Dell E-Port Plus Audio through DisplayPort?

Hi,

I currently connect my desktop machine to my AV receiver through optical digital SPDIF. If I use the two DVI ports on the E-Port Plus for two separate monitors, will the DisplayPort carry proper 5-channel audio? Or, is the only audio output supported by the E-Port Plus the 2-channel, analog headphone port? I'd like to purchase the E-Port Plus with the Precision M4400 and output audio in this fashion.

 

When you connect with DVI on the new Exxxx series, a hdmi sound driver is installed and your sound output is automatically redirected on it.
This driver support dts audio, dolby digital and wma pro. So basically on a iiyama b2403ws i have a two channel output as it is what this screen is equipped with - but regarding if you can get 5 channels no ideas.

 

The fast and dirty?
Advanced sound options would be a MAJOR selling port in a laptop docking station, as most laptops only do stereo (headsets).
So if it doesn't say so in the generic usual tech specs on the Dell site, then
COUNT on it NOT doing it.
EDIT-CHECK THIS THREAD ON HDMI SUCCESS!!!
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=186662

It appears a lot of my theory is useless below, but here it is anyway...just to show I don't always know W-t-S I'm talking about, despite my experience and age (too much to know, and more to know everyday!!!)

HD is video only (?), so your sound will be routed either (in priority, cutting out everything below when signal is connected, even by a simple 1/8" to 1/4" jack in the outlet!)....
1) Laptop headset/speakers/jack
2) Dock audio 1/8" ports
3) SPDIF

The Dell Docks (all) use the interface on the bottom we're all familiar with if we've ever seen one. If you laptop has one of these on the bottom, chances are it can be "plugged in" to ANY of the docks, as long as you've got the right power to run it all (usually the culling edge is if your notebook AC will plug into the AC on the dock, or if the AC-PSU inside the dock can power the laptop effectively!)...

so as long as you've got something plugged into the dock in a SPDIF port, your sound will get routed there.
To override it, you'd need to plug something into the dock audio out
or
the laptop itself.

The signal works it's way "back"

I've never heard of a monitor with 5-1 sound built in, but I don't know enough to help in the question more than what I wrote above. I think it's an issue of how the HD ports work on the LAPTOP itself- does it EVER output the sound in 5-1? If so, then the PORT won't interfere with that, except in overriding the sound SIGNAL in the above chain, as I outlined- and even then, perhaps it won't even do that. Can you USE two DVI's and the laptop screen? How does the signal to the HD work- can it run in TANDEM with the 2 screens? Usually that's quite a bit of features for a laptop video card. I'd guess that you can do EITHER/OR, but not both. I'll bet that the HD port, since it's closer up the signal chain, will disable the sound out anywhere else on the laptop (remember, the port has no special converters, least of all ADC/DAC'S!) except the laptop audio-out, which has more priority than any other audio ports (I.E.; plug in a headset and watch on a HD screen, without needing to mute the sound otherwise, right? but I don't know).

 

I can't get it to work on my XP machine. People say you can but I've only read aobut it working on a Vista machine.

 

I just check the Dell drivers, and there is only one for the m6400 in ANY windows OS- the HD audio. So, assuming all is as Dell states;
"...the d-docks and advanced port replicators only extend the signal chain, and do not interfere with it..." then it simply will function as you're hoping- as a 5-1 audio out, without issues with the displays you have plugged in.

Really though, in the end, we're like hummin' and hawing over Tape-Cassette Walkman Headphone Quality in sound. Which cheap garage-sale headset for your old portable cassette player is best? 5-1 sound out of a laptop will be marginal AT BEST in EVERY situation. Even the BEST LAPTOPS IN THE WORLD have lame consumer audio chips in them. They're OEM chips, and produce OEM sound. 5-1, 2-1, 9-1... it will ALL depend on the off-system rig you are using. If your external sound solution can take a muddy digital or analog stereo signal and make it sonic sweetness, you'll be happy. If not, you won't get anything better than what you hear over a set of cheap headphones.

In the end, digital or not, it's mostly marketing. Laptop sound-audio (even HD) chips and DAC/ADC's are the K-mart of the audio kingdom. Compared to entry-level pro gear, a laptop sound solution (even the most expensive CL media cards!) is not even 1/10th in quality or price in chipset as the cheapest pro audio gear- and you can tell once you rig it all up.

That said, for games and movies and basic music, it will depend mostly on fidelity of your sound system itself. AND WHERE you plug it into the signal chain in the setup. Avoid the on-board DAC/ADC's of the laptop IF POSSIBLE (I.E. FIREWIRE) or use the SPDIF if you can. The ones in the dock are routed via the bottom port and NOT the audio card if I remember my schematics right...

So a good surround system, plugged into your dock, CAN rock your audio needs, as long as it can rock it without the laptop, regardless of the external video monitors you have hooked up or not, or if you're using the HD port to drive video signal or not (as the first post I corrected myself on, the HD port IS AUDIO and DOES do audio 100%)!
Otherwise, go with an external firewire card or something like the older Dell APR docks with a PCI card like the M-Audio Delta 1010, which is possibly the BEST audio consumer or otherwise non-sell-your-first-born-child sound solution in the world.

I just plugged a 5-1 and a 7-1 rig direct into my SPDIF and then direct into the laptop audio out and then using a firewire and the HD port, and the ONLY PLACE where it sounded anything but normal, was the firewire (nice and clean and crisp). The SPDIF wasn't much better than the headset out, on the dock or the machine.

Just more FYI. I tried it on a m6400 and my XPS 1710 (the m6400 sounded better by the way- nicer basic audio chip? It's NOT the sigmatel- yay!).

...

p.s.
There is the question of if when using dual-external monitors via the dock, if the signal is CUT from the laptop HD out. According to everything I've read, because the HD has independent sound drivers, there is NO RELATION to the audio with the video after the signal path leaves the laptop chipset busses. Meaning it won't make a difference if you plug in audio there or not, though I DON'T KNOW if you can do TWO external monitors AND a HD video (3 monitors) -let alone the laptop screen as well. Now THAT would be a nice option, eh?

REMEMBER, anything in the laptop signal chain, gets priority over something plugged into the DOCK!!!!

 

i am using M2400 with the standard E-dock. i've previously reported absolutely fantastic results in terms of outputting 1080p and sound via displayport / HDMI. i didn't mention it at the time, but yes, 5.1 is output.

my AV receiver gets 5.1 output when i use the DTS Audio and Dolby Digital tests in the Sound applet in Vista's Control Panel.

no luck on XP.