Optical Cable

No Dolby with optical ATM. Only dts.

Uncompressed 7.1 will probably only be available over HDMI.

Hi there,

a muffled sound is likely not caused by dust, since it would either work or not at all since an optic cable will either allow signals to go through or not at all, at least that is my opinion. But if you want to be sure, you can try and take a look in the
optical connector at the back of the console with for example a flashlight if you can see anything. If something is there you may need to find a way to get it out, be aware that blowing or using canned air can result in condensation.

Some other things worth to check is to see if there is an update available for the Astro A50 3rd gen. Also be sure to check what your headset does on a different console (if available) to determine the cause of the issue, headset, console, cable etc.

Let us know the results

Edit: Nevermind. My point boils down to: there is no difference in the method of optical audio connection between a Slim and a non-Slim Xbox 360. That Monster cable is usable in either application. It is the prettiest, most expensive red bus on the street.

Well, since it's on the wall, I'm gonna assume the set is either LCD or plasma... Since flat-panel TVs are fixed pixel, they automatically convert all incoming signals to their native resolution. I'm sure some converters will work better at upscaling than
your display does, but the ones that will are probably expensive and still won't make a world of difference. If you don't have access to the back of the TV and the receiver doesn't have component or VGA inputs (Since it doesn't, I'll guess it doesn't have
HDMI either?)... How are you going to use an HD converter? Let me ask... What type(s) of cable(s) are connecting the receiver to the TV?