With an appropriate sound decoder and speakers, RealTimes can reproduce "surround sound" stereo from either local sources (CD/DVD) or from streaming audio. If you do not have a surround sound decoder, the additional sound signals are skipped and the track plays back as standard stereo. If the item you are playing is not encoded for surround sound, RealTimes will reproduce only standard stereo or mono audio.

How do I play back content encoded for surround sound?

To play back surround sound correctly, connect your sound card's stereo output to a surround-enabled receiver and switch the receiver to surround decoding.

To obtain the best surround sound, a surround-enabled receiver requires an unmodified signal so it can properly decode the surround sound. Therefore, disable the Equalizer in to maintain an unmodified signal.

In addition, open your sound card's "Properties" dialog (from the Windows System Properties) and make sure that no "wide stereo" (such as "QSound") or similar Advanced Properties options are selected.