Audio/Surround settings (Audigy 2ZS)

punkster21

Hey.

I have a couple of questions..

I am currently using logitech's Z-5500 surround speakers with my Audigy 2ZS with Audigy 4 drivers.
I am also using 3 analog connectors (no coax or optical)

I was wondering if CMSS/CMSS2 should be turned on when playing games and watching DVD movies supporting 5.1 surround or leave them off?

And in what situations should i use CMSS? is CMSS usefull? What is CMSS exactly?

My external surround controler is on 6 channel direct, is that correct?

Also, should i use the AC3 filter that came with the XP-codec pack i downloaded or turn it off? And again, what is it usefull for?

Will the surround sound different from coax or optical from analog? I hope not in my case.

Many questions here, and i hope you can answer them.

Sorry for my crapy english. Its not exactly my spoken language.

-Punkster

punkster21

No one have answers for my questions?

-Punkster.

hyakki

CMSS ([color=#444444]Creative MultiSpeaker Surround [/color])upmixes "stereo (2 channel audio)" sounds so they play on all you speakers, personally i dont like it since it adds reverb and makes the bass to strong i rather use the prologic setting on my stereo or stereo x2 rather then CMSS.

Creative clams cmss is good for upmixing MP3 and Movies that are only in stereo.

CMMS should have no effect on audio sources / games / dvd that are encoded in 5.1 channel

However there is no harm disabling CMSS if your not using it.


"My external surround controler is on 6 channel direct, is that correct?"
Yes. this is also analog audio

Coax and Optical are digital inputs.


"Also, should i use the AC3 filter that came with the XP-codec pack i downloaded or turn it off? And again, what is it usefull for?"

AC3 filter is basicly a codec with options to configure (if you wanted to send your 5.1 to SPDIF or analog also other settings ..etc.

I like AC3 Filter its really personal preference if you want to use it or not.


"Will the surround sound different from coax or optical from analog? I hope not in my case."

Depends. Optical has no electrical interference since it uses light. Coax uses RCA cable but still get less interfearance then normal analog can.
However Digital Can only send out 2 channels Unless the stream is encoeded in dobly/dts (digital audio) so if a game uses multi channel audio (not dobly / dts / thx ..etc) it will only play 2 channel where analog will play 5.1.

RCOrdorica

i have a very similar setup..

Logitech z560's
Audigy 2ZS w/PAX drivers

For music:
Use resampling to get your output to 24bit/96kHz. You can do 24bit/192kHz, but only in stereo 2 speaker mode without CMSS/equalizers/etc. i.e. everything needs to be default in the creative control's to get 192kHz. The card is limited to 96K when you use 3 or more speakers and/or you turn on CMSS or use the creative eq.

Personally, the the best sound quality I have found is with Foobar2000. I use the internal equalizer instead of the Audigy's controls. With foobar2000 I set my output to 24bit with 96kHz ultra resampling. My sound quality is crystal clear without any hiss or distortion. At any volume. I sometimes turn on CMSS2 or Stereo X2 if I want to utilize my other two speakers.

Whenever I play games, I turn off CMSS/CMSS2. Since most games and dvd's have native 5.1 output, there is no reason to do extra processing. The only time I turn on CMSS is when I use headphones and want a simulated surround sound effect. It works ok. At least I can tell the direction of the sound with headphones. Although CMSS does make the sound overly muddy with too much bass and mid.

I use AC3 too with my dvd's and video's. All it does is decode the sound and send it to your audigy card. configure it to properly match your speaker setup .