Steelseries H Wireless with a 3.5mm Optical Adapter

[nubbuka]

Hello!

 

I am about to purchase a Steelseries H Wireless Headset but I noticed I do not have a Optical connection on my PC nor my sound card. The Headset allows Analog and Optical and a USB connection for the microphone as I've read.

Analog as I've searched around the web reduces quality and doesn't allow 7.1 surround to work.

My sound card supports 5.1/7.1 surround but has 5 different colored connections at the back and a "screen DVI" looking connection as well.

 

My question is:

Can I connection the optical cable from the headset to my sound card or any 3.5mm jack on my PC with a adapter that doesn't require a power source for the same quality. Will it work?

 

Pictures/Links for reference, taken off of google:

1. Sound card (attached as a file as well): http://www.sevacall.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/sound-card-not-recognized.jpg

 

2. 3.5mm optical adapter (attached as a file as well): http://www.thatcable.com/WebImages/AB9001_700x309.jpg

 

3.Steelseries H Wireless headset: Lag Free H Wireless Quality Gaming Headset | SteelSeries

 

4.My Motherboard, MS-7798: Motherboard - The world leader in motherboard design

 

I hope this is a question someone can help me with, I have no knowledge in PC audio.

Thank you in advance and have a nice day!

[Skeptic]

It's quite a strange setup they have with that headset.

They advertise it as a 7.1 headset, but you can only do 5.1 discrete channels over optical - and only when compressed via Dolby Digital or DTS.

It has a USB input, but that only supports stereo. (why not 7.1?)

I would have expected to see an HDMI port on that to have an uncompressed 7.1 input.

 

You don't just need any sound card with an optical output - that will only get you a stereo signal, just like the USB connection.

To output a Dolby Digital 5.1 signal from the PC, you would need a sound card with Dolby Digital Live encoding - the least expensive of which is, I think, the Creative Sound Blaster Z.

I'm not aware of anything which can do Pro-Logic IIx (7.1) encoding.

 

But the Sound Blaster Z has its own "SBX Surround" feature, which will turn any pair of stereo headphones into a "surround" headset, and you get that without using Dolby Digital compression, so it should be higher quality.

 

I guess the main selling point is that it's wireless, but I've not been that impressed with any of the wireless headsets that I've tried, and dealing with batteries sucks.

[nubbuka]

Thanks a lot for the reply! I've been reading amazon reviews and comparisons on google for the past 2 hours, the main points of cons that I found were bad support by steelseries of replacing and assistance, mic quality is not so great and long session uses tend to get uncomfortable.

 

Regards to the Creative sound blaster Z, isn't the receiver that comes with the headset a stand alone sound card that should do that work of encoding? I've read a lot of reviews but I haven't of any additional hardware needed to unlock their surround aspects except a optical cable and port. I don't know anymore! T^T

 

The headset comes with 2 batteries and you can charge it in the dock while not in use (On their website they say it lasts for 20 hours but from what I've read its 8-15 hours).

 

Again thanks for the help, I am really lost and the price requires more research work than the price of the headset at the end for me but I guess I do enjoy learning stuff so...

[Skeptic]

Regards to the Creative sound blaster Z, isn't the receiver that comes with the headset a stand alone sound card that should do that work of encoding?

The box that comes with the headset is a decoder and a transmitter.

For 5.1 sound, you need to send it a Dolby Digital signal.

 

To get Dolby Digital 5.1 in PC games, you need something to turn their LPCM audio into a DD5.1 signal: a sound card with Dolby Digital Live capabilities.

The Sound Blaster Z is the least expensive card I've seen with that feature.

 

If you use the USB connection, or a standard optical connection without Dolby Digital Live, you will only get stereo sound, not surround sound.

I really don't see why the box doesn't have an HDMI input (7.1 LPCM) or why the USB connection is limited to stereo. It seems like an oversight.