Z-5500 and a soundcard

[s2kdarren]

i have searched far and wide for a straight awnser to my question,

I am the proud owner of logitech z-5500 speakers and noticed the the X-fi audio and x-fi extreme gamer were different in that the gamer has Optical out

i dont game but i watch movies and listen to mp3's, will it sound better using an optical cable or just as good with a regular x-fi soundcard?


i have an older audigy card... will i even notice a difference in sound?

thanks in advance... im very confused.

[lhsonic]

Don't get the X-FI Audio card, it's a scam. It has no onboard hardware decoding chip for EAX... you end up doing everything by software. The higher end X-FI lines such as the gamer has hardware decoding, this will offload all the audio processing off your CPU and allow for a premium sound experience with the highest audio options (most voices, clarity, etc, full EAX support)... Honestly though, you might not even notice the difference... I bought my Audigy 2 for the hardware decoding and real EAX support...

[s2kdarren]

thank u for your input, but i was wondering if the digital route is worth it....

[SLee]

thank u for your input, but i was wondering if the digital route is worth it....

About the same. Your older Audigy card probably has a digital output too, the standard Creative digital output can be connected to the digital coax input on the Z5500 with an inexpensive 1/8" mini-jack to mono/stereo RCA cable. Newer cards will be better than the Audigy for music, but for movies where the audio is digitally sent to the speakers for decoding, there won't be any benefits.

[Oversized Rooster]

I wouldn't go with digital coax or optical on these cards.

Pick up a sound card that costs $150 or more and run analog connections. The onboard decoding on the Z-5500 is not that great.

I've run my Z-5500 system off of all sorts of cards:

Onboard SoundMAX from Asus P5K Premium mobo
Audigy 2
Audigy 2 ZS
X-Fi XtremeMusic
X-Fi XtremeAudio
Auzentech Prelude X-Fi

I have achieved the best sound quality and clarity with the Prelude by far. But even with such a high-end sound card, analog is really the best way. I tried feeding the system through digital coax and optical but honestly there was a lack of treble!

[ClubberLang]

The onboard decoding on the Z-5500 is not that great.

what's wrong with it? I thought with digital decoding it either does the decoding or doesn't. There isn't any in between.

[Aske001]

There's nothing wrong with the digital decoding on the Z-5500. I don't much like their default surround settings, but you can adjust them.

The main reason for using optical connection would be the electrical isolation from the computer. Computers generate a lot of electrical noise which can leak across the ground and signal wires to the audio amplifier. But if you don't get a lot of background noise pickup anyway, no real advantage.

[silva95teg]

If you want to feed optical to the z-5500's just pick up any sound card with an optical out. The price on higher end cards is because they have better analog outs not digital(to an extent) I have an auzentech x-plosion and have upgraded the op-amps and much prefer it analog to digital. (This is also with the z-5500's) The sound is just much fuller/sweeter if that makes sense.