5.1 sound card compatible with 7.1 headset?

MrBodacious

New Member
Hey guys.

Was wondering if someone could help me out with a couple things regarding sound. I´m pretty lost atm...

I have a headset (http://steelseries.com/products/audio/steelseries-h-wireless) that requires an optical out (we´re talking from a pc) in order to support certain dolby features/technologies. These features only applies when the 7.1 function is activated on the headset. As I understand a new sound card will be able to provide the optical out, hence unlock these features as well as give me better sound because they´re usually better than the ones intergrated in the mb (http://www.msi.com/product/mb/B75MAP45.html#hero-specification) + the simple fact that optical out from the computer is slightly better at transfering (sound)data than the usb connector currently plugged into the transmitter that send signals to my wireless headset.

My questions is this: do I need to buy a sound card with 7.1 in order to use the 7.1 function my headset has, or would a 5.1 sound card do the trick? The whole point with the optical out is to unlock extra features that regard the 7.1 so I´m afriad that if I buy a 5.1 sound card it will give me optical out and unlock the luxury 7.1 features but not be able to play 7.1 sound since it´s 5.1, which then makes it pretty useless.

What makes me wonder is the fact that my mb has a intergrated sound card that manages up to 8 channels, which is what makes it possible for me right now to use the 7.1 function. So when they say "5.1 sound card", are they refering to it´s capacity towards a headset or is the "5.1" just telling me the maximum amount of actual speakers one could plugg in to it?

#confused

Thanks for reading!
 

Agent Smith

Well-Known Member
So when they say "5.1 sound card", are they refering to it´s capacity towards a headset or is the "5.1" just telling me the maximum amount of actual speakers one could plugg in to it?


It means the amount of speakers you can connect to the sound card. But I'm really not sure about the optical thing. There could be a diffrence in audio via optical in a 7.1 card vs a 5.1 card.

I just read that Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio are 7.1 formats. So if you have those formats in your headphones you should buy a 7.1 audio card.

If this headphone has HDMI I would use that.
 
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