5.1 dolby digital surround sound from imac

[hochun0809]

How do I get 5.1 dolby digital surround sound from imac?

 

 

Hi everyone, I am very very new to this forum so if I do something inappropriate, I apologize for that. =)

 

 

Here are my questions.

I have got a mid 2007 iMac and a Creative inspire p7800 7.1 speaker.

What I want to do is to hear 5.1 dolby digital surround sound from the creative speaker (which does not support DD and DTS like Logitech z5500 and Logitech Z906 do).

I have done tons of research and spend a lots of time in the internet to look for answers. I did find some solution on this issue but I am not 100% sure. And some more questions pop up. So I am hoping that some expert here can clear my mind. Thank you so much ^^

 

 

So, here is some solution that I got from the internet. (please correct me if I am wrong)

 

 

1. Buy a Griffin Firewave and connect it to my mac and thats all I need to do. As Griffin Firewave has dolby digital processor, so I think I will be getting 5.1 DD surround sound from the speaker. (Am I right?)

Amazon.com: Griffin 4019-FIRESS FireWave Surround Sound for Macs: Electronics

But the problem is, there is only one firewave listed on amazon and one listed on ebay. The amazon one is really really expensive that I think it is really unreasonable to buy it. So as I may not able to get a Griffin Firewave, this lead to my second solution.

 

 

2. Buy a external sound card like this:

Amazon.com: Diamond External Xtreme Sound 7.1-Channel USB Audio Device: Electronics

and connect it to the mac. But my question is, As I do not have any Dolby decoding device connected, will I getting 5.1 DD surround sound in my speaker? Or the program in my mac (i.e: VLC) already done the decoding and output as 5.1 multichannel analog so I don't need a extra decoding device?

 

 

3. As I am not sure about those method on the above will get 5.1 DD surround sound in my speaker, I keep digging and find out there is actually one more option.

Since the iMac supports s/pdif output, what I need is to buy a Digital to Analog converter(DAC) and use the mini Toslink to connect my mac with the DAC. Then connect my speaker to the DAC. Some DAC I found:

Amazon.com: Digital to Analog Audio Decoder Converter - Transfer the DTS/AC-3 Digital Signal and Stereo(R/L) Audio Signal into 5.1 Analog Output: Electronics

Amazon.com: Digital to Analog Audio Decoder Converter - Transfer the DTS/AC-3 Digital Signal and Stereo(R/L) Audio Signal into 5.1/2.1 Analog Output: Electronics

Amazon.com: Sewell Direct SW-29767 Digital to Analog Audio Converter: Electronics

and most of DAC support DD/DTS decoding, I should be able to get 5.1 DD surround sound at the end. Is it correct?

 

 

My question is, is this the right solution to get 5.1 Dolby?

If Griffin Firewave is available, will the result of method 1 same as the result of method 3?

Or is it better to use a receiver instead of DAC?

 

 

I know I have so many questions, I hope I did not make it too troublesome. But I really want to know the answer from you guys. I really appreciate for those who read through this. I know my english sucks and cannot express myself very well. I do apologize for that. Anyway, please leave any thought on this, even a sentence or yes/no

Thank you sooooooo much

Frank

[wgscott]

From my Mac mini, I can get it just using either an HDMI or an optical cable. You shouldn't have to buy anything more fancy. I feed the signal into my 5.1 receiver (Marantz NR-1402, now slightly obsolete but you can get them for $300).

[hochun0809]

From my Mac mini, I can get it just using either an HDMI or an optical cable. You shouldn't have to buy anything more fancy. I feed the signal into my 5.1 receiver (Marantz NR-1402, now slightly obsolete but you can get them for $300).

 

What if I just want to do the audio only?

Do I use those DAC or anything else?

 

How about the Griffin Firewave? Will it works?

 

Thank you so much for answering though

[phofman]

Most players (e.g. VLC) will decode DD/DTS to multichannel PCM sound, playable by any multichannel soundcard, such as that inexpensive USB soundcard.

[souptin]

Last time I checked this, neither iTunes or the default DVD player app were capable of DD/DTS decoding, although they can pass through the original signal via the optical port to allow a suitable receiver or dac to do the decoding. So its possible that going the VLC route will limit the OP's system to files that VLC can read. Granted this is a very long list, but it's worth keeping in mind.

 

It looks to me like hochun has done some good research, so apologies if I raise some issues you've already though of, but here goes:

 

1. Sorry but I don't have any direct experience of the Griffin Firewave. The specs suggest that it will do the job, but as you say it's an expensive buy if you're not 100% sure.

 

2. Your Creative speaker system has built in amplification. If you were to connect it up to the speaker outputs of a receiver, I have no doubt that it would work but I don't think it's an ideal solution.

 

3. Also I think the Creative units use stereo mini jack connectors, so you may need to do some fiddling with adapters or get out the soldering iron to connect your speakers up. Hunting down a matching Creative external sound card / dac would likely guarantee compatibility with the speakers, but from memory Creative don't always guarantee mac compatibility.

