X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series = No hardware acceleration in games when using SPDIF o

Question

So I play Lord of the Rings Online which is a nati've OpenAL+EAX game. I used to run my headphones directly out of the analog output on the X-Fi card and I was able to select hardware accelerated audio in game and hear sound.
Recently I decided to start using the SPDIF output into a dedicated DAC. Now hardware accelerated audio no longer works. I have to use software mode.
Does the X-Fi not support hardware acceleration in games when using the SPDIF output?

Answer 1

Zorlac wrote:
I am happy to report that I think it is working the way I want. I have the latest driver and pulled up the "Audio Control Panel". There is a tab called "SPDIF I/O". I had to check the box next to "Play Stereo Mix using Digital Output" in the "Digital Output" section. Now I can select the normal X-Fi option in the Lord of the Rings Online audio config section instead of having to select generic software audio.
So is the X-Fi now using its own DAC and ADC before it outputs via optical out?
...so yeah, my OCD is not over yet (more questions):
. How the heck do you prove that hardware accelerated OpenAL, EAX features, EAX effects, etc., are enabled and working? Creative Labs could market just about any new feature in EAX and the listener would have no way to prove its working it seems... Is there software to analyze which EAX features are supported, which are being used, etc.
2. Do you really have to be in Game Mode in order to take advantage of hardware acceleration and EAX feature/effects in games? It seems to me that Audio Creation Mode can support these "optionally" from what I have read online. What does optionally mean if this is true? heh
3. How do I prove that I am getting bit perfect output in Audio Creation Mode? I need some way to monitor the SPDIF optical output via hardware or software. Someone here has to know the answer to this without hooking my card into a multi-thousand dollar home theater amp to find out. Can I hook the SPDIF optical output to the optical input and some how analyze the input signal? (im just brainstorming)
With spdif out, you are not using the DACs on the card.
As for questions through 3, very good questions.
. With 4.0, 4., 5.0, or 5. speaker set up, and CMSS turned off, I think if you can hear sound out of the rear speakers when the sound is supposed to be behind you, then you can safely say EAX is working.
2. Don't know. I leave mine in game mode all the time. I have 64bit Vista, and there are no 64bit ASIO drivers, so I have no need to go into audio creation mode. Everything I do works good in game mode, and I use a different card for recording.
3. Don't know.