I have an Audigy 2 Platinum with Creative 7.1 surround speakers. The only way i can sound from all speakers is to use the 5.1>7.1 upmix option on the pod and use "stereo surround" in the CMSS options. I just received Metallica's self-titled album, the DVD audio surround sound one. They're in, what i'm assuming are uncompressed wav files, because they're 13,824kbps a piece. I noticed when playing them back, it almost seems like it doesn't know where to put what sounds sometimes. It'll have a guitar solo come forward and really stand out for a few seconds, then just completely blend in with the rest of the song. I'm assuming this is not how it's meant to sound. So I tried playing it out through my SPDIF port into my Pioneer receiver (5.1 surround). But I can't get it to play in surround, it just plays through the front left and right speakers. Any ideas?
DVD-A and SACD won't play over digital connections, except on "high end" equipment, and through their proprietary connections, such as a high end Denon receiver and Denon universal player, with their Denon-Link connection. It's a copyright thing......... You would need a sound card with the 6 analog outputs (I don't know of any), connecting to the receiver's 6 analog inputs, and then use the multi-channel mode.
It is *not* a "copyright thing". That has absolutely nothing to do with it & is a commonly repeated myth. The sole reason that DVD-A/SACD will not play back down consumer connections is because the bandwidth is not there to do this on 24/96 DVD-A 5.1 or any SACD. That is the only reason. ADAT (TOSlink) and SP-DIF (CoAxial) are limited to a maximum of 8 channels at 24/48 resolution without using Double Speed connections that are not in consumer connections. Sorry, but there is no copyright conspiracy here.
wilkes: So is JVC correct about what I need in order to play the album correctly? I'm not very familiar with this kind of stuff so if you could be as specific as possible about what I would need, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Yes, he is totally correct in what you need. Just wrong about the reason for it. To play back SACD or DVD-A, in surround, you need the following: EITHER: 1 - 6 analogue interconnects (Phono leads) from the player to a 6-channel reciever. 2 - HDMI from the player to the reciever 3 - D-Link/i-Link (FireWire by any other name) from the player to the reciever.
