Need help with my astro a50 setup

[Will E Wonka]

Yes I know seems kinda like a dumb thread.. Who would need help setting up their astro a50s? 

 

Well I do you see I bought these headphones about five months ago and had been running them through only having them plugged in through USB. I would get good sound like that, but I figured I spent 300 dollars on these headphones for the 7.1 surround sound so why not get a sound card to get that 7.1 sound? 

 

So I went out and bought this sound card: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-Fatal1ty-Champion-SB1354/dp/B0060SXDRI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381663848&sr=8-1&keywords=creative+recon3d+fatal1ty

 

I installed it and plugged my Astro a50 mix amp through optical cable to the sound card. I also have my stereo speakers plugged into the audio jack on the sound card. Than I started up the program for the sound card and tried setting it up to play the 5.1 surround to the headphones. Well I got no sound what so ever. I than went and made the sound card the default playback device still nothing. What am I doing wrong? 

 

I also made this quick video so you guys could see how I have it plugged in and everything hopefully somebody here can help me with this. :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ntl1RzlEec

 

Thanks for looking at this thread please help.

 

[Joshyy]

The A50's are not surround sound, they have Virtual Surround, which means it is done in software and there are really only 2 speakers, which means it only works over USB

[Will E Wonka]

What? really? So than I bought the sound card for no reason? LoL....

 

Why does it come with the optical in and out though? And it also came with the cable.

[Joshyy]

What? really? So than I bought the sound card for no reason? LoL....

 

Why does it come with the optical in and out though? And it also came with the cable.

 

Possibly, I'm not the biggest expert on the A50's having never owned them, but what I can tell you is that there is no difference between using USB and SPDIF(Optical) as there both digital, if you were using the 3.5mm jack then that would be a different story. 

[Will E Wonka]

Hmmm I feel kinda lead on by Astro now. I know about the 3.5 jack to toslink might actually work better but wanted to see if anybody could explain to me why I wasn't getting any audio through the optical cable that came with the damn headphones. I went on the astro forums and got no help there. So since I watch alot of linustectips videos I decided to come here. Anyways thanks for the reply.

[ShindoSama]

The A50's are not surround sound, they have Virtual Surround, which means it is done in software and there are really only 2 speakers, which means it only works over USB

it's hardware decoded virtual surround, which is day and night better than whatever the hell software is going to virtualizer.

 

Hmmm I feel kinda lead on by Astro now. I know about the 3.5 jack to toslink might actually work better but wanted to see if anybody could explain to me why I wasn't getting any audio through the optical cable that came with the damn headphones. I went on the astro forums and got no help there. So since I watch alot of linustectips videos I decided to come here. Anyways thanks for the reply.

No dude, you need the to give you the "surround" sound. PM and i'll figure it out for you; these forums can get extremely nasty when trying to help people as so many replies keep getting thrown everywhere. 

[ShearMe]

No matter what you do, it will end up as virtual surround in the end. There might be a difference between virtual surround off the mixamp and virtual surround off the soundcard, but that is simply a matter of preference as to which you like best.

[Will E Wonka]

But than why in the hell do they include the optical cable and inputs?

[MammothJerk]

But than why in the hell do they include the optical cable and inputs?

for xbox and ps3 is what i'd assume

[Will E Wonka]

for xbox and ps3 is what i'd assume

Oh well I guess that explains why the sound quality is still pretty good through the USB connection.  

[ShearMe]

for xbox and ps3 is what i'd assume

 

+1, but minus "assume" 

[gasterliches]

dude r u guys retarted or something, the optical cable does matter, i have the astro a50 n they make an huge difference. pc ps3 and xbox all required an optical cable to recieve dobly 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, it says in the Manuel Dumass. if your just using an usb, ur only getting stereo sounds and if your using both, you will get the sound that astro a50 was made for. yes you will need a good sound card or just use your optical output from your motherboard. trust me, make sure to click the dolby button from the mixamp n u will be effin amazed. thats only the disadvantages of an pc, you will have to pay extra but they r way better then console audio all the way ftw.  

[NannerBeans]

dude r u guys retarted or something, the optical cable does matter, i have the astro a50 n they make an huge difference. pc ps3 and xbox all required an optical cable to recieve dobly 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, it says in the Manuel Dumass. if your just using an usb, ur only getting stereo sounds and if your using both, you will get the sound that astro a50 was made for. yes you will need a good sound card or just use your optical output from your motherboard. trust me, make sure to click the dolby button from the mixamp n u will be effin amazed. thats only the disadvantages of an pc, you will have to pay extra but they r way better then console audio all the way ftw.  

 

That is not how we should reply to someone on the forum. None of us except the poster own an Astro A50 so how were we suppose to know it was in the manual?  But manners aside, we were only talking about on the PC, not consoles. On the PC, I do not see a reason why you would need an optical cable to get surround. They are both digital so theoretically, they are doing the same thing unless it's just bad implementation by Astro. Either way, if he can't get surround through usb, he can just use Razer Surround instead of the Astro software. An optical out on a sound card just bypasses the sound card anyway so no, you do not need a sound card. 

[donkeybanana]

That is not how we should reply to someone on the forum. None of us except the poster own an Astro A50 so how were we suppose to know it was in the manual?  But manners aside, we were only talking about on the PC, not consoles. On the PC, I do not see a reason why you would need an optical cable to get surround. They are both digital so theoretically, they are doing the same thing unless it's just bad implementation by Astro. Either way, if he can't get surround through usb, he can just use Razer Surround instead of the Astro software. An optical out on a sound card just bypasses the sound card anyway so no, you do not need a sound card. 

 

Far from condoning his attitude, but with manuals and specifications freely available from the manufacturers website posting comments such as:

 

The A50's are not surround sound, they have Virtual Surround, which means it is done in software and there are really only 2 speakers, which means it only works over USB

 

And:

 

Possibly, I'm not the biggest expert on the A50's having never owned them, but what I can tell you is that there is no difference between using USB and SPDIF(Optical) as there both digital, if you were using the 3.5mm jack then that would be a different story. 

 

Are borderline disimformation and not very helpful.

 

OP: If you have not received the answer you are looking for, I would recommend using the virtual surround settings provided by the Creative card, customized to your liking. You can pipe this modified audio stream to your Astro A50s using the "What u Hear" feature of the Creative drivers.

 

This is my preferred method when using the Creative Zxr with my Astro A50s.

[SSL]

Read timestamps people, lest you become a dread necromancer.

[Nastysoda]

I know this is an old post, but many people use this as reference. To answer Will E wonka.

 

USB is for power

Audio through optical

Dolby Digital Live codec is preferred

 

If you are using just USB for audio your headphones will sound terrible, Just switching to 2 channel stereo with Optical out will be a massive improvement in audio.

 

Older motherboards used to include Dolby Digital Live codec, but newer ones stopped due to liscense cost.  So to get the best sound from them is to buy a soundcard that includes Dolby Digital Live, such as a sound blaster Z.

 

It's annoying to see all these people answering him with such certainty when they couldn't be more wrong. Most the wireless headsets now are designed for dolby digital live and sound amazing when its used.

 

Soda.

 

[ShearMe]

Double necro...