RedocneXk
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redocneXk - Realtime 5.1 ac3 Encoder
This is a realtime AC3 encoder that allows you to use spdif passthru with sound from any source. It takes it's source from ASIO in the DSP. It is a console app. (There is also a GUI version available.)
Source
http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?t=90887
Download locations
http://www.rossanodembech.it/html/kx.html
Hosted by radiocolonel.it (http://www.driverheaven.net/member.php?u=73479)
For the kX driver, visit http://kxproject.lugosoft.com.
The latest stable version of the kX driver is 3537. The latest unstable build is 3538k and can be found here: kxdrv3538k-full.exe Size: 5,6 MB (5 871 192 bytes).
My setup
I have had a Creative Inspire 5.1 Digital 5500 sound system for a few years now. What has bothered me is that since it's an external decoder, with an optical, coaxial and stereo input, there's no way I can connect the three analog cords required for regular 5.1 sound from Windows or games in general. So my 5.1 setup has only really been fully utilized when playing DVDs etc. with pre-encoded AC3/DTS audio.
When I found this redocneXk application I was thrilled. Could it be that I would finally be able to get 5.1 sound from games with my Dolby decoder? First of all my receiver is connected via an optical cord to my MSI Neo-FIS2R motherboard. This motherboard has its sound provided by a Realtek ALC655 chipset and boasts optical as well as coaxial S/PDIF outputs.
Because of this I can not use the kX driver with my onboard sound device directly (they require an EMU10k1 or EMU10k2 based device). I had to dust off my old SoundBlaster Live! sound card. Since the kX drivers for EMU10k1 based cards, which is what my SoundBlaster Live! is, still doesn't support S/PDIF passthrough I could not use the S/PDIF output on this card to get the digital AC3 signal to my receiver. It didn't look good.
But then I discovered that as of version 1.02 of redocneXk you can easily select which output device to send the encoded AC3 stream to. With this I am able to use my optical S/PDIF output on my motherboard's onboard sound device for sending the digital AC3 stream to my receiver, while having my SoundBlaster Live! device selected as the default sound device in Windows.
Now I can enjoy real 5.1 sound where supported without it having to have a pre-encoded AC3/DTS audio stream. The only drawback is that the AC3 encoder requires around 5% CPU on average, and depending on your setting there might be a slight delay in the sound. But I have yet to hear any noticable delay with the kX ASIO driver set to 4 ms latency (192 samples).
