Is My Audio Set-Up Correct for Surround Sound? -SOLVED

[BlinkerBoy]

Specs are in profile and signature.

My PC's audio-out is connected to my 5.1 Surround Sound set-up via optical cable (TOSlink). I am curious to know if my settings are correct to receive surround sound. After searching, I realize that surround sound will only work with Gamecube/Wii games that support Dolby PLII, so I understand that. My surround sound system accepts both the latest Dolby and DTS streams.

Windows settings: Default audio device is my Surround sound via optical out.
DSP settings:



I have played a couple games on Dolphin that support surround sound, like the Pikmin series, and I didn't notice any surround sound. Any other games rich in surround sound so that I can check again with a better game, and is me set-up correct?

Thing to Note: All PC games I've played so far that use surround sound (BF3, Sleeping Dogs, GTAIV, Crysis, etc) have perfect 5.1 audio. Also, all my Glu-Rays play with surround sound flawlessly too.


Thanks!
-Eddie

[skid]

What is the audio format of the audio that the sound card in your PC is sending? For Dolphin to work with your setup, make sure it is set to stereo (2 channel). Then change your receiver to accept DPL2 (it will probably do this automatically). Your games will now be in surround.

If your sound card is set up for 5.1 (Dolby Digital or DTS), you'll need a newer version of Dolphin that supports the OpenAL back-end. You can get the latest via the Download link at the top of this page. Look for Dolphin 3.5-397. In the DSP settings, change the audio backend to OpenAL and then select the DPL2 decoder option. Your game should now be in surround. If they aren't, rename the soft_oal.dll file to OpenAL32.dll. Then restart and surround will now work.

Of the two configurations, the first configuration is preferable as the DPL2 decoding is offloaded from your PC's CPU to the receiver's hardware decoder. It'll be of higher audio quality too.

[BlinkerBoy]

Oh, it's set to Dolby 5.1.


I'll change it to one of those many 2-channel options and report back with an update! Thanks for the feedback!

-Eddie

Edit: I hear no difference, it is now set to 2-channel, 16 bit 96000 Hz and it still sounds stereo. Perhaps I should try another game, is there any that has really obvious surround sound?

[BlinkerBoy]

I will attempt the OpenAL config.

[BlinkerBoy]

It appears that the culprit the entire time was XAudio2. While having my PC output 5.1 audio with DSound on stable version 3.5 x64, I was able to get surround sound from Pikmin 2.

Also to note, I was unsuccessful at getting surround sound when changing PC output to 2-channel stereo, though I think it might be because I have an optical out from my PC and not LR analog. Anyway, figured it out, thanks for your help!