-school DD Live or DTS Connect for speakers plugged into the 3.5 mm jacks (Front, Rear, C/Sub) or headphones. The card has an optical out jack but Creative is vague about its purpose. Can it be used to send a 5.1 bitstream to a robust home theater system? Yes. |
 |
 |
The secret is to go into the Creative Command software. Go the Encoder tab and turn it off. Then go to the Playback section. Ignore the Speakers/Headphones tab and go to the DIGITAL tab and set SPDIF-Out as the default. Per Creative "it allows bit-to-bit streaming of up to 24 bit, 96khz PCM data signal without processing". Finally, go into Windows and set the default sound device in Windows to SPDIF-Out. NOTE: The Audio-Quality dropdown in the Digital Tab actually resamples/converts the bitstream for stereo signals. It does not have an effect on DD/DTS. The result is raw PCM 5.1 out of the optical jack. Blu-Rays played on my PC using PowerDVD or VLC correctly display Dolby Digital/DTS in my receiver's display. All 5.1 speakers play properly including my dual subs. Sound is crystal clear and effects are steerable and correct. In other words the pass-thru works like its supposed to with no apparent licensing issues. Thank you Creative for making this functional. |
 |
CONCLUSION In the 2000s there were contentious lawsuits between and Dolby and Creative over the use of DD on soundcards. It seems from the very beginning the PC world and Movie Studios have been at odds over consumer-controlled home theater. While DVD & Blu-Ray players came happily licensed with 5.1 optical outputs the soundcard companies struggled to market a soundcard with optical out for "Home Theater Use". I wouldn't be surprised if DD/DTS licensing agreements don't allow the term "home theater" to appear in soundcard advertising. Despite the 2 decades of industry pressure to move away from optical I prefer it for 5.1 because of its rock solid reliability and lack of handshake issues which plague HDMI. |
Datsunzgarage.us © 1997-2024
All mods are illustrative only, perform at your own risk.
Datsun is a registered trademark of Nissan®