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[lpcalcaterra]

I am using  2 Startech USB 7.1 cards. They recognized as USB Multi-Channel Audio Device & USB Multi-Channel Audio Device (1). Both use the C-Media driver v7.0.8.

I have created 4 zones on the first card and every thing works as planned. I added the 5th zone on the 2nd card using outputs LF+RF. It works fine, but the remaining zones do not get routed correctly. No matter what output I choose for the remaining zones (SL+SR, RL+RR or CENTER+SUB) the sound continues to be routed to FL+FR. 

I am thinking this is a driver issue. ? I have tried swapping usb ports, to confirm there wasn't an issue with the second sound card. The issue persists.  I have ordered an additional non-Startech USB card to see if it remedies.  Any other ideas/solutions?

I am following the configuration/guide:

 
To create three separate zones for independent audio output in each location
 
 
1.  Create three new zones, one for each location.
 
2.  You must configure these zones to use a non-exclusive output - either DirectSound or WASAPI with "open device for exclusive access" disabled in the Device Settings. DirectSound is the easiest option, but may not be bit-perfect since it goes through the Windows mixer.
 
3.  Configure each zone with the Output Format in DSP Studio set to "2 channels (inside 7.1 channel container)"

4.  If you are using WASAPI rather than DirectSound, you must also right-click the Sample Rate box in Output Format and set it to whatever your sound card is configured to in the Windows Control Panel or playback will fail.
     If you only play CD-quality music, I would set this to 44.1kHz and adjust the Control Panel to match.
     If you have a mixture of high resolution and CD-quality music, I would use the highest sample rate that your soundcard supports.
There is no need for step 4 with DirectSound, as Windows will handle the resampling instead.
 
5.  Now each zone must have different Parametric EQ settings. The first zone does not need any, since it will just use the left and right channels.
     The second zone must be configured using the "Mix Channels" option again, but this time it should move Left to Surround Left, and Right to Surround Right.
     The third zone is as above, though it moves Left to Rear Left, and Right to Rear Right.
 
6.  If you are using Media Center for volume control, rather than the receiving device, configure the zones to use "Internal Volume".
 
 
Now you should have three independent zones which all use the same device.
I assume you would also be able to link the zones if necessary, though you may have a better experience using the first option for that.

[jreigner]

I use this configuration in my audio machine using 3 PCI cards for 12 zones. Make sure Windows is configured each card for surround and using the manufacturer drivers(not os default)This is the only issue I've ever had and they are all the same maker (C-media).