# 24/96 Optical setup on Z5500- Help



## twicksisted (Mar 30, 2008)

Hey guys,

first time im using optical... basically I had co-axial & direct analogue before but couldnt get it to work in 24/96 (as the icon on my logitech Z5500 controller never showed up).
thought that by getting an optical cable it would sort it.






OK, optical plays through to the speakers and I can choose Stereo, StereoX2, Prologic Movie, Prologic Music... but I could do this before on co-axial and analogue.

So what do I have to do to be able to run with 24/96?
My soundcard im using for the logitech speakers is onboard Realtek on my Asus P5K-E:
*ADI® AD1988B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports at back I/O*
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1655&l1=3&l2=11&l3=534&l4=0


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## twicksisted (Mar 30, 2008)

Also, I have the soundcard setup to 5.1
There is a little test demo thing where you can play sounds from all speakers... only the left right & center work with the optical plugged in ... unless i use stereo X2.. then all the front and surrounds.

Looks like the software isnt working ... any ideas?


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## Darren (Mar 30, 2008)

twicksisted said:


> Also, I have the soundcard setup to 5.1
> There is a little test demo thing where you can play sounds from all speakers... only the left right & center work with the optical plugged in ... unless i use stereo X2.. then all the front and surrounds.
> 
> Looks like the software isn't working ... any ideas?



Just because your using fibre doesn't mean you get instant 24/96. Your sound card needs to support the sample rate. Not all sound cards support 24/96 over digital despite full support over analogue.

Edit: 

All sound cards can pass through Dolby or DTS over SPDIF using the appropriate software such as PowerDVD/WinDVD, unfortunately it doesn't mean 24/96 is supported over digital. Most on board cards tend to support 24/44.1 kHz.

*I found this extract from ASUS's website:*
_The onboard 8-channel HD audio (High Definition Audio, previously codenamed Azalia) CODEC enables high-quality 192KHz/24-bit audio output_

The catch is they never said 192KHz/24-bit over digital coax/fibre. They kept it ambiguous so its probably over analogue only. Try forcing the sample rate in your audio codec when playing a movie and see what happens, usually if it's unsupported you will hear no noise or a fuzz sound.


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## mdashoot (Mar 30, 2008)

on the back of the pod there is a switch that goes 6 channel direct or 1-3 mono or something like that, I have mine at 6 channel direct, im using coax whitch is the same as optical just not as good quality, I cant tell. then in my software I have it set to dolby digital, so now it shows the dd symbol and the digital on the pod, when I run the surround demo all speakers work like they should.


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## mdashoot (Mar 30, 2008)

Also, when you get it figured out here are some web sites to test your 5.1 surround and the second one is for bass, the bass one kicks ass, but it depends on where your sub is.

http://www.lynnemusic.com/surround.html

http://www.stealthsettings.com/woofer-bass-subwoofer-sound-test/


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## mdashoot (Apr 1, 2008)

to be a little more clear, I have an HT Omega Claro, on board audio is disabled. Im running digital coax from the card to the pod. the input on the card is set to coax, in the omega claro software I have it set as S/PDIF output and 5.1 dolby digital. when you do this you will get a bit stream of 3/2 48 kHz at 16 bits, the 3/2 means 3 front speakers and 2 rear. Im pretty sure if you set the on board to 96KHz analog output then you will get 96/24.
*Here are a couple tricks with the z-5500 pod*
1. Displaying the digital stream type/mode 
Set the unit to standby mode then press Input + Effect simultaneously for 6 seconds. This will put the Control Center in "Diagnostic Mode". Now everytime the Z-5500 is fed a digital stream (DTS, DD, etc.), it will display the stream information (format, bitrate, etc.) for 5 seconds in place of the DD or DTS logo before returning to the standard display.
2. Activating the Second Skin 
Basically this changes the level display for the volume control to a "stepped" type display instead of the default "bar" display. It also changes the color of the LED when in standby mode from red to purple. To toggle between the first and second skins, first set the unit to standby mode, then press Input + Effect + Settings + Mute simultaneously for 6 seconds. Once you see the LED flash your good.


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## twicksisted (Apr 1, 2008)

thanks man... thats very usefull 
Ill try it out tonight?
To change it back i take it i do the same again...?


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## mdashoot (Apr 1, 2008)

twicksisted said:


> thanks man... thats very usefull
> Ill try it out tonight?
> To change it back i take it i do the same again...?



no problem, and yes, just do the same to change it back


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