Quad or Surround

[rodzilla]

I have a 4.1 speaker arrangement with a Creative X-Fi card. What is the difference between the "quad" and "surround" options?

[rodzilla]

Any ideas?? I posted this a couple of weeks ago.

[Septic]

Quad will use the front and rear left and right, whereas surround will also use a center speaker.

[rodzilla]

Good to know. So as a follow-up, is the difference between "surround" and "5.1" the presence of a subwoofer??

[Septic]

Pretty much.

[Astrallite]

Though IIRC, PC games don't have a discrete subwoofer channel per se, the bass generally comes from the built-in crossovers from PC speaker subwoofers. It's been verified quite a few times by people with component setups.

So surround and 5.1 are for all practical purposes the same.

[KOKOtm]

and a tip: If you using Headphones and a X-fi, use 7.1 Sound instead. It was the best option for me.