First, Logitech is the ONLY maker of surround sound equipment that you can plug in Analog sound. Digital is on or off. Analog is all the data in between on or off. Digital is a switch and analog is a round volume knob, just think about it that way. So analog and digital dont play nice together. Analog doesnt like a digital cable. You might get analog sound over HDMI (which is digital), but the analog may get cut off as analog supports a LOT more data than digital does. So to get Analog (computer format, PCM its called) to play surround sound, you really have to play it through the 3, 3.5 mm jacks on your sound card. PCs dont tend to have optical outs if you shop around.
So long story short, Logitech sells the ONLY Analog input surround sound devices on the planet. The problem is that they dont last very long. They will usually stop working right around the end of the warranty, usually just outside the warranty. And compared in price to a digital (optical is the name of the port) surround system, Logitech cant compete. There are digital optical home theaters in a box for as little as $50. This is all thats required when gaming on an Xbox. Xbox, though technically a pc and is used primarily for gaming, uses a custom digital optical audio interface. Microsoft also pays a license fee for their sound card to translate Dolby Digital. This is how we have optical out on the Xbox and not 6-Channel direct. Logitech's equipment has the 3, 6-channel direct ports. 3, 3.5 mm cables that each carry 2 channels each, center/sub, front l/r and rear l/r. I found out today that Logitech can be shady though . I LOVE Logitech. Much of what I own is Logitech. I always suggest Logitech to others. I really LOVE Logitech, but today they pissed me off and maybe forever:
I had my current sound system go out with about 2 weeks left on the warranty. So I notify Logitech on THE last day of the warranty. I got it 7/1/2015 and my email got to them on 7/2/2017. I get the standard responses about do this troubleshooting and such. I tried what I had not tried already, from their suggestions, but I had already positively identified the problem and it was 2 ports on the Logitech. 3 ports on the pc would play through only one port on the Logitech. It should be 3 ports pc connect to 3 ports on Logitech, but 2 ports were just dead.
So I get a response quickly (kudos Logitech), the day after the 4th of July, my birthday, the 5th. I want to expedite the process so I call them. Firstly, they disconnected me at least 10 times. The first time i actually got through, they agreed to return the unit, they were typing in the info and finishing the return. I asked what the warranty would be on the new unit. He tells me that it will use the warranty on the first unit. I say, but that ended yesterday, does that mean there is no warranty on the second unit? He says yes. I ask, if the new one fails within 2 years are you telling me I have no re-course? And he tells me yes. I ask to speak to a supervisor and he hangs up on me. After 5 more attempted calls that ended before I could even reach a person, I get the same person back. I ask if I can speak to the supervisor and he says hell go get him, so he puts me on hold and comes back and asks when I notified them of the issue. He then proceeds to tell me that the computer blocked him from completing my return because the date was the day after it expired. The bottom line was, as long as I didn't ask about the new warranty they were willing to take it back, though they were notified the day after the last day of the warranty. If I complained about the new warranty, they did not want to respect the original warranty at all. I did fill it out Friday night, its not my fault they didn't get the email until the next morning. But regardless of that, a warranty claim received on the day after expiration should not be ignored. I felt like this was very shady behavior on Logitech's behalf. I was hung up on again so I kept calling back. At some point I reached a new tech who said he was willing to return it as it wasn't "like a month" past the warranty. He put me on hold to talk to someone and came back with a "here's what were gonna do" attitude which I felt was also a very, I'm going to do you a favor attitude. I felt that honoring your own 2-year warranty from a legitimate claim shouldn't be a favor to me. He said he got approval to do a one-time return. I didnt mention the warranty on the new unit and he put it through as a warranty return.
So as it stands now, they are to email me a return label I print out and put on the box I load the broken unit into. When they receive my old one they say they will ship a NEW unit. As in NOT refurbished, they assure me. So we will see what transpires but here is the huge lesson I learned that may help you as well:
You dont want to be stuck with an expensive gaming pc where the controllers have suddenly stopped working. And you dont want to be tied to Logitech's expensive but prone to failure equipment and shady service. Play games on an Xbox or PlayStation and you can use a cheap digital surround sound system. Also, check this out: Logitech has 2 versions of their surround sound system. Virtually exactly the same except one has 6-channel direct and a left and right rca port. This is the sound we have been using since there was stereo (left and right) sound. This unit only costs $100 and is mainly for just surround sound on a pc (model z506). The one I have, the z906 has what the other model has but also has 2 digital optical ports and a digital co-ax. So for just 3 extra ports the cost goes to $400!!
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