SIIG USB SoundWave Optical 5.1

Dissonance1 · 04-16-2008, 02:07 PM

I have one of these: http://www.siig.com/ViewProduct.aspx?pn=JU-IC5112-S2

(SIIG USB SoundWave Optical 5.1)

It has 1 toslink connector and 1 minijack. It has a DAC for the minijack, and passes 5.1 sound through the toslink connector.

USB installation went smoothly. It uses a built-in Windows driver. My computer is a Dell Latitude D620 running XP Pro.

I connected it to my Sony 5.1 receiver (of course through the toslink and not the minijack). The receiver automatically detects the signal, but unfortunately, only detects stereo and not surround. When I set the receiver to surround, it upconverts but still doesn't receive 5.1 channels.

In the control panel under sounds and audio devices, I have two options: SigmaTel Audio which is the built-in device on my laptop, and USB Audio which is USB SoundWave device. I select USB Audio. Under advanced, I select 5.1 speakers. I went through all of the menus and could not find any other relevent settings.

I play a DVD with 5.1 surround with CinePlayer from Roxio EZCD Creator 9. This player lets you choose the audio playback device as well as the type of sound. I chose USB Audio with 5.1.

As far as I can tell, my laptop is sending 2 channels through the USB device. I suspect it's the driver or codec. I have K-Lite Codec Pack installed. I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

DTSXS · 04-18-2008, 12:51 AM

If you are playing DVD discs the normal audio format that should be playing on your home theatre should be 5.1 channels like DD or DTS. They will automatically be played through your DVD player software like PowerDVD or Windvd. Those players will have an sound option setting which you should select external decoder to amplifier. Your audio card does not encode like transencode any DD or DTS just passes all the bits to your amplifier from the disc using software cpu encoding. Should work flawlessly anyway!

If you want DD to listen to your music or play games using your audio card you do transencoding. This is done with AC3 filter or what I use FFDshow filter. Install ffdshow the current ver. I am not sure if it's gonna work with your sound card but you can try. AC3 filter might work aside from ffdshow, But all you have to do in ffdshow is goto the audio decoder configuration ffa select 48 khz for resample goto codecs enable AC3 and DTS to SPDIF, dolby decoder check mark, mixer set to 5 channel enable LFE, and lastly check output to AC3 S/PDIF encode mode

Dissonance1 · 04-19-2008, 02:55 PM

Hello! Thanks for the information. I've learned a lot through all this.

I successfully passed 5.1 DTS to my receiver using the Roxio CinePlayer. I had tried this before, but don't know where I previously went wrong.

I couldn't get it to work with Media Player or Media Player Classic (I would also like to play AVIs and MPGs encoded with AC3). I assume the problem is with the AC3 or FFDshow filters. I will try the exact settings you listed when I get home tonight.

Dissonance1 · 05-02-2008, 07:32 PM

Hello,

Although this is technically not a sound-card issue anymore, I would appreciate it if somebody could give me a hand.

Although I can play DVDs in surround, I can't play AC3 files in surround. I've tried messing with the settings in both the AC3 and FFDshow filters. I probably don't understend well enought how they work. At this point, I think my best bet is to use Media Player Classic because it has all kinds of options for control over the filters.

When I think I successfully enable the 5.1 passthrough, all I get are clicks in my speakers. Otherwise, I get 2 channels.

Thanks!

04-16-2008, 02:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
Dissonance1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 32 OS: XP Pro	SIIG USB SoundWave Optical 5.1 I have one of these: http://www.siig.com/ViewProduct.aspx?pn=JU-IC5112-S2 (SIIG USB SoundWave Optical 5.1) It has 1 toslink connector and 1 minijack. It has a DAC for the minijack, and passes 5.1 sound through the toslink connector. USB installation went smoothly. It uses a built-in Windows driver. My computer is a Dell Latitude D620 running XP Pro. I connected it to my Sony 5.1 receiver (of course through the toslink and not the minijack). The receiver automatically detects the signal, but unfortunately, only detects stereo and not surround. When I set the receiver to surround, it upconverts but still doesn't receive 5.1 channels. In the control panel under sounds and audio devices, I have two options: SigmaTel Audio which is the built-in device on my laptop, and USB Audio which is USB SoundWave device. I select USB Audio. Under advanced, I select 5.1 speakers. I went through all of the menus and could not find any other relevent settings. I play a DVD with 5.1 surround with CinePlayer from Roxio EZCD Creator 9. This player lets you choose the audio playback device as well as the type of sound. I chose USB Audio with 5.1. As far as I can tell, my laptop is sending 2 channels through the USB device. I suspect it's the driver or codec. I have K-Lite Codec Pack installed. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

04-18-2008, 12:51 AM	#2 (permalink)
DTSXS Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 13 OS: WMC 2005 sp2	Re: SIIG USB SoundWave Optical 5.1 If you are playing DVD discs the normal audio format that should be playing on your home theatre should be 5.1 channels like DD or DTS. They will automatically be played through your DVD player software like PowerDVD or Windvd. Those players will have an sound option setting which you should select external decoder to amplifier. Your audio card does not encode like transencode any DD or DTS just passes all the bits to your amplifier from the disc using software cpu encoding. Should work flawlessly anyway! If you want DD to listen to your music or play games using your audio card you do transencoding. This is done with AC3 filter or what I use FFDshow filter. Install ffdshow the current ver. I am not sure if it's gonna work with your sound card but you can try. AC3 filter might work aside from ffdshow, But all you have to do in ffdshow is goto the audio decoder configuration ffa select 48 khz for resample goto codecs enable AC3 and DTS to SPDIF, dolby decoder check mark, mixer set to 5 channel enable LFE, and lastly check output to AC3 S/PDIF encode mode

04-19-2008, 02:55 PM	#3 (permalink)
Dissonance1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 32 OS: XP Pro	Re: SIIG USB SoundWave Optical 5.1 Hello! Thanks for the information. I've learned a lot through all this. I successfully passed 5.1 DTS to my receiver using the Roxio CinePlayer. I had tried this before, but don't know where I previously went wrong. I couldn't get it to work with Media Player or Media Player Classic (I would also like to play AVIs and MPGs encoded with AC3). I assume the problem is with the AC3 or FFDshow filters. I will try the exact settings you listed when I get home tonight.

05-02-2008, 07:32 PM	#4 (permalink)
Dissonance1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 32 OS: XP Pro	Re: SIIG USB SoundWave Optical 5.1 Hello, Although this is technically not a sound-card issue anymore, I would appreciate it if somebody could give me a hand. Although I can play DVDs in surround, I can't play AC3 files in surround. I've tried messing with the settings in both the AC3 and FFDshow filters. I probably don't understend well enought how they work. At this point, I think my best bet is to use Media Player Classic because it has all kinds of options for control over the filters. When I think I successfully enable the 5.1 passthrough, all I get are clicks in my speakers. Otherwise, I get 2 channels. Thanks!