audio interface with 5.1 for watching movies and make music.

Hi. I want to buy a new audio interface but I want to use it for watching movies too. (not for making music for movies, just for watching).

Is there an audio interface that can act like a receiver?

I have my old monitors and I’m planning to buy the Adam a7x and I’m thinking to connect them together i have subwoofer too so i just need to buy a reciver.
I’m thinking to do it because I don’t have more space for another 5.1 speakers, and thats a lot of money too.

i know its the ideal thing to do…
is there an audio interface like this?

thanks guys.

my pc:
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Not sure I understand what you mean.

I have watched movies using my built-in DVD player as well as streaming Netflix, both in 5.1 surround. Windows 10 can bass manage the outputs of my interface which is the old Lynx TWO-B (2-in/6-out). So it’s basically just a matter of choosing the audio interface as the main audio output in Windows and then play back the movie in Windows.

The drawbacks here are that I’m stuck with only the options of Windows, so there’s a limit to just how finely I can tune the bass management and delays etc. The other thing is that depending on the drivers you might not be able to run a video player and DAW at the same time. In my case it is sometimes even necessary to change a setting in the driver and reboot in order to do one or the other.

But that’s one way of doing it.

Now, if you want to feed your system a signal from an external device then I don’t know exactly how you’d do that. You’d maybe have to search around a bit.

hello, i also want to buy a new audio interface but i also want to use it to watch movies on netflix at https://techbigs.com/netflix.html, is there an audio interface like this?

So what I’ve heard recently is that Windows can recognize different interfaces differently depending on the drivers, and the drivers we typically use for audio production are supplied by the makers of the interface. In my case I’m using an old Lynx TWO-B PCIe card as an interface and Windows can access one output configured as 5.1 surround. This means that I can use the default computer audio output for Netflix and set that to the Lynx card. That way I get 5.1 surround when watching Netflix using their app on Windows.

Some other people have reported problems with their (other brand) interfaces using their drivers. The outputs supposedly only show up as pairs, so Windows doesn’t recognize a full 6-channel output. I’m not sure if using a generic driver like Asio4all would work.

So the answer is that I’m not 100% sure which interface to get, but the literal answer to your question is “yes”.

A few years late to answer this question, but perhaps future readers can benefit. The answer to also getting 5.1 and 7.1 surround from games and movies using an audio interface rests within Windows WDM driver support. Currently, Focusrite is the only company I am aware of to support their interfaces in this way. The audio interface to get (with enough inputs and outputs) is either the Scarlet 18i20 or the Clarett+ 8Pre. I own both so I can confirm both work perfectly for Windows WDM surround support.

The way it works in Windows is as follows: Go to Sound Settings, select Focusrite USB Audio in the speaker list, select Configure button in the lower left, and then select your Configuration as either 5.1 Surround or 7.1 Surround. Use the Test button to verify the signals are going through the audio interface and out to your studio monitors. Now when you play games or movies you will get controllable surround going through your audio interface. Once set in this way you can forget it and it will always work. Focusrite makes rock-solid drivers for Windows that just work.

I also have other audio interfaces like Antelope and MOTU, but only Focusrite has Windows WDM surround support. Without a Focusrite interface, you can alternatively use third-party software like Voicemeeter Banana and route it that way. It works, but I did have issues with Voicemeeter sometimes needing to be turned back on and it also seemed like audio was slightly delayed at times. I was using a MOTU Ultralite mk5 with Voicemeeter Banana, but Voicemeeter was unstable at times and had to be turned back on occasionally. Eventually, I went back to my Focusrite Scarlet 18i20 and later bought the Clarett+ 8Pre. I never have any issues with the Focusrite drivers. They just work really well in Windows.

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My solution to this is combining two audio interfaces, the music production interface for the FL and FR channels, the 5.1 surround sound interface for the rest.

When producing/jamming the music production interface is used directly using ASIO.

When watching movies/playing games etc., the surround sound interface is used, using the analog outputs for the C, RL, RR channels and the SPDIF/optical out feeding the music production interface for the FL and FR channels.

I am not sure if there is a miniscule timing difference between the two interfaces (which could theoretically cause slight phase issues), but it doesn’t matter that much for this use case, there is nothing grossly noticeable.

Also with the help of EqualizerAPO, a lot of tweaking is possible, you can process each channel individually, change the channel routing, even load (some) VSTs to compress/gain ride (great if you want to reduce the dynamic range of movies/series etc. in the night) or use EQs etc.