Question:
Can optical cables carry a true DD7.1 signal?
2012-11-11 21:28:25 UTC
I know there's DD5.1 and DTS5.1 but above that with all the DD master and true stuff I don't really understand. I'm just wondering if you had a headset that could support DD7.1 only via optical cable and you had a source with 7.1 encoded, could you hear DD7.1?
Four answers:
Grumpy Mac
2012-11-12 09:15:10 UTC
On a headset? You do get spacial clues from a headset but I suspect you cannot really tell the difference between 5.1 and 7.1.



Optical can only carry 5.1.



To get 7.1 - the 2 rear channels have 2 'hidden' tracks. If you have a 7.1 decoder it will extract these for the side speakers. If you do not have a 7.1 decoder, the hidden tracks will just play out the rear speakers.



Hope this helps.
MorningLightMountain
2012-11-12 18:01:47 UTC
Unless your headset has multiple drivers in each ear, you are way over-analyzing. Seriously over-analyzing.



An optical cable can carry DTS and Dolby Digital. Most video game systems and some PC's can encode sound effects to these formats in real-time.

A headset that doesn't have multiple drivers in each ear(which I think is a bit nutty) can really only split out 4 channels: left and right(obviously) and some trickery to simulate rear-left and rear-right.

The deep bass of the .1 is just part of the signal since you aren't actually strapping a sub-woofer to your ear. And yes, there are headphones with the equivalent of a subwoofer. But that's absurd too.

Regardless, on a headset you will hear EVERYTHING from all directions whether you are using 4 channels, 5 channels, or 7 channels. And the .1 doesn't matter.

And unless there's some driver set-up i REALLY don't know about, it's simply impossible to simulate a center channel speaker using headphones.
2012-11-12 10:01:26 UTC
If there was data for the "EX" rear channels, S/pdif Toslink optical would carry it. But there isn't. The EXtra two rear channels are not defined within the Dolby Digital 7.1 format. The digital audio signal is the same as 5.1, and Dolby Surround Pro Logic creates them from the decoded analog signal. So if the headset supports Dolby Digital 7.1, you can hear it's version of 7.1. (this type of sound imaging is fundamentally different than speakers placed appropriately in a "theater", so the results can vary)
?
2012-11-12 07:52:09 UTC
Optical cannot do 7.1 or hd surround sound formats, short answer = no.



Hdmi (digital audio).

- It can do Stereo=2 channel (uncompressed) PCM audio.

- It can also do 6 channel=5.1 or up to 8 channel=7.1 (uncompressed) surround sound. (6th or 8th channel is the LFE=low frequency effects).

- All hdmi version cables support up to 8 channel LPCM, 192 kHz, 24-bit audio capability, but they can also support audio at at sample sizes of 16-bit, 20-bit and 24-bit, with sample rates of 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz.

- All hdmi versions can do the lossy surround sound formats known as Dolby Digital or DTS.

- Only hdmi versions 1.3 or after can do the loseless surround sound formats known as DolbyTrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio. (Can also do Dolby Digital Plus).

- (The versions of each cable can be easily understood by looking at the version charts, more info included at the link).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI



S/pdif Optical or S/pdif Coaxial (digital audio).

- It can do Stereo=2 channel (uncompressed) PCM audio.

- It can also do 6 channel=5.1 (compressed) surround sound. (6th channel is the LFE=low frequency effects).

- S/pdif supports audio at sample sizes of 16-bit, 20-bit*, 24-bit, with sample rates of 48 kHz, 44.1 kHz and 32 kHz (other sample rates will not pass 2,000 bitrate, they will not work and/or sound bad and/or not sound better).

- S/pdif can only do the lossy surround sound formats known as Dolby Digital or DTS.

- Computer's sound card should have a multi channel audio and/or a decoder like ffdshow/ac3 filter (ac3 s/pdif encode mode) to get surround sound the go through the cable.

(More info in links).

http://ac3filter.net/wiki/AC3Filter_%26_SPDIF

or

http://ac3filter.net/files/docs/ac3filter_1_30b/spdif_eng.html


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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