I've just bought a Sony Multi Channel receiver STR-DN1050 and a set of Q Acoustic 2000i 5.1 speakers which sounds great. Only thing is I can't seem to get a surround signal from my X-FI XtremeGamer from the optical output. After some looking it seems the X-FI doesn't support anything but stereo from the optical output. Can anyone recommend me a soundcard that will automatically output 5.1 over the optical. The amp doesn't have Multichannel analogue inputs. Would a Xonar card do the job?
I know this isn't what you asked (and maybe there is a good reason you don't want to do this), but you might well be better served outputting the sound over HDMI to the receiver from the graphics card. HDMI is capable of high bit rate Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio where as optical (or coax) isn't.
You'll need to buy Creative's Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect pack. I did this with my old X-Fi and it worked a treat.
I've just tried the DTS connection pack, It keeps saying "The task requires exclusive use of your audio device, please stop playback and try again". After a fresh restart nothing is playing, the only things in the mixer are the device itself and System sounds. I've tried switching to HDMI which should disengage the Optical but I just get the same message. Thanks Wolfticket for the HDMI tip, made everything so easy. Would like to get Optical working if possible, otherwise I need to buy a 2nd HDMI lead so I can get an output from the am and program it whilst using the other HDMI for audio.
