21 replies to this topic

[Plague]

Guys, I am both happy and dumbfounded to report to you guys that the Wii U never had any surround sound problems to begin with. I recently emailed Nintendo about this issue and they thankfully replied back to me and told me that the Wii U does not support Dolby, like the Wii and Gamecube previously did.

The Wii U now supports a different type of surround sound called LPCM. It is actually much more clearer sounding than Dolby because it is uncompressed sound (Dolby is easier and cheaper, yet compressed).

The only way to get LPCM surround sound is to get a Home Theater system or receiver that supports LPCM. I found a couple nice ones from Sony for $150 and $210 on Amazon. The models are: STR-DH520 and HT-SS380. You'll need to buy one more HDMI cable to run from Wii U to system, and system to TV.

Why they all of a sudden chose to drop Dolby now is probably because of Nintendo not wanting to pay licensing fees to Dolby.

Anywayyy... I'm dumbfounded because I bought the wrong sound system for Wii U and now I'm gonna have to return it and get this one.

Lord bless you all Wii U community!

[Mignaga]

[Sage]

Nintendo using a Sony surround sound system? lol

Anyway I'm glad you got this figured out, now I don't have to look into what to buy when I get a surround sound system.

[Joshua]

Dang, and I have a Dolby surround system.

[Alex Atkin UK]

I'm glad Nintendo are using LPCM as I bought the Sony STR-DH820 earlier this year to improve the sound of my Blurays and it sucks that XBox 360 doesn't support 5.1 LPCM over HDMI.

Its a bit sucky if it means some people do not get real surround sound on Wii U, but encoding into Dolby takes CPU power, never mind the licensing cost.

I guess Nintendo figured that anyone who really cares about surround sound would have HD audio equipment to match their HD console. Then there are the majority of people coming from a Wii that probably weren't even aware it supported surround at all. It amazes me how many people still play Xbox 360 through the TV speakers.

I should think however that as the 5.1 will still have to be downmixed into stereo, that Pro Logic II equipment should be able to get a reasonable surround sound even without the dedicated encoding. Its just not going to be insanely awesome like Starfox Adventures which had the best Pro Logic II I have ever heard, most Dolby Digital mixes aren't as good as the surround on that game and THAT was on Gamecube not even Wii.

Edited by Alex Atkin UK, 26 November 2012 - 09:06 PM.

[SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

Wow, unexpected but still.

[metroidmen]

Pure bull... I have a Logitech sound system, and its one of a few cheaper sets that supports a pc at 5.1, and now if I want 5.1 on my console I need a whole new system because they chose not to go with the industry standard, or at least give the option? Pure ridiculousness.

[illogicology]

Pure bull... I have a Logitech sound system, and its one of a few cheaper sets that supports a pc at 5.1, and now if I want 5.1 on my console I need a whole new system because they chose not to go with the industry standard, or at least give the option? Pure ridiculousness.

Surely if it's a PC system, it's using three 3.5mm jacks right? That's their usual setup a no home A/V stuff uses that input.

Nobody is really losing anything from this decision. The Wii U is pretty much an HDMI only device, you can't output picture via HDMI and audio from the MultiAV port either so people without HDMI receivers were out of luck anyway.

Though, there is one silly decision according the American WiiU owners of NeoGAF. When you're listening to a stereo source, instead of sending a stereo signal it still outputs 5.1 but only sends information to the front channels. This means that if you do have it hooked up to an HDMI receiver, you're not going to be able to get ProLogic or DTS:Neo6 surround sound extrapolated because the receiver thinks it's getting 5.1 already.

[Gamejunkie]

Nintendo using a Sony surround sound system? lol
Anyway I'm glad you got this figured out, now I don't have to look into what to buy when I get a surround sound system.

What's Sony got to do with it ? Neither Dolby nor LPCM belong to or have been developed by Sony.

[alan123]

LPCM is a standard format, it is a standard on everything since 1982 on CD's to DVD's to Blu-Rays.

LPCM is 5.1 surround sound, so if you have a amp that is a Dolby Digital, DTS or Dolby TruHD or DTS Master Audio compatible then it is also able to decode LPCM through HDMI, it may show up as surround or digital on your amp's display but it will still be 5.1.

LPCM - Dolby TruHD - DTS Master Audio are all loss-less audio.

Edited by alan666, 27 November 2012 - 02:32 PM.

[illogicology]

It's a sing along, start again and we'll jump in on the second "LPCM - Dolby TruHD - DTS Master Audio are all loss-less audio."

[duck360]

Now I have to buy a new Surround System I'm so used to play with 5.1 Sounds I got totally confused playing Zombie U. Can't tell wither the zombie is infront of me or behind me!

[tshrimp]

I am having surround sound issues with my Wii U. I have it set for surround, but when I "test" it goes in this order....center, right, back right, back left, back left.

Yep. Never does sound from left front speaker. Get back left twice. Hooked up a PC on the same HDMI cable on the same input on my receiver and it tests out just fine. Left, center, right, BR, BL, Sub.

Also receiver test works fine. Not a deal breaker as anything is better than the sad sound of the Wii.

Edited by tshrimp, 27 November 2012 - 02:29 PM.

[alan123]

I find it very strange that the Wii U has no optical output.

[DanJiblets]

I have Dolby, works fine. So...not sure what's happening here exactly.

[Gamejunkie]

I find it very strange that the Wii U has no optical output.

Why ? It's a choice Nintendo made. What's so strange about that ? If anything is strange its why they would release a console that supports HD sound and video but releases a game like NSMB U, one of their major franchises, with only a stereo soundtrack.

[alan123]

I have just made a video here,

I have a Onkyo TX-NR509 amp & i have my Wii U connected with a HDMI 1.4 my own cable & not the one that comes with the Wii U.

my amp has PCM or LPCM as they are the same thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LPCM

i have used Zombi U for this test.

 

Edited by alan666, 25 October 2017 - 07:08 AM.

[hubang]

For you guys with older receivers that want LPCM conversion and optical out, there's always this solution:


http://www.ambery.co...ddodtsdihd.html

Haven't tested it myself.

[aMaG1CaLmAnG1Na]

Wow $128 solution

[SneakyPotato]

thanks