PC Surround Sound Setup

There are at least several different methods for connecting an audio device to your computer, the analog connection is the most compatible method while HDMI or USB may be the highest-quality methods; using SPDIF can be good for stereo playback, but becomes more complicated when transmitting a surround sound signal. I will attempt to elaborate on all of these below.

Starting in Windows 10, spatial audio was supported at no cost through Windows Sonic for Headphones. Dolby Atmos or DTS:X are supported for free when a compatible device is connected via HDMI and the Dolby Access and DTS Sound Unbound Windows Store apps are installed. No purchase is necessary when using a compatible HDMI device, only the Dolby and/or DTS app needs to be installed; the HDMI device is your "license". A license can be purchased inside the Dolby and DTS apps to enable spatial audio for headphones.

To enable spatial audio in Windows 10 or 11, press Ctrl + Windows key + V, then select from the spatial sound menu. If no options are present then no compatible device is detected.

OpenAL Soft supports output through Microsoft Spatial Sound, this can enable OpenAL games to output proper height audio. When using DSOAL with OpenAL Soft, this will enable height speakers with DirectSound games.

Downloads are available at:

• OpenAL Soft: https://openal-soft.org
• DSOAL: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/ChrisRobinson/dsoal/build/job/nraf6syk2gqsjhv1/artifacts

To enable spatial audio in OpenAL and DirectSound games:

1. Activate your spatial audio device using Ctrl + Windows key + V and then selecting the device from the spatial audio list.
2. Create a file named alsoft.ini with the settings below and copy it to the game directory.
   [General]
   drivers="wasapi,"
   channels=surround714
   [wasapi]
   spatial-api=true
3. Extract bin\Win32\soft_oal.dll from the OpenAL Soft archive
• Create a copy of soft_oal.dll and rename it to OpenAL32.dll
• Create a copy of soft_oal.dll and rename it to dsoal-aldrv.dll
4. Copy the relevant DLLs to the game directory:
   • For OpenAL games, copy the OpenAL32.dll from OpenAL Soft into the game directory where the game's executable file resides.
   • If the OpenAL game is an Unreal Engine 2 game, name the DLL file DefOpenAL32.DLL and copy it with alsoft.ini into the game\System directory.
   • For DirectSound games, copy the dsoal-aldrv.dll file from OpenAL Soft and the dsound.dll from the DSOAL download into the game directory.

I suggest having a separate alsoft.ini file in the game directory for spatial audio because these settings are not widely compatible and can cause crashes in other applications.

I have tested and experienced good results with the following games:

• Far Cry - DirectSound
• F.E.A.R - DirectSound
• Mirror's Edge - OpenAL
• Unreal Tournament 3 - OpenAL
• Resident Evil 5 - DirectSound
• Unreal - DirectSound
• Fallout New Vegas - DirectSound
• Killing Floor - OpenAL/DirectSound

These games would crash during launch:

• Amnesia - OpenAL
• Devil Daggers - OpenAL
• Half-Life 2 - DirectSound (Miles Sound System)
• Portal 2 - DirectSound (Miles Sound System)

The games that functioned did work well; audio correctly panned to the height speakers. I have not attempted in-depth troubleshooting on the non-working games, but setting spatial-api to true seems to prevent some games from launching. This is why I suggest having a separate alsoft.ini file for games where spatial-api=true functions correctly.

When configuring your audio device in Windows, it's important to take into consideration how many speakers you have connected and how big they are. If you are using headphones with discrete 5.1 speakers or virtual surround sound, I'll also mention that.

Right-click on the speaker icon in the system tray (bottom-right) or go to the Control Panel and click the "Sound" icon. You should arrive at the list of playback devices as shown below in the right image. Select your output device and click the "Configure" button (or right-click on the device and choose "Configure Speakers").

After selecting to configure your speakers, you should now be at a window that lets you pick your speaker configuration. DO NOT pick a configuration for more speakers than you have, this could result in missing audio.

Consider this:
• If you are using stereo headphones with CMSS-3D, Dolby Headphone, Xear, or any other surround sound simulation software, set your audio device to the maximum number of speakers that it supports. If you are using headphones with its own discrete 5.1 speakers, then definitely select 5.1 as the configuration.
• Some games that use Dolby Atmos headphone technology suggest setting the headphone to stereo and disabling any virtual surround technology that the headphone offers, this is correct. The game's audio middleware is doing the surround processing, for accurate results, set the headphone to stereo and disable any surround options in the headphone's software.
• If you have 7.1 speakers and want to get the best surround effect from a game that only supports up to 5.1 speakers, you should select the 5.1 surround option that shows the surround speakers at 90-degrees from your head. The Sound Blaster X-Fi does not appear to support this mode.

