[thetruth1983]

Hello,
 
My current sound card is a Asus Xonar Phoebus. The external optical SPDIF port is shared with a rear speaker port meaning that I will have to switch wires when going back and forth between the two. I noticed that the sound card has an internal SPDIF header so I purchased a SPDIF bracket from Amazon. I will include the link at the bottom. I thought this bracket would give me another optical port so I could keep my speakers plugged in. Anyway, I connected everything correctly but I am not getting audio from the external bracket that I purchased. These brackets are used to get digital audio from motherboards but I thought they could be used for sound cards too. Can anyone tell me if I ordered the correct type of bracket or is there something else I need to do to get this to work? Thanks!
 
http://www.amazon.com/SPDIF-RCA-Plate-Cable-Bracket/dp/B0035J9Z7W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344400027&sr=8-1&keywords=SPDIF+header

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Hello,
 
My current sound card is a Asus Xonar Phoebus. The external optical SPDIF port is shared with a rear speaker port meaning that I will have to switch wires when going back and forth between the two. I noticed that the sound card has an internal SPDIF header so I purchased a SPDIF bracket from Amazon. I will include the link at the bottom. I thought this bracket would give me another optical port so I could keep my speakers plugged in. Anyway, I connected everything correctly but I am not getting audio from the external bracket that I purchased. These brackets are used to get digital audio from motherboards but I thought they could be used for sound cards too. Can anyone tell me if I ordered the correct type of bracket or is there something else I need to do to get this to work? Thanks!
 
http://www.amazon.com/SPDIF-RCA-Plate-Cable-Bracket/dp/B0035J9Z7W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344400027&sr=8-1&keywords=SPDIF+header

Did you enable S/PDIF in the Phoebus's control panel?
 
S/PDIF might be automatically disabled when an analog jack is plugged into the rear speaker port (maybe?).

 

[PleasantSounds]

Have you checked which playback device in Windows is enabled? You can have only one at a time...

 

[thetruth1983]

Thanks for responding. I tried it with the side speaker plugged in and out and I got the same result. When I looked at the back of my case, I saw the red light coming out of the sound card spdif and not the bracket spdif that I installed. I also made sure that spdif was selected in windows and the Xonar control panel. Also, I was just reading in my manual and saw that the SPDIF header is made to plug into a video card with hdmi. If it only works with video cards, then that will explain why I can't get it to work. I figured that since an adapter existed, it should be possible for it to work. 

 

[PurpleAngel]

If you already have analog speakers hooked up to the Phoebus, why do you need an optical output?
You motherboard might have an optical port built in, if so you can use that one, but it also bypass the Phoebus sound card.

 

[thetruth1983]

Well I have a pair of Astro A50s that will only connect to SPDIF. I prefer to wear these at night since it's easier to get to my son when he wakes up. I wouldn't mind switching the plugs but due to the way my setup is, I have to crawl in the back to change the plugs. My onboard realtek does have optical but it doesn't support dolby digital live. If push comes to shove, I may just return this adapter and get a cheap xonar u3.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Well I have a pair of Astro A50s that will only connect to SPDIF. I prefer to wear these at night since it's easier to get to my son when he wakes up. I wouldn't mind switching the plugs but due to the way my setup is, I have to crawl in the back to change the plugs. My on-board realtek does have optical but it doesn't support Dolby Digital Live. If push comes to shove, I may just return this adapter and get a cheap xonar u3.

"Adapter"? you mean the Phoebus?
 
You can get the Asus Xonar DX (used $50) to replace the Phoebus.
The Xonar DX does analog 7.1 speaker and has a separate S/PDIF Toslink optical output and does DDL (Dolby Digital Live).

 

[thetruth1983]

Lol it's funny that you mentioned the DX. I had the DX for about 6 months and it never gave me any problems. I "upgraded" to the Phoebus because it had a headphone amp and a few extra features that seemed cool. I have had nothing but problems for the past couple days with this sound card and it cost me $200. To make matters, I listed my DX on ebay and it sold a few days ago in a matter of hours. I was just thinking earlier that it would be nice if the winner has buyer's remorse and sends the card back because this Phoebus has been giving me headaches.

