[divineatma]

Hi guys....I need some help with the concept of Optical out.

My motherboard has an Optical Audio out port that I have connected to the Optical in of my DAC/AMP (Audio gd NFB11). Now I thought that using the optical out meant unprocessed digital audio would go out to my dac and that I would not be able to control volume through my PC.

However I can still control volume through my PC. Could someone kindly explain why this is happening and if my setup is inefficient and not utilising the capabilities of my DAC/AMP device.

 

[Roseval]

All OS are more or less using the same design for audio.
They expect multiple streams, mix them and finally send them to the audio device.
Under the hood this means that everything is converted to the same fixed sample rate, mixed and dithered.
If you open Win Volume Mixer, you will see a master volume control and one for each individual application.
This is all by design, SPDIF included.


You might try a different audio driver like WASAPI.
This driver bypasses most of the win audio stack.
http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Windows/Win7/SPDIF_Win7.htm

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hi guys....I need some help with the concept of Optical out.

My motherboard has an Optical Audio out port that I have connected to the Optical in of my DAC/AMP (Audio gd NFB11). Now I thought that using the optical out meant unprocessed digital audio would go out to my dac and that I would not be able to control volume through my PC.

However I can still control volume through my PC. Could someone kindly explain why this is happening and if my setup is inefficient and not utilising the capabilities of my DAC/AMP device.

It's a bit perfect audio signal out of USB or SPDIF. Just because it is doesn't mean your computer has absolutely zero control over that. Set it to 100% and don't mess around with anything else and you still get a clean signal out of it. Install WASAPI to bypass anything else that's still in the software.

 

[divineatma]

Thanks for replies guys.....have the output configured to what the DAC supports now and all enhancements disabled.