If you selected the proper speaker configuration in the previous screen, you should just be able to proceed past the next screen. Un-checking certain speakers essentially mutes them, applications still think you have those speakers and will try to output audio to them instead of moving audio to other speakers that aren't muted. Perhaps this section is made available for troubleshooting purposes.

Next, you will choose whether or not to redirect bass from the speakers to the subwoofer. If your speakers are small (cube speakers or small PC speakers) then you may want to uncheck the full-range box and let Windows redirect bass to the suboowfer (if applicable).

Consider this:
• If you have a 2.1 speaker configuration, check the full-range box. A typical 2.1 configuration performs its own bass redirection so it is best to let Windows send a full-range signal out to the device that will be acting as a cross-over.
• If you are connected to a home theater audio / video receiver via HDMI, setting all speakers to full-range may be the best option, especially if you used something like Audyssey to configure the speakers via the AV receiver. In the case of Audyssey, the AV receiver will be processing the audio it receives from the computer, so it would be wise to send a full signal to the receiver.

The image above is the final step for configuring your speakers through Windows. If you are using headphone surround simulation (CMSS-3D, Dolby Headphone, Xear, etc) then you may want to refer to the documentation for your sound device on how to specifically configure that device for simulated surround output. Creative Labs provides this page as reference for how to configure CMSS-3D for headphones.

The analog connection is probably the most common way to connect speakers to a computer. If you have connected speakers or headphones to the green 3.5 mm jack on your computer, you have used an analog connection. Most computers will have a 3.5 mm jack for analog connections.

If you have the stereo connection shown in Figure 7, you will be strictly limited to analog stereo, but if you have the 8-channel or 6-channel connection shown in Figure 8, then you will have the ability to use surround sound via an analog connection.

Consider this:
• If you connect stereo headphones to a single stereo 3.5 mm connection, you may be able to get virtual surround sound from games that have proper virtual surround sound processing such as Dolby Atmos for headphones.
• If you have a home theater receiver with direct analog inputs, you can purchase 3.5 mm to RCA cables from sites like Monoprice.
• Analog is the most compatible audio output method, if you are experiencing issues with a game not playing audio or not playing audio in surround, try an analog connection.

SPDIF is capable of outputting either stereo PCM (uncompressed) audio or Dolby or DTS encoded (compressed) 5.1 audio. I do not recommend using SPDIF unless that is your only option.

There are TWO methods for getting discrete 5.1 surround sound through SPDIF:
1. If a movie has a Dolby or DTS audio track, it can be streamed to a receiver in 5.1 through an SPDIF cable.
2. For games, your computer will need software that encodes the game's audio into Dolby or DTS 5.1 format; some computer sound devices include support for Dolby or DTS encoding, you will want to look for either Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect in your sound device settings.

I don't think I need to post a picture of what HDMI looks like.

I would say that the best feature of HDMI is its expanded audio capabilities and its ability to improve; it is the successor of SPDIF and it can carry 7.1 PCM; no need for Dolby or DTS encoding. I have read that some games, namely those that use Audiokinetic Wwise, seem to have issues with HDMI audio connections, so this may be a reason to stick with analog or at least have the analog option available when a game does not function correctly with HDMI.

HDMI typically needs to be activated by an HDCP-compliant device on the other end (such as a TV or computer monitor) but you may be able to use an HDMI splitter (check eBay) to get HDMI to activate without connecting a monitor to the other end.

USB is used for some simple PC speakers and for most 5.1/7.1 gaming headsets.

When you use a USB audio device, it is its own audio device. A USB audio device does not depend on your computer's audio device or any sound card you have installed and any changes you make to the onboard sound or sound card will not be reflected on the USB audio device. A USB audio device is essentially an external sound card. When you connect a USB audio device, you should notice that in the Windows audio devices you have a separate audio device named specifically for the USB device you have connected. You will need to configure this device independently of whatever other audio device you have installed in your computer.

Equalizer APO (https://sourceforge.net/projects/equalizerapo/) is a tool that allows you to manipulate audio output at your sound device affecting all audio output, even in games. Equalizer APO lets you fine-tune equalizer settings, crossover settings, perform bass redirection, and manipulate speaker channels.