How do I get 5.1 sound with this motherboard Crosshair V Formula

[ronzer]

Do I need to buy a sound card? Or is there away to make this motherboard work at 5.1?
Thanka

[tag446]

I may be wrong here but from what I understand you can't stream 5.1 surround over the internet if it is browser based. If you want simulated surround, your sound system may have a setting for that.

Your Harman Kardon 5.1 system must be a home theater system? Should do surround nicely with the optical cable attached. Just to test things out do you have a DVD or Blue Ray player in your computer? If so plop in a movie and see if you get surround. Also you could check it with any games you may have locally on your computer that are supposed to have 5.1 surround.

[unmaker]

am i misremembering this or isnt digital optical only 2.1? this is all digital carries, and it uses either optical or coax, not 3.5mm. verify this, im too lazy.

oh, you can get COMPRESSED 5.1, not worth it really. go analog when possible for 5.1

[w0lfpack91]

unmaker wrote:
am i misremembering this or isnt digital optical only 2.1? this is all digital carries, and it uses either optical or coax, not 3.5mm. verify this, im too lazy.

oh, you can get COMPRESSED 5.1, not worth it really. go analog when possible for 5.1

nope i get very clear distinct 5.1 out of the optical through my head set. as well as my surround system. you just have to have a 5.1 source. i play alot of battlefeild and COD and both have 5.1. as for optical limits every surround system in our house uses digital optical Computer, xbox, playstation, tv, all of it and all have 5.1

[trypticryptic]

w0lfpack91 wrote:
nope i get very clear distinct 5.1 out of the optical through my head set. as well as my surround system. you just have to have a 5.1 source. i play alot of battlefeild and COD and both have 5.1. as for optical limits every surround system in our house uses digital optical Computer, xbox, playstation, tv, all of it and all have 5.1

You hopefully realize (although most clearly don't) that headphones almost uniformly include only a total of 2 dynamic speakers - but with complex sound processing algorithms and multi angle sound placement (also considered "sound shaping" if I am not mistaken) to make sound seem surround - when your ears are covered by and with close proximity to, the speaker cupping or surrounding your ear, which allows for speaker monitor positioning, echo balancing and the very fidelity of the speaker itself to use the paired channels, speaker angles and resonance to trick the ear into hearing directionally in a virtual 3d space.
Each ear hears in less than 180 degrees on each side of the head, and when there is a loud sound on the right, the left ear still picks up the sound, just to a lesser degree, and the combination of the volume allows echolocation that the brain interprets so as to zero in a location. Try covering one ear and close your eyes and then try to determine where a sound is coming from. You can still do so, but to a much more limited degree, only because your ear canals can also aid in this as the sound waves bounce of the different hairs and shapes of your ear enabling a bit of compensation, as they were designed with such amazing abilities to compensate if need be. But it helps you to see the challenges headphone makers have had in developing their speakers to create a sound stage with all those considerations and variables in place. And lets also realize that the human ear seeks to find normality in sounds so it can extrapolate the needed data, so while you are thinking it sounds amazing, the ear is taking the audible guidance and using the sound to establish the smoothest interpretation it can to the brain, so it sort of allows you to feel the simulated sound is, in effect, clear 3 dimensional sounds. But the opposite locations are still from a limited number of just 2 speakers in 95% of headphones.
And the short-winded way of saying it: Most headphones aren't IN FACT 5.1, or anything close to that - technically. But only by form, as function is in many cases better for surround sound. But 5.1 truly is a misnomer that was only proliferated by marketing "geniuses", trying to cash in on the hype of surround sound systems at the time, with 5.1 being the pinnacle. Still not sure why they thought it made sense to call it 5.1 as opposed to surround or true surround or encapsulated surround even, as any would have caused less confusion, misunderstanding and misinformation. But hey, they sold some sh.. elves full of products, so you know, who cares about accuracy or facts or physics and math and technical reality? Just me then? Fun.

True 5.1 sound: 2 rear channels(left and right)
+ 2 front channels(left and right)
+ 1 center channel
+.1 or 1 sub-woofer channel
______________________________
=5.1

(Could be someone saw the "sub" in the subwoofer and confused sub (below) with fractions somehow. I mean, it makes sense only because we've heard it for so long and someone explained it at some point, not because it makes sense. But marketing is good for not only using any demographical information to use your psychological desires and wants in exchange for your money and time, they also derail physics, math, science and anything else that hinders that main goal. So pretty much everything will make no sense in about 20 years, but everyone will have the best tv, phone, watch, brain implants, emotion replants, car, retinal swaps and 9D sound and vision. Can't wait.)

All sarcastic joking aside, and my further response to the last commenter from 8 years ago, and I am now realizing not even answering the original query, I'll sum up with my opinion on it (True 5.1 for headphones), besides it being impossible, is you would need 4 speakers per side.

1 speaker for front channel, with dedicated channel on each side right/left,
1 speaker for rear channel, with dedication again for each side right/left,
1 speaker dedicated to sharing the center channel and 1 speaker to share the subwoofer "channel" or maybe a pressure creating module to emulate the thump of the sound waves generated by the woofer and porting from a subwoofer. Positional isn't required since bass isn't directional in presence.

I do have the same motherboard and the best way is with the analog aux cables, of which you need 3 for 5.1 or 5 for 7.1 sound. The best way to get the best sound out of the onboard card is with 3rd party DCH driver mods, for example Alan Finotty's :https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/realtek-dch-modded-audio-driver-for-windows-10.250915/

[Just my couple of cents trying to make sense of all the senseless nonsense.]
And yes I realize this thread is old as f..utons.