5.1 Surround Sound - What are my options?

Just like the title says, what are my options to get 5.1 surround sound out of my laptop (in sig)? I tried out the Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 but it horribly lagged my games and overall performance, along with having a slight sound lag problem.

Any other possible solutions that won't hinder frame rates?

 

spdif to an av receiver should be good.

 

If you don't have a receiver, you could try a different USB sound card... there are a few cheap ones at newegg, like the Turtle Beach... all the way up to the $90 Asus one... Asus is supposed to make decent sound cards, but I don't have any experience with them so I can't tell you yes or no...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010360057%201102608535&name=USB

 

Noob question. Where is my SPDIF port on my gateway? Do I even have one? I don't see it.

 

your spdif is inside the headphone socket, you need a toslink adapter to make use of it.

 

This it? http://www.geekbro.com/index.cfm/hurl/page=product/itemid=725136?source=GoogleBase

I just bought this anyways, it seems perfect for what I need and works with my creative speakers. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829126101

 

creative xtreme audio notebook sound card + surround adapter + logitech g51 speaker set. your looking at $$$$ though

 

That's the one thegooch.

I run 5.1 and 7.1 via S/PDIF but only for movies that are encoded in 5.1 or 7.1.

Games unfortunately will only run in 2 channel unless they have a built in Dolby Digital encoder which is pretty rare.

However this will be out very soon and I think it's going to rock: http://www2.razerzone.com/Megalodon/

Try the demo on the Maelstrom Audio Engine page with some headphones plugged in - based on fighter pilot technology

 

I'd be pretty careful with those Razer headphones... for the price I'm sure they'll ask, it may be good for games, but I'm sure that'll be it. If they did like all the other 5.1 headphones and actually made 7.1 surround sound headphones with however many tiny speakers they stuffed in that headphone, sound quality is going to SUCK!

And that demo they have... that's not hard to do with ANY headphone. You want to hear what normal headphones can do?

Virtual Haircut

I'm not saying that those Razer headphones are for SURE going to suck... but Razer isn't always about quality, and even just their headphones they've put out can attest to that. I doubt the new ones are going to be cheap, and for what they are going to cost, you can buy some decent headphones that will give you the same if not better directional sound cues AND be great for music!

This is all IMO, but I want to hear what some audiophiles have to say about it before I would even consider buying them.

 

Absolutely right Citizen86 when it comes to the quality of the Razer headphones. I class myself as a bit of an audiophile as I spend far too much money on AV equipment and appreciate quality kit. What I was referring to however was Razer's new implementation of 'Dolby Headphone' or 'Yamaha Silent Cinema' HRTF technology. Having read the whitepaper and listened to the demo on the website I think it will surpass both DH and SC.

The Razer headphones will not use multiple drivers as they are using virtualisation but I doubt they will be audiophile quality. Lets just hope they release a stand alone mix amp so I can use my own Audio-Technicas with the Maelstom engine

Your link is cool. Have you heard this one. Uses binaural recording techniques also (2 microphones, one at each ear). Both sound amazing through my Etymotic's.

 

virtual headphone surround has multiple limitations. the first being that its not true surround. virtural surround can make things sound more spacial, but for accurately locating sounds (the whole point in gaming), it can't work (much). Its a gimmick. Just think about it. If you have a stereo source sending a sound coming more from one side, there is NO WAY front and back info can be sent. You have to remember a stereo signal is a stereo audio signal. Its not some digital thing with subchannels or hidden info. its left and right- thats it. A sound from 'the front' has EXACTLY the same info as a sound from the back, so how can something downline place that sound in front-back space? -it CANT! Dont be fooled by demos you hear. they represent the BEST you can get from a TRUE surround source. And even then it's not too impressive. Headphone surround even with true surround source is never going to be as good as multispeaker surround. the subtleties of the interaction of sound direction in the air and the shape of your ears is intense. there are some surround headphones that even have speakers in different locations in the earpads to try to help. Aural head-model recordings are cool. But simulations cant do as well. If a game had dolby 5.1 in it (rare) I would try some good surround phones but otherwise its totally not worth it. It think its uncool the way so few games have surround. It seems like such a natural thing for them to have and they dont. virtaul surround from a stereo source doesnt cut it. 7.1 is nothing better than 5.1 in this context. its just more gimmick talk. I hate gimmick talk. the kings of it are Bose. they SUK.
every time I see a Hose commercial I cringe. they PREY on people with HYPE.
Most of their products are inferior and all are way overpriced. did I mention Bose
stinks?
other gimmick talk includes expensive audio cables--total snake oil. I have backgound in audio so I have feelings about this crap.

 

I agree. Surround Sound Headphones never work right in my opinion. They always let me down.

 

el_touristo - Not long ago I would have totally agreed with you, however that is no longer the case. To put it simply you say "it's just a gimmick, think about it" I think you need to think about it a little bit more - how many ears do you have? That's right 2! It's with those TWO ears that you hear 5, 6, 7, 8 speakers. Have a read of this thread, may change your mind a little:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f11/smyth-virtual-surround-technology-headphones-323219/

It's basically dynamic on-the-fly, head tracking, binaural conversion of any source which mimics your own speaker setup (if you can call that basic lol). The head tracking adds a whole new dimension to HRTF as it's the missing link when trying to 'trick' your brain that you're listening to something you're not. People that have heard it say they can they can't tell if they are listening to the 5.1 system or the headphones when they take them on and off. Truly incredible technology but with a price to match at this early stage and takes the Beyerdynamic Headzone (currently the best you can buy) to the next level. This is the future of headphone technology.

BTW I currently use a Yamaha AV receiver with 'Silent Cinema' to convert my Xbox 360 5.1 running to some Audio-Technica ATH-AD900 headphones and when mixed with viewing my PJ screen I can pinpoint sound incredibly accurately, in some cases more accurately than my Mordaunt-Short 7.1 system as I can hear very very fine details.