[Demianwulf]

I was just wondering if anyone knows anything about this new decoder from Creative Labs if not check this link out:
http://www.tomshardware.com/video/20...e_labs-02.html

It seems to show some promise, but what I was wondering is how it would pair with my Nforce 2 board with Soundstorm via a SPDIF out...I mean could I hook this up to my regular home theatre speakers and if so would the quailty be on par with say using a reciever to hook things up? I'm trying to save money and go with the most cost efficient and effecitve route.

 

[orbitzboy]

You can't hook this up with your regular home theater speakers - it does not provide any amplication. It assumes you have amplified speakers (like most of the 5.1 speaker systems you can buy for a PC.

 

[Demianwulf]

So given that would it be feasible for a pc speakers in a 5.1 package with this decoder to perhaps out perform a mid ranger reciever and 5.1 speakers like I was considering buying lets say a Pioneer 912x reciever hooked up t a JVC 6speaker setup vs the creative decoder and pc speakers? Ideally I want to use my PC hooked into my Samsung DLP via DVI and output via the Soundstorm's SPDIF to either a reciever or perhaps this decoder to get surround sound and play PC games, DVD's, music etc.....

 

[aud19]

You can buy very good quality audiophile powered speakers as well. (Genelec is one moderately priced brand among others.) Do a search for active speaker or powered speaker. You don't have to make do with less than audiophile computer speakers.


Another route is to buy a stand alone amplifier. Outlaw, Anthem and Rotel are a few good, "affordable" options.


J.R.

 

[Kensai]

You can get a decent bottom end receiver for how much this costs which will give you most of the decoding functionality (no Neo6 in that range), but with far greater connectivity capabilities and amplification for real speakers (only Tom's seems to think that $400 in PC speakers will beat $400 spent on carefully selected real speakers; they seem to be talking about commonly available Sony/KLH/Yamaha/etc. surround speaker packages in comparison and we all should know that you can do better for the price with a little effort). Its a neat gizmo that might have a niche to carve for itself, but it seems hard to do given that even Creative's own cards have as many analog channels out (DD/DTS decoded inside the PC, no problem), and there isn't a multichannel card out there that doesn't offer some sort of matrix surround upconvert system (some better than others; the Revolutions Circle Surround II definitely beats my $150 receiver's DPLII, though, IMHO). Just an odd little toy Creative decided to put out to confuse people.


Its actually just a small, PC style prepro unit, and if it turns out to be any good (please tell me this box doesn't upsample everything below 48khz to 48hz, which, IMO, is Creative's current sound cards' main failing), then it could be coupled with HT amplifiers/speaks to provide something resembling the audiophile experience. Just not sure why they would do this . . .


Kensai

 

[aud19]

I agree with Kensai. This particular devise is an oddity. You're least expensive route is to simply get a low end reciever and connect your SPDIF out put from your PC to it and then to speakers. A more expensive but better route would be to get something like the M-audio Revolution card and an external amp or powered speakers as I had mentioned.


J.R.

 

[Rgb]

Totally silly device for the price.


For less than $200 you can easily get a receiver with 6.1 amplification, DTS-ES, Neo:6, DPLII, and 48bit DAcs (Pioneer 412 or 712 on ebay, others)

 

[S. Hiller]

Quote:

Nforce 2 board with Soundstorm via a SPDIF out...

If you're referring to real time encoding to create the SPDIF signal, here on AVS or Toms or somewhere on the Web, they indicated that you should avoid this because of the high amount of compression.


As for the DDTS-100, if one needs a little black box to share one's computer speakers with their satellite receiver, it seems to work quite well.


Until recently, I was using my Audigy 2 card to decode the satellite box's digital output, but it never really worked well. Occasional problems with sync and more recently, with a newer satellite receiver, the card would go silent when switching between HD and regular channels. Couldn't handle the transition from DD to PCM or something. In any case, even if it had worked better, the computer always had to be on...


Only issue I've noticed so far, is that the Neo:6 Cinema mode won't stay locked when switching between channels. Certain channels throw the automatic detection back to the regular stereo mode. But cinema mode can be reselected when on a particular channel, and auto-detection between DD stereo, DD 5.1 and PCM works well.


BTW, before I bought the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 speakers, I did look around and it seemed that other speaker options were much more expensive...