Sound Card

Sound, as perceived by humans is an analog waveform but can only be stored or manipulated in digital form on computers so some device needs to exist to output this digital form signal into something that we can hear, which is where the soundcard comes in to convert digital to analog for outputs as well as analog to digital as inputs

Sound Card Manufacturers

Creative Soundblaster [1]
Auzentech [2]
HT Omega [3]
Razer [4]
Bgears [5]
Asus [6]

Gaming, Sound cards and Surround sound

With sound cards an essential piece of PC gaming equipment it is important to understand how to get the most out of your new surround sound 5.1/7.1 card. Nowadays just about all current sound cards come with a digital plug either optical or coaxial. More info can be found here WIKI DIGITAL CONNECTIONS

First, a little technical info, greatfully provided by rawhide and discussed here OCAU 3D SOUND STICKY

Analogue vs. Digital: Analogue sound travels as waves of electricity that are subject to interference from nearby electronic equipment. Digital overcomes this by encoding the sound into zeros and ones before sending it over the cables, much like the screech of an old modem when you pick up the phone (we don't understand it, but computers can process it). Digital is tolerant to interference, but excessive interference will stop the sound entirely, you either get a perfect signal or none at all.

Digital Formats: When audio is encoded digitally, the equipment at both ends needs to be able to recognise the codes of zeros and ones. That means talking in the same "language", also known as "format" or "standard". There are more, but only three digital formats are in mainstream home sound use. Those being PCM, DTS and Dolby Digital (also known as AC3). For more detailed information on sound formats, try this thread on the OCAU Audio Visual forum.

Encode and Decode: In the context of this thread, these two terms relate to converting sounds to and from a digital signal. Your sound card ENCODEs a digital signal in one of the above formats, while the speaker system (or home theater receiver) at the other end DECODEs that signal. More info on digital sound can be found here WIKI DIGITAL SOUND

Every sound card with a digital plug is able to encode PCM. PCM is uncompressed, it's fast, simple and cheap to encode and used in everything from old digital telephone systems, to Compact Discs . The PCM format supports 2 channels of sound only, that is, stereo. When you play a game on your computer, your sound card is still making a PCM signal and sending that over the digital cable, so you will only ever get LEFT and RIGHT.

To achieve full 5.1 or 7.1 over digital cable your sound card must be able to encode DTS DTS WIKI PAGE and Dolby Digital DDL WIKI PAGE. Most of the new sound cards on the market can do this with the large exception of Creative.

See sound card list: When you play a game on your computer, if your sound card cannot encode DTS/DDL, then your sound card is still making a PCM signal and sending that over the digital cable, so you will only ever get LEFT and RIGHT. If your sound card can encode DST/DDL can you will be be able to have 5.1/7.1 over your digital connection.

PC GAMING VS DVD ON PC

Right about now, some of you reading this will be thinking something like "but when I play a DVD on my computer I get my surround sound just fine", and you're correct. In this case the people producing the DVD have already ENCODED either a DTS or Dolby Digital (AC3) signal and stored it on the DVD. Your sound card is simply copying that signal and sending it straight over the digital cable without doing any processing of its own (the same applies to HDTV cards I think, except the AC3 signal is coming, already encoded, from the television broadcast).

Sound Cards List

For ease of definition the cards are broken up into two types:

NON DTS/DDL SOUND CARDS: These cards have not been proven to provide 5.1/7.1 surround sound gaming via a digital connection
DTS/DDL SOUND CARDS: These cards will provide a 5.1/7.1 surround sound gaming via a digital connection.

NOTE: THIS LIST IS BY NO MEANS COMPLETE IT JUST LISTS SOME OF THE CURRENT POPULAR SOUND CARDS ON THE MARKET

NON DTS/DDL SOUND CARDS

Creative Sound Blaster

Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro
Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty™
Sound Blaster X-Fi™ XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series
Sound Blaster X-Fi™ XtremeGamer
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
PCI Express Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio

DTS/DDL SOUND CARDS

Onboard Sound Chip

Some users have had success using motherboards will the newest integrated sound chips by Realtek, the ALC888T chip and DTS Connect to achieve a digital connection.

Soundcards and EAX Effects

Components