 

[cladisch]

Graphic cards don't get their power from the S/PDIF input, so it's possible that the Phoebus output does not have +5 V. (Can you measure this?)

 

[obobskivich]

Have you checked which playback device in Windows is enabled? You can have only one at a time...

Very good point for Windows Vista/7. You'd want to go into the driver control panel and select something along the lines of "send analog mix to digital out" (Creative drivers have this option, I would assume Asus does too).

Well I have a pair of Astro A50s that will only connect to SPDIF. I prefer to wear these at night since it's easier to get to my son when he wakes up. I wouldn't mind switching the plugs but due to the way my setup is, I have to crawl in the back to change the plugs. My onboard realtek does have optical but it doesn't support dolby digital live. If push comes to shove, I may just return this adapter and get a cheap xonar u3.

What I'm wondering is, the header probably can drive a coaxial port, but not an optical port; have you tried connecting a coaxial adapter to the header? (If whatever device only takes optical, that's easy - converters are like $10).

I don't really have any other good ideas at this point - the TRS + optical thing isn't really standardized, so nobody makes splitters or extension that will let you manipulate both signals. You get basically one or the other. On the connectors, I found this:


So would I be correct in guessing that you have both a 7.1 speaker system, and the headphones? Anything that'd keep you from dropping to 5.1? (It should let you do 5.1 + digital + headphones, if not, that's just asinine).

Can that output feed coaxial S/PDIF? (If yes you could set-up a switch for that, and that'd be easy peasy).

 

[thetruth1983]

Quote:

Graphic cards don't get their power from the S/PDIF input, so it's possible that the Phoebus output does not have +5 V. (Can you measure this?)

 
Good observation. The Phoebus does have the necessary 3 pins but it never dawned on me that it may not be sending the proper 5V. I will get my meter out later and test this.
Quote:

Very good point for Windows Vista/7. You'd want to go into the driver control panel and select something along the lines of "send analog mix to digital out" (Creative drivers have this option, I would assume Asus does too).
What I'm wondering is, the header probably can drive a coaxial port, but not an optical port; have you tried connecting a coaxial adapter to the header? (If whatever device only takes optical, that's easy - converters are like $10).
I don't really have any other good ideas at this point - the TRS + optical thing isn't really standardized, so nobody makes splitters or extension that will let you manipulate both signals. You get basically one or the other. On the connectors, I found this:

So would I be correct in guessing that you have both a 7.1 speaker system, and the headphones? Anything that'd keep you from dropping to 5.1? (It should let you do 5.1 + digital + headphones, if not, that's just asinine).
Can that output feed coaxial S/PDIF? (If yes you could set-up a switch for that, and that'd be easy peasy).

 
Well actually, we have a Razer Tiamat 7.1 headset hooked up to the sound card. My wife swears by them and when she wants to play her games, guess who is tasked to crawl behind the table to switch the cables? It could be possible that the Phoebus is only powering the coaxial port but I won't know for sure until later today when I test the 5V line. I do not have a coaxial cable to test so I will have to run out to the store to grab a cheap one. Either way, I will report back and hopefully I can find out what the issue is since I now have a bit more insight. Thanks everyone for the help!

 

[obobskivich]

The Tiamat can be run with a 5.1 input, and barring feeding coaxial from that S/PDIF header, that's what I'd do. This is confirmed by the Tiamat FAQ (here: http://www.razerzone.com/tiamat/en/faq). You may lose a *bit* from the extra surrounds, but given that we're talking game audio, just re-set the game output to 5.1 and it'll be fine (it's all done in realtime, so it can adjust accordingly). The other option would be if your computer has integrated audio beyond this card, you could enable that as a source for digital or one of the many devices, and switch from the Sound panel within Windows depending on what you want to listen to.