Game with multi-channel audio supporting optical S/PDIF

[jabu74]

Hello

Is there at least one PC game that supports multi-channel audio (e.g. DD 5.1/7.1, 6 or 8-channel DTS, 6 or 8-channel PCM, etc.) via optical S/PDIF?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Not really. Most would just widen the audio for Side + Rear, which is nearly identical audio.

And why would anyone EVER use Optical in 2024? It's basically dead when it comes to audio, Optical on PC usually only supports up to 6-channel anyways. Which really is just fine, at least plenty of movies and games supports that.

[smokerob79]

OK wow lets start with getting rid of the miss information.....first and for most a SPDIF line is fiber optics and at its base without adding in a codec support option it can support 120 channels of audio by itself.....it could even support the bandwidth needed to run ATMOS but Dobly said no do to them wanting to stop people from being able to record it.....dont lie to yourself and say it cant support it when a normal fiber optic run even only using the red light spectrum can support the bandwidth.....

now with all this said you get in the problems of the PC its self and how the sound card works.....

#1.....all on board audio chip sets do NOT have a dobly digital LIVE ENCODER.....they only have a DECODER.....meaning the sound card can play 5.1 from a source that already has the audio ENCODED to dolby digital.....

#2....a ACTIVE ENCODER must be used to get real 5.1 when playing games as NOTHING in the game has been encoded for it....the game can use it but it must be passed through a ENCODER chip to use real 5.1 as the encoding is happening live and nothing is prerecording in the sound spacing.......


I have had 5.1 running since the original Xbox and have had it on PC for over 15 years now....there is no other way and no matter what small minded says "you can not run 5.1 on SPDIF" i have done it for decades

IF YOU WANT REAL 5.1 IN GAME YOU MUST GET A DOLBY DIGITAL LIVE SOUND CARD.....almost every game made in the last 30 years supports real dolby digital live in game....you need the right sound card and the software to go with it to be able to use it.....


https://www.newegg.com/creative-sound-blasterx-ae-5-plus/p/N82E16829102109


^^^this card has live support and even goes out of its way to make sure its know in the posting for the simple reason many people will be buying it over its support for the format......

[_I_]

most games support 5.1 as long as the sound card and windows are set to the correct speaker count, and the receiver supports it

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Correction, Fiber can support many options; however all these crappy consumer PC audio cards and onboard audio DOES NOT SUPPORT above 5.1 (6-Channel) for Optical TosLink. 8-Channel never really caught on when it comes to PC/Consoles; let alone most digital media and games do not support it. It might support it via a Bluray player and certain disc movies that have 8-Channel and you output to a digital receiver; but digital media files, such as the various movies you can download online, NO.

[jabu74]

Yes, you are right, optical Toslink is weak, it supports a maximum of 6 audio channels. Moreover, it is a lossy audio compression. By the way, I haven't come across a game with surround sound sent to S/PDIF yet. Yes, it sends sound, but only 2-channel PCM. It turns out that the best solution is to send multi-channel surround sound via HDMI. Streams in lossy and lossless formats can be easily sent here

[_I_]

you need to set the sound driver to 5.1 dd/dts to get that option
and in games it will send 5.1, or whatever speaker count windows sound device is configured to