Digital out to 1/8" stero possbile?

[Gandhi]

Hi -

I am a complete newbie at this audio stuff, so please forgive if I ask a blatantly stupid question.

I have a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS PCI soundcard on my computer, and I have connected a 5.1 surround sound multimedia speakers. The back of the PCI card has 7 ports, as you can see from a picture posted here. The ports are, from right to left, firewire, the three line outs for the 5.1 speakers, a microphone in, a line in, and a digital out.

The three line outs are used by the 5.1 speaker system, the line in is used by a TV-tuner card I am using, the firewire and microphone in cards are open, and the digital out is open.

I was told that the best way to connect a headphone amp is directly to the source. But the amp I plan to get (HeadSave GoVibe) will most likely have a stereo 1/8" analogue line in. This is because I plan to use my headphones and amp both with my iPod when I want to listen to music, as well as on the computer when I am playing computer games and watching DVDs.

So my long-winded question is, do they make cables with a digital connection on one end, and a 1/8" stereo connection at the other end? If so, where can I get one? Or do have to get some kind of expensive electronic converter (which I definitely want to avoid) ?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Megaptera]

A digital connection is literally sending the 0s and 1s that a computer uses as information -- you'd need a DAC (digital-analog converter) in order to turn those bits into an audio signal, so yeah, you would need a big expensive thing.

What I might recommend is getting or building a simple output selector box, where you'd have one 1/8" line in, and a switch that toggles between two 1/8" line outs. Then hook the headamp to one output and the front speakers to the other, and simply switch between the two, depending on what you want. Some builders will even build this feature into the headamp if you request it.

 

[Gandhi]

Thanks for the info - that was what I was worried about. What if I used one of these with one going to the speakers and the other going to the headphone amp? Would that diminish the signal and sound quality?

 

[Megaptera]

That particular cable looks like an RCA-mini cable. Each of those 1/4" phono jacks are mono, so you'd be getting the left channel in one and the right channel in the other. Probably not what you're looking for.

Edit: Forgot to say that you probably won't want a simple splitter cable, because then you would have to physically turn off the speakers when you're using the headphones, and vice versa.

What you're looking for can be one of two things: a preamp, which would be a whole seperate component that acts as an input/output selector and volume control, or a simple output selector box that basically consists of two sets of input jacks, one output jack, and a switch.

The preamp may or may not be overkill, depending on your plans for your system. If you're planning on building this into a big entertainment/audio system, with multiple sources (CD player, computer, DVD player, etc.) then a preamp might be what you're looking for. The disadvantage to this is that they can be costly (which you mentioned you want to avoid), and even though a quality preamp will be pretty transparent, it's still another step in your audio chain. (As an aside, receivers and home-theater units usually have some sort of preamp section in them.)

The selector box would be the option to go for if the preamp sounds like it'd be too much. I have to admit I don't really know of any specific ones to go with; if you're comfortable with soldering and drilling it'd be pretty easy to DIY (which is the route I tend to follow). A quality one will use sturdy jacks, not flimsy ones that won't hold the cables, and have a switch that won't break with use -- these aren't very difficult design challenges to meet

 

[Gandhi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Megaptera Edit: Forgot to say that you probably won't want a simple splitter cable, because then you would have to physically turn off the speakers when you're using the headphones, and vice versa.

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. I went to my local Fry's electronics store and purchased a 1/8" cable splitter (the pic I attached was just to show what I was talking about in terms of getting a splitter).

I am not going to use anything high-end. The speakers I am using are the Klipsch Pro Media Ultras and they include a handy module that turns the speakers off (the silver box in the pic). And since the splitter is at the source, the PCI sound card, I can still get the signal to the amp even when the speakers are turned off.

My question was mainly to figure out whether there will be any signal degredation to the amp if I use the splitter. I guess I will find out next week when I get the Headsave GoVibe amp

Thanks again for your help.