btw one of my BIGGEST concerns if geting full 6.1 support with the set of speakers i bought

creative does thsi but i dont beleive any of the "good for production" soundcards do

Because the main target for Live/Audigy are "normal" people that want to game, watch dvd's and occasionally make some music.

Back in the old days Creative was pretty good for music making (back in the days real pro audio cards still costs lots and lots more). The AWE64 Gold comes to mind. They used their own chipset and all was well.

Then they started using Emu chips, that came from a semipro card and the problems began. The samplerate was fixed to 48 kHz, and much people didn't know that. So if you made your music in any other samplerate, everything you did was internally converted to 48 kHz and back to your samplerate. So each action you performed passed a sample rate converter two times, talk about signal degradation.
That and Creative's drivers were good for consumer stuff, not audio production (latency, crashes in the beginning etc). Some clever people modified drivers from an original Emu card (the well known APS drivers, which became kX later). And latency got better. But you still have to cope with the fixed samplerate.

All this remained until the Audigy 2 Ex platinum (or Extigy). This one doesn't have an Emu chip anymore, but again an original Creative one, which they fixed most problems. But all the hype remains around Live/Audigy. And it's still true that the Audigy is a consumer card with a little musical ambitions (their DAC's aren't the same quality as M-audio's or Terratecs or any other more pro card).

So it's all a matter of what you wanna do. If you want an allrounder, but with main focus on gaming/dvd/... and want to make music on the side, the Audigy 2 Platinum is good enough. If your main focus is music, but still want some decent gaming and surround the Terratec Dmx6fire 24/96 is much better (better asio drivers, AD/DA, DSP is the same as the Audiophile). If your main concern is music and nothing else, look at higher brands like RME.

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Thy So it's all a matter of what you wanna do. If you want an allrounder, but with main focus on gaming/dvd/... and want to make music on the side, the Audigy 2 Platinum is good enough. If your main focus is music, but still want some decent gaming and surround the Terratec Dmx6fire 24/96 is much better (better asio drivers, AD/DA, DSP is the same as the Audiophile). If your main concern is music and nothing else, look at higher brands like RME.

According to what you said then i'd want to get the terratec card... the question IS does it support up to 6.1?

"3 analog stereo outputs (3,5mm jack) - 24 Bit/96 kHz"

It supports 5.1 dont know bout 6.1, don't think so

Well 6.1 is in most occasions just the same as 5.1.

Most 6.1 computer speakersets are made to plug in 5.1 cards. Usually the sub has a "decoder/multiplexer" that makes the center surround channel out of the LR surround channels(this doesn't apply for 7.1). Be aware that usually that calculated 7th channel (as 5.1 is already 6 channels) isn't as clear as the others, unless the surround stream has been specially optimized for it.

So it all depends on your speakerset, not really on the card.

If you mean discrete 6.1 (as in each lead goes directly into the corresponding speaker instead of into a central unit before being redirected), then no it's 5.1. If your card uses minijacks it's easy to see, basically look at it this way, if you speaker needs 3 outputs, it will calculate the 7th channel, for discrete 6.1 you'd need at least four.

I have the creative inspire 6.1 6600 speakers.

It says:

Interface: 3 analog stereo minijack (.125-inch) inputs: front left/right, rear left/right, and center/rear, center/subwoofer (requires external discrete surround decoder)

So, would that mean I have to get this "external discrete surround decoder" to play 6.1 on a 5.1 card?

If so, it would have 6.1 capabilities for the audiophile 2496 correct?

I looked at the specs of the 6600 and it features a "Built-in CMSS® upmix switch for a dramatic 6.1 gaming soundfield with Sound Blaster 5.1", which basically says it can upmix to 6.1 from a 5.1 output.

BUT, now you are talking about the Audiophile 24/96... This one doesn't have discrete analog outputs (it can only output a digital surround stream, AC3 and DTS I believe, over it's SP/DIF output).
Looking at the specs again, I see no digital input on the Inspires.
So I don't thing you'd be able to have surround with those speakers and an Audiophile. There you will indeed need a external decoder, but then one that decodes a digital surround stream to discrete analog ones...

okay...

So would you suggest to get an external decoder, or to just invest in the terratec dmx6fire. (assuming the terratec supports up to 6.1)

Like I already said, depends what you want to do mainly.

You won't need 6.1 for producing... Unless you want to make surround mixes (and believe me that's not something easy, even if you studied for it).

So if gaming/dvd watching is your main concern, go for the Audigy 2 by all means. It'll manage itself in the producing area, but it's not it's main purpose.

The Terratec is better for producing, and keeps some consumer features on the way. It has 5.1, and it's not really a question if the soundcard accepts 6.1. In this case it's more a matter if the speakers have upmixing.

And getting an external decoder will cost you quite a bit more.

Well i want to produce, but i don't want to neglect the surround sound capabilities for when i DO want to play the occasional game.

So i'm leaning torward the terratec, because i think my creative speakers can do the upmix? (correct me if i'm wrong)

I'm pretty sure it will work. We don't have the 6600 here, because it's a US model (in europe it's 6700 which is slightly different)

But to make YOU sure, I looked up some reviews and looked for the upmix:

- "Next to the inputs and outputs you will also find a small upmix switch. This allows you to turn a 5.1 signal into 6.1 sound."

- "To expand the range of application of such system they made it compatible with conventional 5.1 cards, for example, Live!5.1 and Audigy. Note that an additional sixth channel in the 6.1 configuration is implemented via a central rear satellite. So, in the '5.1 into 6.1' upmix mode the sound for the additional channel is formed as an average between the two rear ones."

- "If you want to upmix to 6.1 surround using a 5.1 sound card, the Inspire 6.1 6700 has a handy button that will let you do just that (thanks to the Creative Multi-Speaker System), inventing a virtual centre rear channel by mixing the rear left and right channels. Having said that, it was rare to find that rear centre speaker springing to life in either games or DVDs and it seems more of a future option."

I think you got proof enough no? It can be used with any 5.1 card and still use the center rear.