well, i doubt it but you might be able to just get a digital I/O card from creative, a daughter card that needs a spot in the back but no slot, giving you a digital optical output for your card. check with creative to see if this would transmit EAX to your reciever, assuming your reciever has a ditital optical input.
it does, and i did try the optical output with my onboard sound, and it didn't work.. of course, this isn't onboard sound
I found this forum outlining your concerns here Bob2. http://www.chesky.com/forum/printthread.cfm?Forum=24&Topic=167
excellent.. ok now i know my setup is working.. just gotta yell at creative, return this soundcard, and buy a better one!
Well, I am up and running. I am using three Monster Cable THX-certified stereo minijack to audio RCA cables (15 buks each) to output the Audigy 2 analog signals to a 5 channel amplifier which then goes to a Bose acoustimass 10 5.1 surround sound speaker system. (The Bose has a low-pass filter so it splits the subwoofer signals itself so I don't think I have to worry about the subwoofer analog channel from the Audigy 2.) I believe the center-subwoofer channel also has the third rear channel for 6.1 and I guess you will need a 4-post (mini to three RCA jacks - like they make for camcorders) but I won't test b/c I only have a 5.1 speaker system. Unfortunately, the plugs on the Monster Cables are so big you cannot get them to all fit in the back of the Audigy 2 so I used some Radio Shack stereo minijack extensions (gold-plated) to circumvent this problem. You can get cables for 6 bucks but your sound will suffer. That is why audiophiles pay hundreds for their cables. I watched a 5.1 DD-EX movie last night, beautiful. I still wonder about the center-sub-rear channel; I only have a stereo (3-post mini) plug in it. I get the front center from the red RCA plug. There is no subwoofer off setting for the Audigy 2 so I might be loosing some of the low end (Bass Redirect turned all the way down). Maybe I will try to combine the two RCAs and see if my Bose can deal with the combined signal and split off the bass with the low-pass filter. But there has been enough crap to deal with (thanks for the instructions Creative, jerks) that I won't do this soon. I read the "newbi help" forum on this problem. Well, they don't get it do they? The Digital Out on the Audigy will stream an encoded AC-3 signal to your external decoded ONLY if: 1) you have a DD source to begin with (they are right about not having an encoder, BUT if the source is not DD in the first place then an encoder would only make Pro Logic anyways...) and 2) all software is set to SPDIF passthrough (or you will just get a channel throught the digital out - its not even stereo with one channel - mono coaxial). What bums me out is why are they not using the parallel port to output multi-channel audio? I have a Rotel THX-certified 5 channel amp and, like other high end home theater, they are now using DB-25 cables to connect their components! Why? Because they work. They have more than enough channels, are easy to use, etc. So why doesn't Creative use the parallel port (DB-25) to ouptut? They are very available now that most printers are USB.
