[santiclaws]

After doing much searching and reading, I appear to be more confused than ever... My soundcard (Philips Seismic Edge) has a speaker connector which doubles as an SPDIF out - I assume that I can just use a coax cable to plug into a digital coax input on a receiver? Is there any quality difference between that and a dedicated optical out? Is there a significant difference between cards if I just wanted to do the decoding through and outside DAC and use the card to just send a digital signal?

Thanks

 

[arterius2]

i was a bit confused after reading your post as well, mostly because you called it a "speaker" connector. to be precise, its called a 3.5mm minijack connection. yes there are both analog and digital versions. the digital out of your card is through a minijack out. it is NOT a "speaker connector" so do not plug your speakers or headphone into it as doing so may damage your hardware. what you need is a minijack digital to TOSLINK or minijack to COAX or a I/O module like one of these (http://cgi.ebay.ca/CREATIVE-30SB0002...QQcmdZViewItem). or one of these (http://www.tvcables.co.uk/cgi-bin/tv...les/op=eq.html) i believe there is a quality difference between that and a dedicated COAX/TOSLINK out. because the converter is just another stage where your signal could get lossy. i believe any soundcards that doesnt bother to provide a dedicated SPDIF out isnt worth my time. my audigy 2 card does the same thing and requires me to buy an extra minijack digital to COAX/TOSLINK module, my solution to this problem? i threw the card out. good luck

 

[santiclaws]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arterius2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif i was a bit confused after reading your post as well, mostly because you called it a "speaker" connector. to be precise, its called a 3.5mm minijack connection. yes there are both analog and digital versions. the digital out of your card is through a minijack out. it is NOT a "speaker connector" so do not plug your speakers or headphone into it as doing so may damage your hardware.

Thank you for the response. The SPDIF out is actually also a speaker connector on this card; check out the link below. I've had my center speaker connected to it for years with no ill effects. I'm a bit confused by your reference to a minijack to TOSLINK converter - a non-optical output can be converted to optical?

http://media.gear.ign.com/media/482/...g_1527277.html

 

[jinp6301]

btw, for further reference, a speaker connector is usually something like

or

what you're looking at is a minijack that outputs digital out. You'll need a converter to make that into a coax connector for your DAC

 

[arterius2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by santiclaws /img/forum/go_quote.gif The SPDIF out is actually also a speaker connector on this card; check out the link below. I've had my center speaker connected to it for years with no ill effects. I'm a bit confused by your reference to a minijack to TOSLINK converter - a non-optical output can be converted to optical?

that's new, i havent actually seen a minijack providing both analog and digital out on the same connection. and yes a non-optical output can be converted to optical. all it is is converting electrons's 0s and 1s into pulses of lights that repersent 0s and 1s. (in layman's term imagine that a electron strike triggers a blink in the LED in optical) hope that helps.

 

[santiclaws]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arterius2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif that's new, i havent actually seen a minijack providing both analog and digital out on the same connection. and yes a non-optical output can be converted to optical. all it is is converting electrons's 0s and 1s into pulses of lights that repersent 0s and 1s. (in layman's term imagine that a electron strike triggers a blink in the LED in optical) hope that helps.

I think that there is something in the software control panel which lets you choose whether the card is putting out a digital or analog signal through that connector. And yes, your response does help, thank you!

 

[santiclaws]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinp6301 /img/forum/go_quote.gif btw, for further reference, a speaker connector is usually something like

I guess a "speaker out" would have been a more correct term, thanks.

 

[alleyezon_d]

You are asking if there's a difference between sound cards as transports?

I think the most important thing is to check whether the digital out of the card in question supports bit-perfect streaming. Some digital outs will resample all signals to something like 48khz.

 

[santiclaws]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alleyezon_d /img/forum/go_quote.gif You are asking if there's a difference between sound cards as transports? I think the most important thing is to check whether the digital out of the card in question supports bit-perfect streaming. Some digital outs will resample all signals to something like 48khz.

You anticipated my question. How do I tell if it resamples? Is it just something I have to scour the net for in order to find the info or is there an actual way to test it?

 

[alleyezon_d]

The surest way to tell is to have a DAC or device to tell you what the incoming digital sample rate is. My MSB Link DAC has LEDs on the front that indicate what the incoming sample rate is, and my friend's Yamaha Receiver (with internal DAC) does the same. But by then it is too late as you would have already had to have buy the transport. So research is your best bet or contacting the product's customer support. With all that said, the audible difference between 44.1/48/96/192 is not even noticeable (to me at least) and I chalk it up to audio hype.