Dolby Surround with mp3s/CDs

float · Jul 7, 2003, 11:50 PM

Hi,

I've got a question about surround-sound, that haunts me for months now (the search returned no satisfying results) - yesterday I found this forum full of sound-experts :-), so I thought someone here could give me an answer:

When I bought a dolby-surround-system for my living-room about 3 years ago I was really impressed how it vastly improved my listening experience when listening to CDs. The guitars came from the front speakers, the singer just from the center box, background-voices came from the rear speakers, it seemed just like CDs where mixed in 5.1, although they aren't (of course), this also works with mp3's burned on CD (I hope you know what I mean).

I was wondering why listening to CDs on my PC (SB Live! Player 5.1, Cambridge 5.1 Surround Set) is just not comparable - there's just the normal stereo-effect, even with the 5.1 speakers - all 5 speakers are used during playback but they don't seperate the 'channels' like the receiver does. So I tried different driver-settings, installed the kX-drivers, prayed to the lord, but nothing really helped and the sound still doesn't compete with the listening experience you have on your normal home entertainment system.

On my PC I just don't get that surround-sound, whatever I've try. Because I don't really know, what's responsible for this sound-enhancement (is it dolby prologic?) feeding google didn't bring up the desired results, how to achieve this on the pc.

I hope someone could give me a hint on this and sorry if it was already covered before.

thx, Simon

Necrosis · Jul 8, 2003, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by float
Hi,

I've got a question about surround-sound, that haunts me for months now (the search returned no satisfying results) - yesterday I found this forum full of sound-experts :-), so I thought someone here could give me an answer:

When I bought a dolby-surround-system for my living-room about 3 years ago I was really impressed how it vastly improved my listening experience when listening to CDs. The guitars came from the front speakers, the singer just from the center box, background-voices came from the rear speakers, it seemed just like CDs where mixed in 5.1, although they aren't (of course), this also works with mp3's burned on CD (I hope you know what I mean).

I was wondering why listening to CDs on my PC (SB Live! Player 5.1, Cambridge 5.1 Surround Set) is just not comparable - there's just the normal stereo-effect, even with the 5.1 speakers - all 5 speakers are used during playback but they don't seperate the 'channels' like the receiver does. So I tried different driver-settings, installed the kX-drivers, prayed to the lord, but nothing really helped and the sound still doesn't compete with the listening experience you have on your normal home entertainment system.

On my PC I just don't get that surround-sound, whatever I've try. Because I don't really know, what's responsible for this sound-enhancement (is it dolby prologic?) feeding google didn't bring up the desired results, how to achieve this on the pc.

I hope someone could give me a hint on this and sorry if it was already covered before.

thx, Simon

Basically it does have a lot to do with Dolby Pro Logic, and DSP sound fields. You are using software emulation on your PC while everything on your receiver for your home theater is done by internal hardware. To acheive a similar sound to what you have you first need a good sound card, & some good speakers to go along with it. You will need a media player that is compable of using Direct Sound which is pretty much what is used in games for multi-channel playback. I know Winamp has some plugins you can download to help you acheive this. However, you will have to ask some of the WinAMP experts since my knowledge of it is rather limited. It has been awhile since I've messed with the older Creative 5.1 cards, but I know the Audigy series does have decent multi-speaker support. You also may want to look into upgrading your drivers w/ the hacked Audigy 2 drivers on this site.

float · Jul 8, 2003, 10:01 PM

Ok, thanks, that's at least something to start with. So I have to emulate it by software - I'll give the drivers a try and post it again in the winamp-forum.

Jul 7, 2003, 11:50 PM	#1
float DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: South Germany Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Dolby Surround with mp3s/CDs Hi, I've got a question about surround-sound, that haunts me for months now (the search returned no satisfying results) - yesterday I found this forum full of sound-experts :-), so I thought someone here could give me an answer: When I bought a dolby-surround-system for my living-room about 3 years ago I was really impressed how it vastly improved my listening experience when listening to CDs. The guitars came from the front speakers, the singer just from the center box, background-voices came from the rear speakers, it seemed just like CDs where mixed in 5.1, although they aren't (of course), this also works with mp3's burned on CD (I hope you know what I mean). I was wondering why listening to CDs on my PC (SB Live! Player 5.1, Cambridge 5.1 Surround Set) is just not comparable - there's just the normal stereo-effect, even with the 5.1 speakers - all 5 speakers are used during playback but they don't seperate the 'channels' like the receiver does. So I tried different driver-settings, installed the kX-drivers, prayed to the lord, but nothing really helped and the sound still doesn't compete with the listening experience you have on your normal home entertainment system. On my PC I just don't get that surround-sound, whatever I've try. Because I don't really know, what's responsible for this sound-enhancement (is it dolby prologic?) feeding google didn't bring up the desired results, how to achieve this on the pc. I hope someone could give me a hint on this and sorry if it was already covered before. thx, Simon

Jul 8, 2003, 10:01 PM	Thread Starter #3
float DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: South Germany Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Ok, thanks, that's at least something to start with. So I have to emulate it by software - I'll give the drivers a try and post it again in the winamp-forum.