[Amatsu]

How does exactly the spdif signals (coaxial, optical) work?

I'm asking this because someone I know wants to buy a USB to spdif to use with his 5.1 speakers.

I found these:

EDIROL UA-1EX USB Audio Interface :: Overview
BEHRINGER U-CONTROL UCA 202 - U.K. International Cyberstore

but I've been told that they only output stereo signals, does the same apply with the optical/coaxial out?

Up until now I thought that with SPDIF signals, the sound card is just sending that signal unmodified through the coaxial or optical output. So if you have a pre-encoded 5.1 signal, like movies, it should work.
Am I wrong?

 

[UNHchabo]

I'm interested in the answer, too: if I got a uDAC, could I also use it to bring Dolby/DTS signals from my laptop to my home theater receiver, using the uDAC's coax out? I mean, it should just treat it as a digital signal, right?

 

[jdmoorman]

Or, a related question:
How can you decode a 5.1 digital signal, i.e., from a cable/satellite box, for a stereo DAC?

 

[MrKazador]

Turtle Beach - USB PC Sound Card - Audio Advantage Micro

Also known as the tbaam.

As for the two adapters you posted, you can always email the manufacturer asking if they can passthrough DD/DTS.

 

[UNHchabo]

Well, turns out a good google search answered my question:
udac passthrough

According to NuForce, the uDAC cannot do passthrough for AC3 or DTS streams.

 

[Commanderloochy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by UNHchabo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, turns out a good google search answered my question: udac passthrough According to NuForce, the uDAC cannot do passthrough for AC3 or DTS streams.

I'm not too familar with AC3 and DTS, does this mean that the udac doesn't support surround sound at all?

 

[UNHchabo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Commanderloochy /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm not too familar with AC3 and DTS, does this mean that the udac doesn't support surround sound at all?

Yeah, to play AC3 or DTS files using a uDAC, you'd have to decode and downmix them first before passing them out to the uDAC. I use Foobar2000 to do this, with the AC3 decoder, the DTS decoder, and the "Convert 5.1 to stereo" DSP.

What I was hoping to do was hook up my headphones to the uDAC when I'm on my computer, and then use the uDAC to send my laptop's audio signal to my home theater receiver when I wanted to watch a movie. I guess I'd have to get a Turtle Beach adapter, or something similar.