Can't get DTS FLAC to play in pass-through

Admin wrote:https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/102323/

I've seen that page before (and tried it as best I could), but it's just plain wrong...
1. The Xonar D2X Audio Center v0.3.0.68 doesn't have a 'DTS/Dolby Digital' selection for S/PDIF out.
2. And why would you set Windows to use the analogue output ('Speakers') when it's S/PDIF (digital) output you're trying to get working??

Daniel

Selecting "Speakers" does not necessarily mean it also outputs to the analog output. The audio driver controls what happens. Although it usually uses separate devices for the different outputs.

The card has the ability to encode to DTS. See page 33:
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Audio_Card/E7808_Xonar_D2X.pdf

Alternative driver:
http://maxedtech.com/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/

Thanks again for your persistence.

But I don't want to encode anything to DTS - I want to play already-encoded DTS tracks!

I installed the Uni Xonar drivers several months ago - no noticeable change.

Daniel

The purpose of the DTS encoder is to allow outputting more than two channels (since PCM is limited to stereo on SPDIF). As far as I know it won't modify the input if it is already DTS. But the real problem is that you don't even have that option. Asus has made things really complicated, and their drivers/software aren't very good. I noticed you also posted a topic on the Asus forums. I found another topic there with many people with problems.

A final suggestion would be to use the generic "High Definition Audio Device" driver from Microsoft.

Neither Asus nor Diamond (my first sound card for this PC) or their forums offer any worthwhile support on technical issues.

Your final suggestion intrigued me, as I've never heard of that driver. I did some Googling and found that it's supposed to come as standard with Win7, but so far I've failed to find any working instructions on how to install it.

When I go to the Device Manager and ask it to look for alternative sound-card drivers on my C: drive, it searches for ages and then just says I have the latest driver already installed - no other options offered!

I'd like to try the "High Definition Audio Device" driver, if only I could find out how to install it!

Regards, Daniel

Right-click > update driver > "browse my computer for driver software" > "let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer"

No, that didn't seem to install the High Definition Audio Device driver...

Windows only offered two Xonar drivers. I chose the more recent of the two and Windows installed it. But after rebooting, Device Manager still doesn't show the High Definition Audio Device driver as being installed, and MPC still doesn't pass-through DTS audio.

Not only that, but MPC still won't play normal stereo audio from a video, either! Looks like I'll have to reinstall MPC to get back to default settings, which at least used to play normal video audio.

Regards, Daniel

If it doesn't show the generic driver, then it isn't compatible.

Doesn't your motherboard have an onboard audio chip?

It does, but sadly no S/PDIF I/O.

Daniel