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Topic: Problem playing 6ch tracks via USB soundcard (Read 1486 times) previous topic - next topic
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Problem playing 6ch tracks via USB soundcard

Hi @ll.

After a long time as a guest reader, it's finally time to sign up on HA, especially because of the fb2k forums.
I recently ran into my first problem with the best audio player ever.

My sound device is a Soundblaster Live 24bit connected via USB. The problem is: When playing 6ch files foobar only outputs front left and front right channels. The others remain silent. There is no downmixing done (only DSP filter used is "skip silence"), the channels simply aren't there.
I've already tried every output config I could think of: dsound primary driver, dsound sb live, waveout primary, waveout sb live. Makes no difference except when hardware mixing is enabled in dsound. Then I get proper 6ch AC3, but only AC3. 6ch AAC and Vorbis still won't work.
DirectShow based players (Media Player Classic) play all 6ch formats without problems, so I guess foobar is indeed the cause of the problem.

My system:
- foobar2000 0.8.3 (used components)
- WinXP Home SP2
- Soundblaster Live 24bit External (USB)
- Onboard SigmaTel stereo soundchip
- Computer is a Dell Inspiron 8600c laptop

The onboard soundchip is disabled via win device manager. Unfortunately the computer's BIOS doesn't provide an option to disable it in hardware.
Taking a wild guess: Could the problem be related to that still semi-active chip? I remember that on my (now sold) desktop PC with only a PCI SB Live 5.1 installed 6ch audio played without any problems (same foobar iirc, but definitely no version before 0.8.0).

Any suggestions highly appreciated!

Brother John