5.1 Sound

[Metatron]

I am just wondering.....you see I have a PeeCee and a iBook. I use my iBook for all my everything but gaming. It is no to good at that anyways only having 8mb of video ram. But what keeps me from going to a PowerMac is the fact that there is no 5.1 sound cards for apple. I lover surround sound on games....it just bring the realism of the game out. And apple is starting to show some high end games. Does anyone know of a way to get 5.1 for dvds and EAX for games on a mac without having to buy a ton of extra, expensive equipment???????

[D0ct0rteeth]

really nothing under 400 bones for mac... sorry.

im sure with their new purchases they will be adding something soon.

C-

[DavPeanut]

Why dont they stick a PCI carad in the new iMac? Then you could add that kind of thing.

[D0ct0rteeth]

check this baby out.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/consumer/sonicaSite/alt_content/about.html

C-

[mueng]

Originally posted by D0ct0rteeth
check this baby out.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/consumer/sonicaSite/alt_content/about.html

C-

To D0ct0rteeth or anyone else... Have you used this product yet? It looks kinda interesting.

[spacepower]

Originally posted by Metatron
I am just wondering.....you see I have a PeeCee and a iBook. I use my iBook for all my everything but gaming. It is no to good at that anyways only having 8mb of video ram. But what keeps me from going to a PowerMac is the fact that there is no 5.1 sound cards for apple. I lover surround sound on games....it just bring the realism of the game out. And apple is starting to show some high end games. Does anyone know of a way to get 5.1 for dvds and EAX for games on a mac without having to buy a ton of extra, expensive equipment???????

In the future, all Mac audio out will be thru USB/Firewire. Currently there are several 2 in/6 out usb interfaces. When apple settles everthing with coreaudio/midi which will applear in Jaguar. Check out Emagic.de which Apple just bought. they make one such USB interface.

So do you have a room dedicate to your PC/iBook? How are you planning to set up your 5.1 speaker system? Think abt it. everythink in the room has an effect on the sound, you bed, you dresser, whether or not you closet door is open.

my RANT
I have several years training in audio engineering. Sometimes i feel that it is such a waste when engineers spend soo much time adjusting sounds between two speakers. We set up speakers in a equilateral trianglewith us. If you work in protools or other audio programs, and use good speakers, any thing panned to the middle sounds like it is coming out of your CPU monitor, not the speakers. Increadible sounding, especially from 3000 dollar speakers.
But then the listeners play the cd thru a 100 dollar boombox with the speakers 18 inches apart. This defeats the idea of "stereo." But what the hell, its just abt the music anyway.

go to a high end electronics store, listen to there 5.1 surround. Home theater brings on a whole new meaning. 300 dollar or less 5.1 speakers aren't any better than 500 dollar "stereo" speakers. I don't mean to spoil your ideas, just be realistic. There are many people in the world making 100,000 dollars a year, their job, designing rooms that sound good.

Just be realistic abt how much more 5.1 will get you. Stereo speakers and a subwoffer are just as good in a home/office environment.

Anyway, we will have 5.1 very soon, coreaudio already supports it, they are just putting the finishing touches on it.

Szia

[goglamosh]

speaking of USB... yamaha has a receiver/external-sound-card that accepts audio input from a Mac using USB and it translates the 2 channel source into 5.1 through a DSP. i think it is rather cool. check it out: http://www.yamaha.com/yec/cavit/index.htm

newegg.com sells them for $300.

[Metatron]

That sonica usb object is just awsome....thanks. As to the reply about if you spend 300 or less on 5.1 being about as good as spending 500 on stereo.....well that is a load of bull. And I, from experience, can tell you that if you take the worlds worst brand of speakers (5 of them) and rig it to a 5.1 system....you will notice the difference in seconds. Watch a move like the Patriot...and the first time that bullet sound zooms past your head...you will be addicted. I have a Creative Labs 3500 surround sound system for my PC. I hooked it up to my home dvd player and was astounded by what i heard. And I know all about sound...I am a Sound Eng. for Harvest-Time Church. And yes we use the best....bose speakers....and yes there is quality in the price you spend....but for EAX games and just dvd 5.1 .......creative labs will do......not because of they are the only about 350....but because they are one of the best brands to get for your pc.....if not the best.....but if anyone know if bose does make a 5.1 system for the pc...let me know...I will buy it.

