Bottlehead Forum

Other Gear => Digital => Topic started by: JC on June 13, 2010, 04:36:05 PM

Title: PC card for S/PDIF output
Post by: JC on June 13, 2010, 04:36:05 PM

I have an older PC that I would like to use as a music server, but unfortunately it has no S/PDIF output from its mainboard's integrated sound section, at least not one I can find on the board anywhere.  Since I already have a DAC I would like to use instead of the rather noisy setup on the board, it sure would be nice to find a simple PCI card with a coaxial output for S/PDIF.  I really have no particular need at the present for more than 2 channels or anything designed to support some ultra-high end gaming format; just simple stereo.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as my own searches have lead to either super-sophisticated or too cheap to work, nothing in between.

Title: Re: PC card for S/PDIF output
Post by: JC on June 27, 2010, 04:04:48 PM

LMAO!  "When it gets to 100, sell!"

How will I ever wade through all these responses!  Well, at least I think I can make a few assumptions to test, based on this:

1)   I am missing something obvious, like "Everyone knows that the XYZ
      Mutilator LS is the only card to use!"

2)   No one else in the history of personal computers has ever wanted a simple
      S/PDIF card without all of the wonderful bells and whistles that the PC Cartel
      says are mandatory.

3)   Others here have had pretty much the same luck I have.

Title: Re: PC card for S/PDIF output
Post by: mrarroyo on June 27, 2010, 09:56:27 PM

If you can find an older Chaintech AV710 it will provide you w/ optical out which will electrically de-couple the PC from the DAC. Good luck.

Title: Re: PC card for S/PDIF output
Post by: JC on June 27, 2010, 10:22:34 PM

Thanks, I'll definitely look into that.  It would mean putting an optical receiver on to my old DAC, but that seems easy enough, and the electrical isolation would be a nice thing to experiment with.

Truth be told, I may have been able to obtain an OEM accessory from the mainboard manufacturer that would have plugged right in and given me both flavors of S/PDIF out.  Six years ago, when it was new.  But, I wasn't aware of that until recently when I decided it should spend its retirement as a music server, and of course the OEM no longer has ever heard of such a thing.

Six years is truly an eternity, in PC years!

Title: Does the PC have USB?
Post by: Tubejack on June 28, 2010, 01:36:35 AM

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0210/m2tech_hiface_usb.htm (http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0210/m2tech_hiface_usb.htm)

http://www.m2tech.biz/ (http://www.m2tech.biz/)

Disclaimer - I have no affiliation with M2Tech, except as a satisfied user.

Title: Re: PC card for S/PDIF output
Post by: JC on June 28, 2010, 01:59:21 AM

Yes it has, and I have looked at several such converters; not this particular set, though, so I will most definitely study this more later, and thanks for posting this.

I guess I kind of instinctively have been looking for a way to avoid another digital conversion, on the theory that more conversions could mean more chances for errors to be introduced, although I have no particular basis for that theory.  Still, I like my old DAC and I like the AIFF files I have stored from CD and if I really want to hear the two together this may indeed be the best way to go about it.

In researching this, I have most definitely come to the conclusion that if I were designing a DAC, a USB input would definitely figure prominently into the design goals.  Pity that the digital world can never seem to settle on one all-purpose I-O/transmission format.

Thanks again!