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Getting true 5.1 sound.
- Thread starter StephenCampbell
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If you have a TV somewhere, it's probably not worth it. The best 5.1 sound requires a good set of speakers (usually $400-$500) and a good receiver. It just makes more sense to get a great pair of stereo speakers.
To be honest, what's the point in getting 5.1 for Mac Pro and DVDs, when a theater system with Bluray is going to blow it out of the water with actual DTS encoding?
Well, I don't have a TV or a Bluray player. On my mac I listen to a Lot of music (mostly classical/opera) and watch movies and operas, and I just want the sound to be able to be really loud without cracking or fuzzing. I've never experienced a set of speakers that doesn't crack when a soprano hits a loud high note.. like, I had a 30 watt set of 4.1 speakers, and now this 75 watt 5.1 set.. I just want something that will be crisp and clear and feel as though it can actually comfortably output the stuff I play at an enveloping volume. I feel like the Z623 could be what I'm looking for. It looks like what I'm seeking doesn't require 5.1.
It sounds like you want a good set of 2.0 speakers. With 5.1's, you're paying for quantity, not quality.
Either is fine. For music, the subwoofer isn't as important as it is for movies, but the subwoofer doesn't hurt. You can get 2.0 speakers that put out a good amount of clean bass, though.
My brother's computer is set up across the room with the Logitech Z523 speakers, and I just went over and tested them out, and they sound Great, except that they crack when opera gets too loud. They're only 40 watts RMS though. I'm thinking the Z623 will be exactly what I'm looking for! (hopefully)
Thanks!
Thanks!
Wrong.
Someone needs to go read up on how Dolby AC3 actually works. AC3 (5.1 surround) works by encoding a 5.1 signal as a 2-channel audio source. Therefore, you need something on the other end to decode that signal and play it through a physical 5.1 speaker setup (C/LF/RF/LR/RR/SUB).
Without a decoder, AC3 sounds a lot like white noise or line garbage.
However, there is absolutely NOTHING stopping you from obtaining an AC3 encoded music file with a suitably high bitrate and playing it through iTunes. The only condition is that the iTunes volume must be on max, otherwise you'll get garbage out of your 5.1 decoder.
Again, from the point of view of your optical audio interface, both encoded AC3 (5.1) and two-channel audio are the exact same thing.
-SC
Ever heard of DVD-Audio, DVDs, Blurays? Their 5.1 audio mixes are created the same way 2.0 mixes are - taking tracks from different instruments and assigning them to certain channels, the process is the same for 2.0 and 5.1. 5.1 music is not fake at all if it's mixed properly.
Acquiring AC3 encoded music would be a giant problem though.
Which would be great if AC3 was a modern, good sounding surround source. But it's not. DTS walks all over it, and if you can find surround sources (which is a very rare event), they're often encoded in DTS now.
Audio support sucks on Mac. Even today after 20 years there is no way to output proper surround sound.
On Windows all applications output true 5.1 if the source is 5.1 and the sound card driver transparently clones stereo output to 5.1 so that all the speakers always produce sound.
Whether the output is analog plugs or HDMI is also transparent. If the output is optical, the driver again transparently encodes the 5.1 to DTS.
On Windows all applications output true 5.1 if the source is 5.1 and the sound card driver transparently clones stereo output to 5.1 so that all the speakers always produce sound.
Whether the output is analog plugs or HDMI is also transparent. If the output is optical, the driver again transparently encodes the 5.1 to DTS.
Holy thread necro...
I had a similar issue but got a setup that works really well for me:
I have Logitech z906 speakers hooked up to my Mac via toslink. These speakers can do a virtual 5.1 3D effect from stereo sources, which works great. For native 5.1 signals there's passthrough (which works) and I got a Soundblaster Z to handle things on the Windows/gaming side.
I had a similar issue but got a setup that works really well for me:
I have Logitech z906 speakers hooked up to my Mac via toslink. These speakers can do a virtual 5.1 3D effect from stereo sources, which works great. For native 5.1 signals there's passthrough (which works) and I got a Soundblaster Z to handle things on the Windows/gaming side.
Old thread but I just want to say as long as you have an HDMI, optical out or suitible audio card with multichannel output you can output surround sound with ease. My MBP's both send Multichannel LPCM, FLAC, AC-3, DTS, DTS-ES, DTS-96/24, and Dolby TrueHD to my AV receiver with all of their channels in tact and they are not "fake", I have a video with sound tracks to test each speaker indepidently. Only codec that doesn't work is DTS-HD Master Audio but you still get the core which is still 5.1.
Don't start the AC-3 vs DTS argument because it the biggest waste of time. The two are essentially equal, and no I'm not an AC-3 fan boy I actually prefer DTS.
Acquiring AC3 encoded music would be a giant problem though.
Which would be great if AC3 was a modern, good sounding surround source. But it's not. DTS walks all over it, and if you can find surround sources (which is a very rare event), they're often encoded in DTS now.
Don't start the AC-3 vs DTS argument because it the biggest waste of time. The two are essentially equal, and no I'm not an AC-3 fan boy I actually prefer DTS.
This is only useful for bitstreaming. Apps still output stereo and there is no way to clone them to all speakers + subwoofer. I refuse to keep changing settings on my receiver each time I switch between an app and bitstreaming.
DTS is superior. It's not debatable. Of course, even MP3 is now superior to both by an order of magnitude.
I believe you can achieve what you want on a Mac with a Soundblaster X-Fi USB:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3622064
I didn't get one though because my z906 can receive a stereo signal and output it through all the speakers in 5.1 (virtual 3D) or 4.1 (mirrored). I'd be really surprised if your receiver didn't have a similar feature.
I get what you're saying though. I really wish Creative and Asus would make OS X drivers for their sound cards, but the nMP's lack of built-in PCI slots has taken that likelihood from extremely unlikely to never.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3622064
I didn't get one though because my z906 can receive a stereo signal and output it through all the speakers in 5.1 (virtual 3D) or 4.1 (mirrored). I'd be really surprised if your receiver didn't have a similar feature.
I get what you're saying though. I really wish Creative and Asus would make OS X drivers for their sound cards, but the nMP's lack of built-in PCI slots has taken that likelihood from extremely unlikely to never.
I use the Griffin FireWave and it's setup instructions are similar. It does the job well on my Altec Lansang 5.1's
Apple support recommended this one to me:
http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Exter...ie=UTF8&colid=3D2L983MRA2&coliid=IXJ3URP16P0U
Apple support recommended this one to me:
http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Exter...ie=UTF8&colid=3D2L983MRA2&coliid=IXJ3URP16P0U
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The Griffin Firewave still works under Mountain Lion; haven't had a chance to try it with Mavericks yet, though until the Mac Mini drops Firewire I don't expect Apple to begin aggressively culling Firewire drivers, so the driver's probably still in Mavericks somewhere.
It's a great little device actually, however I'm not sure it will deliver what you want; although it supports various 2.1 to 5.1 technologies, these are activated with a software utility and don't stay turned on after a restart.
I've also found that depending on the load on your system (GPU in particular) the sound from the Firewave can begin to crackle; it'll depend how you're connecting it to your Mac but it seems like Firewire 400 ports don't get much priority on the early 2008 Mac Pros. It also doesn't support tweaking of individual speaker volumes (not that it'd remember them anyway); this isn't an issue if your speaker setup is balanced with you seated a roughly equal distance between each pair of speakers, but if your speaker setup is a bit unbalanced then it makes things a bit awkward.