 

4. This is a fairly wild suggestion, but: The mac's AudioMidi utility allows you to aggregate several sound cards together. In theory this would allow you to combine the capablities of, for example, a couple of cheap stereo dacs and the built in line output to give you six channels of audio. You'd then definitely need to use something like VLC to decode and send to each of these. Very fiddly and not ideal in many ways, but it might help give you a feel for what the system can do if you have / can borrow something to experiment with.

[phofman]

Last time I checked this, neither iTunes or the default DVD player app were capable of DD/DTS decoding, although they can pass through the original signal via the optical port to allow a suitable receiver or dac to do the decoding.

 

 

Uff, honestly I would have thought DD/DTS decoding was a standard by now :-) I have only used open source video players in the last ten years (vlc, mplayer, xine, totem-gstreamer, xbmc) and they all supported both DD/DTS decoding to PCM right away.

 

So its possible that going the VLC route will limit the OP's system to files that VLC can read. Granted this is a very long list, but it's worth keeping in mind.

 

I have never seen a non-corrupted video file not playable by VLC. But perhaps some DRM'd content, or some apple proprietary format...

 

4. This is a fairly wild suggestion, but: The mac's AudioMidi utility allows you to aggregate several sound cards together. In theory this would allow you to combine the capablities of, for example, a couple of cheap stereo dacs and the built in line output to give you six channels of audio. You'd then definitely need to use something like VLC to decode and send to each of these. Very fiddly and not ideal in many ways, but it might help give you a feel for what the system can do if you have / can borrow something to experiment with.

 

If there was a way to create a virtual multichannel soundcard out of several separate soundcards (I have no idea in mac, certainly available in linux), it would work. However only if clocks of all the cards were synchronized somehow. It would be the case for adaptive USB dacs hooked to a single USB controller timed by the same PLL'd clock. IMO a multichannel USB soundcard, perhaps powered by a separate PSU, is an easier solution though. DD/DTS soundtracks are lossy anyway

[souptin]

If there was a way to create a virtual multichannel soundcard out of several separate soundcards (I have no idea in mac, certainly available in linux), it would work. However only if clocks of all the cards were synchronized somehow. It would be the case for adaptive USB dacs hooked to a single USB controller timed by the same PLL'd clock. IMO a multichannel USB soundcard, perhaps powered by a separate PSU, is an easier solution though. DD/DTS soundtracks are lossy anyway

 

Agreed on all your points. The "aggregate device" in the mac AudioMidi appears to be intended for the exact purpose of creating a virtual multichannel sound card out of several separate ones, and allows you to designate one of these as the master clock. Probably intended more for serious professional studio users? But could also be fun for a technically minded music geek to play around with.

 

On your earlier point, I wonder if there's some licensing issue with the surround formats that Apple doesn't want to get involved in. Not unlike the way tvs (in the UK at least) can't pass through a surround sound signal from, for example a blu-ray player / computer or game console to a receiver, requiring you to rig up direct separate cables for each... Very annoying!

 

To get back on topic, yes VLC can play just about every music or video format I have thrown at it. However if you want to use a streaming service (e.g. spotify / netflix) you need to use their own proprietary players which don't have VLC's decoding abilities. Most likely licensing issues again. You also need to do some extra fiddling to enable VLC to directly play from a DVD, and it's Blu-ray support is in very, very early stages. This may not be relevant to the OP's plans, as I think he/she would be quite happy with a VLC based system. However I reckon it's worth raising the issue for the sake of other people who are interested in the subject.

[realhifi]

From my Mac mini, I can get it just using either an HDMI or an optical cable. You shouldn't have to buy anything more fancy. I feed the signal into my 5.1 receiver (Marantz NR-1402, now slightly obsolete but you can get them for $300).

 

Obsolete next to what? Certainly not to the dumbed down NR-1403. The 1402 is still a good piece (the 1602 better) and really not superceded by the new model.

[Steve Lane]

I wanted to play back a 5.1 demo a friend gave me on DVD.I needed a 5.1 output for my early intel iMac. I did a search on Ebay and found a number of sellers offering a small blue 5.1 USB audio interface box. No maker so I assume it is an OEM Chinese device. It has six analog outputs on stereo minijacks. A mic in , a line in and optical SPDIF in and out. It is offered by several sellers priced from £7.95 including UK postage to around £15. It comes with Windows drivers but no mention of OSX compatibility. I took a chance and paid my £7.95

To my delight it is recognised in the Audio Midi setup as a USB device. I used VLC as the player. Select the VLC audio device as "USB Sound Device". I found I had to configure the device as 8 channel. 1&2 mapped to L and R ,3&4 to sub and centre. 5 & 6 are not mapped and 7 & 8 are the rear surround. The master level on the control page is not used. Use the the sound level control on the VLC player as the master. Set the speaker balance with the sliders the Audio Devices USB Sound Device panel. The Mac sound output fader on the menue strip should be just 20%. Any higher and odd things happen and the output distorts. So I am sorted for just under eight pounds. (Not including the extra amps and speakers )Works a treat. I am currently listening to the Led Zep Celebration DVD in glorious 5.1