Connect 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers On Laptop

When we got our Home Theater System (5.1 surround sound speakers), one problem I found was making all the six speakers work when watching movies or playing games with 5.1 channel output on my laptop. Yes, the two front speakers and the sub-woofer played, but I wanted all of them to work and experience the surround sound as well as to utilize these plenty speakers scattered on the living room.

Our 5.1 ch speaker set-up

Since there are many kinds of laptops and speakers out there, this guide may not work on all. My setup consist of:
-ASUS K45VM - my laptop
-DEVANT DV-5130 - surround speaker system/home theater/5.1
*Encore ENMAB-8CM - DAC

Our DEVANT home theater system is not one of the premium and pricey speakers out there, but it delivers smooth, strong bass and clear sound enough for our movie and gaming sessions. It did not come with a DVD player, but our dealer gave a standard one without HDMI audio-in. So, that option was crossed out  though my laptop supports HDMI audio-out.

My ASUS K45VM has only two 3.5mm jack: one for microphone and one for headset. No S/PDIF or optical cable options also. If your laptop has three jacks, then maybe this setup would work for you: Green = Line Out, Black or Blue = Line In,  Orange or Yellow or Pink = Mic In. But for mine, I had searched for a long time before I had found an affordable solution, to use a bang-for-the-buck DAC.

But what is a DAC? It means Digital-to-Analog Converter; converts digital data into an analog signal. The mp3 files in our playlist is an example of digital data and before we can hear music, it passes the DAC first. Our phones, DVD player, and computer can play digital data because they have DAC built into them. This piece of beauty is also commonly called external sound card, but audiophile guys out there may not agree.

The connection options are S/PDIF In/Out, USB Type B, Dual Mono Mic In, Headphone, Line-in and the four 3.5mm ports for 2.1/5.1/7.1 channel options. HDMI option is missing but the 3.5mm jacks out there would do the trick well. So here's what the connections at the back of my Subwoofer (most 5.1 ch speaker has connections in the SW 'cause maybe it's big) looks like.

In and Out connections

The six audio input are from these RCA Plugs with 3.5mm adaptor so that you can connect it on those three slots in the DAC for 5.1ch option. I bought it at a hardware for around P70. The five output jacks are the connections to the two front speakers, two rear speakers and center speaker.

Connections from DAC to speakers using RCA adaptor

Then from the DAC, another cable connects it to the laptop via USB. Oh, a software is also included in the ENCORE DAC. Here's how it looks like.

If you have only a 2.1ch in your movie or audio file, you can also make all the six speakers work by turning on the Virtual Speaker Sampler. Basically, it just tweaks the data to simulate a surround sound, not a true 5.1 but sounds pleasant also to my ears.

So that's it. This solved my problem for playing 5.1 surround speakers from my laptop. Not solely playing surround, but also gave me an experience of High Fidelity Audio without breaking the bank. You can buy the ENCORE ENMAB-8CM for around P1000, the cheapest but quality solution i found. Please feel free to comment.