How to play 5.1 audio files

Question

I have ripped my The Crystal Method Legion of Boom DVD-A to 5.1 FLAC files then converted to Apple Lossless (ALAC) using either Amadeus Pro or XLD. The resulting m4a files play in quicktime and preview but won't even import in iTunes. The info properties of the file show 6 channels of audio. I have tried other settings when converting, (24bit, 16bit, AAC instead of ALAC) and the results are the same. Here is the funny thing if I change the filetype from m4a to m4v it shows up in itunes and plays and says in the channel info Multichannel. Obviously it shows as a video. Is iTunes yet capable of playing multichannel audio files? If so what is the best converter to show up as proper 5.1 surround?

Answer 1

I used to play multichannel quicktime .mov audio files with iTunes. AAC and AIF.But not 24 bit AIF.
You need a multi output audio interface for this.
iTunes can play AC3 files only on bought movies or with perian installed via optical out. But problems with jumping from one file to the next or changing audio tracks leading to complete hangs of iTunes made me switch to PLEX, which plays everything perfectly even DTS and 5.1 AAC files over spdf optical into 5.1 receiver.(Converting AAC to DD on the fly).
Back to your question,
if you have a multi output audio interface and Quicktime Pro, you can generate multi channel .mov files and define what track goes to what output.