Connecting Lyr to PC without an external DAC in between?

[SolomonPierce]

I am planning on getting a Lyr when I order my LCD-2s... Just curious about how I would go about connecting it to my pc.  With the two purchases I don't have the cash for a dac right now.  Right now I just have a total bithead that's hooked up via usb.  The Lyr only has RCA inputs so what would I have to do to hook it up?  My soundcard is a titanium x-fi something or other (I forget what exactly) and it only has optical out as far as I know.  Would someone with a bit more hardware knowledge enlighten me please

This is my soundcard with speakers plugged in at the moment.  I have a Y cable on the far right because the other two ports wouldn't work with my speakers for some reason.  I could care less about that, but my point is that I'm not that advanced when it comes to hardware...
 
I appreciate any help!

 

[oqvist]

You just use a splitter to the front channels if you still want to use your speakers at the same time. X-fi titanium is not terrible as a DAC but it depends a bit on your computer as well how much noise you get. 

 

[SolomonPierce]

idc about speakers at the same time really, but what audio out should I use from the soundcard?  I don't have the Lyr yet so I can't play around getting it to work.  Just wanted to make sure it was possible.  As far as noise it's not too bad.  I used to use the built in dac and it's decent enough at least for my current cans.  Now I use a total bithead, but I'm suddenly getting some static popping at random parts in the music.  I used to have this problem with my Fiio E7/E9 also.  I hope this amp isn't dying on me...  Maybe there's something wrong with the connection?  My setup is Foobar / bit-perfect steam > Total Bithead > Headphones.  No idea why I always get this recurring problem.  I haven't had it for a while, just popped up yesterday.  Any help with this would also be appreciated... I've tried to find other threads about it, but I can never accurately describe the problem.  I think it's static / a bad ground somewhere.  It's just like momentary pops / clicks in the music that will drive you mad.  Thanks for the help.  Forget about my current problem if you want.  I made this thread about hooking up the Lyr so just let me know what I'll need and where to hook it up and I'll be off.

 

[SolomonPierce]

When you say front channels... Do you mean the speaker ports?  idk if the other soundcard ports will work for this and I'd hate to use the front headphone jack because I assume it would introduce more noise?
 
Also I'm assuming that it would be a sin to use the LCDs with the Total Bithead... otherwise I'd wait until I can afford a dac also so I could just run through optical cable which I hope to do asap anyway.  I'd much rather get the Lyr going for now at least though.
 
edit: I do have a couple extra splitters lying around I can use for RCAs to the Lyr but i just want to make sure I'm getting the best connection I can.

 

[proton007]

Use the Line Out signal from your sound card into your Amp. Color Code Lime Green.

 

[SolomonPierce]

ugh so I guess I'll have to unplug my subwoofer / center speaker... They're the ones that didn't work in the other ports, I'm guessing because they're old, luckily my rear speaker is wireless... oh well, I'll have to live with it.  Thanks, was hoping that there was another option... well it'll force me to get a dac quicker so I can move on to optical.

 

[proton007]

So you're using your line out for PC speakers currently? They have an internal amplifier if I'm not wrong.
Then you can just use that same signal to power the external amp if required. Just use a splitter. No need to unplug the subwoofer.

 

[SolomonPierce]

Yeah if you look at my pic above, the far right cord is a splitter going into (would it be "from" technically? lol) the green line out.  This is just the center speaker and subwoofer because they're older than my left and right channels, I'm guessing that's why they didn't work when I updated my rig.  (computer rig not headphone rig... don't want any confusion what with how that word is normally used around here ).
 
How can I split it anymore?  Are you suggesting having the speaker, subwoofer, and both RCAs to the amp all going from the line out?  haha I'm pretty sure that would blow up my computer and then ain't no one doing any listening!  I'm just messing around, I'm sorry I don't know what you mean about using a splitter?  Is it actually possible?  I apologize for my lack of knowledge on the subject, I just hate setting up speakers and the like, they always give me trouble.  I love to listen, I hate to set up!  You should've seen me wiring my surround sound... I'm still dreading the day it dies and I have to do that business again >.<

 

[proton007]

Wait, why do you have two separate inputs into your centre speaker and subwoofer? Do they have their own individual internal amps ?
Typically speakers have an internal amp in the sub, and it splits the audio to the other satellites...Or if you use unamped speakers you use an external power amp that splits the output into left/right/centre. So I don't see why you should use a line out into two of your speakers.

 

[SolomonPierce]

I have no idea about how the setup works, just that it does.  I could care less about my speaker quality on my pc because I use my cans for any / all important listening, so I have three Dell speakers: sub, center, and rear, and two Bose that came with my Alienware for the left and right.  The bose ones worked fine in their respective ports but the other two (rear is wireless) didn't work when plugged into the correct jacks so I connected them via splitter to the green (I'm assuming line out) jack on the soundcard as you can see in the picture.  The splitter cord is the cord furthest to the right.
 
I'll be damned if I can figure all of this crap out.  As long as they're functioning I could care less, I do care a lot more about the sq of my headphone setup.

 

[netbususer]

You just need a 3.5mm to RCA cord... From the looks of your setup you either need to just buy a 3.5mm splitter and a 3.5mm to RCA cord and plug the 3.5mm to RCA into the splitter and that into your sound card and have the other half of the 3.5mm splitter going to your speaker setup as needed. I don't really know how you have the power at the moment to drive all of that from a sound card.... but that's how you can hook your lyr up directly to your PC.

 

[proton007]

Quote:

I have no idea about how the setup works, just that it does.  I could care less about my speaker quality on my pc because I use my cans for any / all important listening, so I have three Dell speakers: sub, center, and rear, and two Bose that came with my Alienware for the left and right.  The bose ones worked fine in their respective ports but the other two (rear is wireless) didn't work when plugged into the correct jacks so I connected them via splitter to the green (I'm assuming line out) jack on the soundcard as you can see in the picture.  The splitter cord is the cord furthest to the right.
 
I'll be damned if I can figure all of this crap out.  As long as they're functioning I could care less, I do care a lot more about the sq of my headphone setup.

 
Ok, now that you've cleared things, you do have 2 seperate set of speakers, each with their own internal amp.
From what I can see, your sound card supports 5.1. The rightmost (blue) jack is line in, the other 4 are line out.
The lime green jack can be used for a 2.1 or headphone amp connection.
The other 3 to its left are for 5.1 setup, but as you say, they're not working, which is a driver issue : http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/325922-28-issues-surround-sound-titanium
 
Install the drivers with the dolby surround pack, then the other line outs will work, so you can connect your side/rear speakers to those.
This leaves the splitter to work with the headphone or your dell speakers.

 

[SolomonPierce]

Thanks I'll check that out.  Never looked into updating sound card drivers because they're working atm, albeit kind of a paper clip and bubble gum hookup, it works.  My idea was don't fix what isn't broken, but if that'll work I'll check it out.  Just dreading the possibility of having more audio setup annoyances.

 

[proton007]

Quote:

Thanks I'll check that out.  Never looked into updating sound card drivers because they're working atm, albeit kind of a paper clip and bubble gum hookup, it works.  My idea was don't fix what isn't broken, but if that'll work I'll check it out.  Just dreading the possibility of having more audio setup annoyances.

 
Well, your soundcard is working no doubt, but you set out to achieve 5.1, which is not working probably because of the drivers.
And you'll have to set it up anyways, otherwise you risk overloading your line out which can distort sound.