Greetings all!
Here is a quick guide on how to setup our device for Surround Sound. With this method, you’ll be able to use our adapter in 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound on your Windows computer.
The first step is to determine if you’re using analogue (3 or 4 x 3.5mm cables, typically green, orange, black and grey) or if you are using optical (one single SPDIF cable).
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Analogue Surround (5.1 or 7.1)
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You’ll first want to make sure that your surround system is physically connected to the right ports. This means ensuring that the proper colors are connected to the proper ports in accordance to your sound system’s instruction manual.
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Make sure that the Xear Software is installed and running the latest version from our web site ( Drivers & Downloads ).
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In Xear Software, make sure “Speakers” is selected ( How to change selection ) and then select either 5.1 or 7.1 depending on your Surround type.
To test, you can use the small play icon in the center of the diagram. If you can hear all of the proper sounds from their respective speakers, you are well setup and ready to use Surround.
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Digital Optical (SPDIF)
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You’ll first want to make sure that your surround system is physically connected to the right port (the SPDIF Out in the back of the unit).
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Make sure that the Xear Software is installed and running the latest version from our web site ( Drivers & Downloads ).
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In Xear Software, make sure “S/PDIF-Out” is selected ( How to change selection ).
Unlike with Analogue, Digital output is encoded and cannot be tested with the software. To test digital output, we recommend playing a local file that is encoded in digital surround through a player which supports digital surround or try a surround-capable media from a Windows Store application such as the Netflix or the Disney app in Windows (not in a browser).
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Important notes
→ When testing on analogue, Surround is always configured as surround and will show in Windows as a surround configuration even if you are not playing anything. On digital, Surround is only active when playing a media which has been encoded in Surround and is compatible with the Surround standard and type used on your sound system. For example, your sound system needs to support DTS in order to decode digital DTS surround, and etc.
→ It is important to note that Surround won’t work from a browser source such as Netflix or YouTube on a browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.). For Surround support on these media services, you will need to use one of their Windows Applications from the Windows App Store.