Windows S/PDIF out solution for 35 USD

[dstrimbu]

Hi Bottleheads,

Saw the previous thread started by JC back in June... rather than reply to an old thread, I thought that I'd start a new one.

I've been using a SIIG SoundWave 7.1 PCI.  It cost less than $35 on Amazon.  Yes, it has all the high-end BS that you don't need - but at that price, it does not matter.  The secret to the bitperfect output via S/PDIF for the SoundWave 7.1 (and many other C-Media 8738 / 8768 based soundcards) is a free, open source driver from a gent whom goes by the name of Dogbert on Google Code...

http://code.google.com/p/cmediadrivers/

I am running the third incarnation of my home music server, using this driver and the coax-out (via RCA) S/PDIF jack of the SoundWave card.  It works PERFECTLY with Media Monkey 3.x; should work fine with Foobar and others as long as Dogbert's driver is installed and the software is configured to use it.

First server was WindowsXP x86, second was Windows Vista Pro x86, now running on Windows 7 x64 on a cheap Compaq with 2Gb RAM, 500Gb HDD and a dual-core AMD Sempron.  If you're using a 64-bit version of Windows, you'll have to perform a well-documented trick to load Dogbert's driver, which is unsigned.  But there's little need for a 64-bit OS to run a media server; that's just what the Compaq came with, and I didn't want to waste the Windows license.

Other than that, it's super simple and sounds pretty darn good.  I'll document my system in another thread, need to get back to the Colts - Jets wildcard game... :-)

-Don

[ssssly]

Wow, that sounds pretty complicated. MacBook pro's have a combination headphone jack/mini spdif out. So I just use that.

[dstrimbu]

Wow, that sounds pretty complicated. MacBook pro's have a combination headphone jack/mini spdif out. So I just use that.

Yes, and I'll be joining the Mac Mini Music Server Society soon... but really, the Windows implementation of the SIIG is pretty easy.  Win-heads are just used to messing with drivers; it's not nearly as elegant as the Mac environment...

-don

[JC]

That may, indeed, be just what the doctor ordered, since HP can't tell me anything about the on-board chip, and MSI refuses to.

[dstrimbu]

That may, indeed, be just what the doctor ordered, since HP can't tell me anything about the on-board chip, and MSI refuses to.

Let me know Jim, I can talk you through the process if you have any issues.

Don

[JC]

I may very well do that.

Since that post in June, I had pretty much resigned myself to spending significantly more money, or getting something ultra-cheap and buggy.

I will now undertake to convince myself once and for all that the on-board chip is inaccessible to me as far as the its S/PDIF output is concerned, then have a further look at your suggestion.  As you rightly say, at that price it is a very attractive solution.

A quick question:  Does the card come with its own driver, which you then replace?

[dstrimbu]

A quick question:  Does the card come with its own driver, which you then replace?

Yes, there is a driver CD in the box, but you don't even need to load it.  In fact, I didn't...  I simply installed the card, buttoned up the PC, and installed Dogbert's driver.   Next, go into your player program (MediaMonkey, Foobar, whatever) and set the output to point to the "SPDIF Interface (CMI8738/8768 Audio Device)".

And you're done.  You can, of course, clean up the old CMEDIA drivers and get them off the machine.  I think that I pulled my ethernet cable after I installed the SoundWave card, to prevent Windows from trying to find a driver... then, after booting, I simply installed Dogbert's driver and Windows was happy.

Oh, and I disabled the motherboard audio chipset in Device Manager, too.  No conflicts at all.

Cheers,

-don