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Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic
Thursday 17th May, 2007 20:26 Comments: 1
I finally sorted it. After browsing the forums at Creative Lab's Soundblaster.com website, I came across the following advice to get the SPDIF passthrough working under Vista x86 (I gather the Gamer version doesn't work as it uses optical out, and x64 users can't get it working either):

1) Install the latest beta driver: 2.13.0012 (SBXF_PCDVT_LB_2_13_0012.exe)
2) Under "Playback Devices", right click "SPDIF Out" and select "Set as Default Device"
3) Double click "Speakers" and select the "Custom" tab. Check "Enable Digital IO"
4) Plug the digital DIN/digital coax connector into the DIGITAL_IO hole in the card (at the very top of the card)
4) You can "Test" the "SPDIF Out" to check it works. I had a crackle and the way it changes between speakers doesn't seem entirely right, but at least it works
5) Install AC3Filter 1.30b, then bring up the "AC3Filter Config". On the "Main" tab, make sure "Use SPDIF (Passthrough)" is checked. Under the "System" tab, make sure the correct things are checked for your receiver (in my case, AC3Filter is used for all of the checkboxes on the left except for PCM and MPEG Audio, as there can be some clicking when my receiver switches to and from AC3, with AC3 Filter as the preferred decoder, and AC3 checked on the SPDIF passthrough section, and it all goes into my 7 year old Cambridge Soundworks setup that I bought many years ago with my first SBLive card - incidentally, the X-Fi might be the last Creative product I buy).

And now I can finally hear the AC3 audio streams in surround sound, just like I could in XP. Hopefully I can listen to DVDs in surround sound too, something I shall look into later. And maybe I'll add some screenshots to this post.
Avatar Robert - Thursday 17th May, 2007 22:25
Hmm, I still get weird clicky noises, which are most apparent when IE makes its little sounds.
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