The all Powerful.....Metatron (voice of God)

[peterjhill]

I sure hope they don't make you use USB for audio out. Not many headphone have a USB connector ;-) I like using my Powerbook while listening to music, often with headphones. I doubt that Apple would dump the minijack. Sure they will support USB audio, but I think it is unlikely that they will force that as the only option.

As for 5.1, pro-logic should work fine, as it is embedded in the stereo signal, and will survive the trip out the computer intact. DD and DTS would be pretty darn nice, particalarly when you can get a decoder and powered speakers from Yamaha from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005A3UH/qid=1027076614/sr=32-2/ref=sr_32_2_etk-add-ons/104-9883735-4194314) for $159. I have one at work for our XBox, and it works great. Halo is awesome with it.

Why would you want this, and where would you use it? Well, there are a bunch of really good music dvd's out there, like Moby Play and the Criterion Beastie Boy's dvd. Both are in 5.1 and sound great. The Yamaha is the perfect size for my office, and I think would sound great, and would sound better than stereo. I know, because I have listened to them at home, and you can tell the difference, and the difference is all good.

[D0ct0rteeth]

Originally posted by Metatron
That sonica usb object is just awsome....thanks.

did you buy it?

what speakers do you use with it? The CL 3500 ?

thanks.

C-

[peterjhill]

Originally posted by D0ct0rteeth
no time for love dr jones.


So were you addicted to the Indiana Jones pinball game also. That is one of the lines they picked out for the game. I use it all the time.

[hvfsl]

Why not get the Creative Soundblaster Live Mac, it only has 4 speaker support but everything else like EAX is there. It is around $100. This is the only surround sound PCI card I know of. One of the main reasons why there are no 5.1 speaker support on Macs is that Apple does not think people need it on a computer. The same went for other technologies like CD-R.

But there is still no force feedback support or support of any kind for gaming devices in Mac OS X (that goes for 10.2)

[D0ct0rteeth]

the soundblaster live has no osx support.

and yes.. "no time for love dr. jones" is also one of my favorite quotes.

back in the 'burgh me and "the one legged bastard" used to bust out with it in totally unacceptable situations.

ahh.. good times.

C-

[G4scott]

The sonica seems nice. It would work nicely with my Creative Soundworks 2.1 Digital speakers... I'm wondering, though... Does it get the 5.1 info from Apple's DVD player software?

The CAVIT from Yamaha seems nice too, but it only supports 16-bit stereo playback/recording with the Mac. I sent them an e-mail, but haven't gotten any response about it yet...

[ShaolinMiddleFinger]

Does anyone know why there's no 5.1 sound cards for Mac?

[G4scott]

Originally posted by Metatron
That sonica usb object is just awsome....thanks. As to the reply about if you spend 300 or less on 5.1 being about as good as spending 500 on stereo.....well that is a load of bull. And I, from experience, can tell you that if you take the worlds worst brand of speakers (5 of them) and rig it to a 5.1 system....you will notice the difference in seconds. Watch a move like the Patriot...and the first time that bullet sound zooms past your head...you will be addicted. I have a Creative Labs 3500 surround sound system for my PC. I hooked it up to my home dvd player and was astounded by what i heard. And I know all about sound...I am a Sound Eng. for Harvest-Time Church. And yes we use the best....bose speakers....and yes there is quality in the price you spend....but for EAX games and just dvd 5.1 .......creative labs will do......not because of they are the only about 350....but because they are one of the best brands to get for your pc.....if not the best.....but if anyone know if bose does make a 5.1 system for the pc...let me know...I will buy it.

The all Powerful.....Metatron (voice of God)

The bose acoustimass systems are kick @$$...

The only problem with 5.1 devices on the Mac, is that alot of them (like the Cavit, for example) don't support 5.1 with the Mac...

Oh, and are you an aggie?

[goglamosh]

Class of '03!!!!!!

[goglamosh]

How'd you guess?

[Rower_CPU]

I still stand by my recommendation of Klipsch speakers:

Kilpsch.com (http://www.klipsch.com/index.asp?path=/products/promedia/index.asp?frame=y&id=&line=&1)

THX certification, tons of wattage, clean/crisp highs, clear mids and enough bass to knock your socks off.

[goglamosh]

Klipsch speakers are awesome.

[bousozoku]

By the way, the other day at CompUSA I noticed a $50 rebate on SoundBlaster Live! for Macintosh. Considering that they've already dropped the price to $99.99, I wonder if they're clearing inventory to:

get out of the market OR

bring out a board with 5.1 with Mac OS X support.