Looking for sound card SPDIF (AC-3, PCM output)

[bdg825]

Hi All,
I am looking for a cheep soundcard/output device that has a SPDIF output that can handle AC-3. Looking for recommendations. Don't care about analog audio quality at all.

Cheers,
Ben Gannon

[psycik]

your motherboard does not have the capability to add a spdif plug?? i.e onboard 5.1 sound?

I use that with no problems.

[bdg825]

This is the motherboard that I have.... anyone know if it has an internal SPDIF connector. Haven't been able to find any concrete info as to yea or nay.


DELL PRECISION 370 MOTHERBOARD

Manufacturer: Intel ( OEM for Dell Precision 370 )
Dell Compatible Part#: M3323 M3849 W7563
Socket: LGA775
Expansion Slots: 4 PCI slots / 1 PCIe x 1 slot / 1 PCIe x 16 (graphics) slot
Chipset: Intel 925X Chipset
Other Features: Hyper-Threading Technology Support
Connectors: (6) USB 2.0 Ports, 10/100/1000 LAN
Peripheral Interface: (4) Serial ATA (SATA) Interface
Other: One IDE Channel Supporting ATA-66/100/133 and One Floppy Port
Video: 1X16 PCI Express Slot
Audio: Standard Sound Audio System
Supported Memory: DDR2
Maximum Memory: 4 Dual Channel DIMM Support for up to 4 GB of memory

[nitrogen_widget]

I'm going to say "Audio: Standard Sound Audio System" means no spdif connector on the Dell motherboard.

As Tipster said, one of these would be your best bet.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Creative-Labs-SoundB...0065558405

[blizard]

I'm going to say "Audio: Standard Sound Audio System" means no spdif connector on the Dell motherboard.

As Tipster said, one of these would be your best bet.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Creative-Labs-SoundB...0065558405

If you look at the picture in that link you will see that you will need a mini phono (3.5 mm) to get a standard S/PDIF port (TOS link for optical or RCA for coaxial) with a cable that have provide such end connection (look further down in this post for link to Digital I/O module).

I think OP would be better of to get any other sound card that already have one or both standard S/PDIF connection and that can create a AC-3 stream (AC-3 do only mean that it can output a compressed audio through one cable instead of a stereo PCM which would demand three or four cable to do the same job).

I could only find a very limited info from Dells site on this system and it claim it to be AC97 sound on board.

Personally I would recommend to look for HDA Mystique or HDA XPlosion as these can encode AC-3 on the fly (interactive) from any sound source that contain enough with information in their stereo so you can get a surround sound (5.1 speaker). DTS is another encoding technology for compressed sound which have a better bit rate (less compressed) and you can hear the difference when you have hardware decoder that can output that sound to your speaker. Xplosion support DTS Connect which is slightly better then Dolby Digital Live (AC-3 encoded to 5.1 hardware decoder from stereo source).

With Creatives sound card you will need to use direct connection to speaker as Creatives cards have slightly better anolgue connection and the digital connection will only provide pass through of S/PDIF which mean that only pre-encoded material will be output as AC-3 (compressed sound; can be anything from 2 channel up to 6 channel) or PCM (stereo).

Older and cheaper sound card will only provide pass through as standard on the digital connection.

Auzentech Xplosion (DDL and DTS Connect) -Newegg
(Take a look at the picture and you will see one black cap which is standard TOS link and one round RCA port, these port are standard for most home theater.)

Auzentech Xmystique (only DDL, no DTS)

Main site for Auzentech with more technical data on both sound card.

Creatives best sound card right now would be XtremeGamer Fatal1ty. The other sound card branded under the XtremeGamer name could suffer from being only software supported (ASFAIK that XtremeGamer Music will not be the best if you are looking to off load your CPU with full hardware support on sound). You will also need to buy a Digital I/O module.


Chaintech AV-710 with VIA ENVY 24HT-S sound processor. Remember that this card will only provide pass through of AC-3 (no real time encoding of any sound source as Xplosion or Xmystique can do which mean it should be able to provide normal DVD in surround sound as it is already encoded in AC-3) or PCM. This card have been suggested very often on other forums, so you should be bale to verify if it is for you.

_______
You have provided very little information about your system and I want you to know that all these advice are for windows XP (all flavours incl 64 bit edition). As far as I know about Vista you will need to do some more complete research about Vista as it will not have the same hardware support on EAX, but OpenAL and there might even be other things I don't know about.

[bdgbill]

Damn Blizard!

I'm linking to your last post just in case I buy a soundcard in the next few months.

[brfish]

I have a Dynex DX-SC51 and it works great with the optical output.

http://cgi.ebay.com/DYNEX-DX-SC51-5-1-CH...dZViewItem

[blizard]

Damn Blizard!

I'm linking to your last post just in case I buy a soundcard in the next few months.

As for every hardware purchase you have to look what is on market when you have the money to buy a sound card as market can change very fast for what is a good deal and for what kind of driver support you will get.

Razer have come with a very high end sound card: Razer Barracuda AC1. It is expensive and in the same range as Auzentechs latest Meridan where both sound card have support for a wide range of compressed digital sound like Dolby Digital different compression standard (virtual surround for stereo speaker and for head phones) and DTS Connect (where also have some more feature from DTS added since last sound card).

The main focus where on sound cards, but it is very important to remember that Dolby Digital and DTS are both different way to transport digital sound data where sound must be converted back to analogue signal and here will speaker and their connection be very important. High end sound card is not much worth with limited range speaker of low quality or incorrect size for room and position.

I have a Dynex DX-SC51 and it works great with the optical output.

http://cgi.ebay.com/DYNEX-DX-SC51-5-1-CH...dZViewItem

This brand is new to me and it looks like it is from an older generation of sound card. I am sure every sound card which follow S/PDIF standard will be able to output a PCM 2 channel signal and even output AC-3 (although limited to stereo as it need some treatment like DDL or DTS Connect to be encoded in 6 channel surround with positional information. DVD have this information if they are encoded from studio in 5.1 aka 6 channel, so even older sound card will be able to to send that sound to a decoder). There are also dolby digital ProLogic II which use PCM or 2 channel to encode sound information which later can be processed for four speakers at the listeners home.

The point for bdgbill and brfish are that there is a more into (digital) sound then I can explain without going to deep (or write half a thesis on it ) and it is very subjective to the listeners expectation and possibilities for what will be the best solution. There is much to be learned also for me on this matter, but I am happy with my sound system that are Dolby Digital Live (GBPVR will then sound in surround when I play recorded MPEG2) motherboard connected to Logitech Z5400 (hardware decoder of both Dolby Digital (5.1) and DTS). This from a analogue TV-tuner which have dolby digital stereo (384 kb/s).

[CableGuy006]

I picked up this one as cheap as possible. It output 5.1 through Windows Media Center, but haven't gotten it working with GB yet. Probably a codec issue. I'm going to try it tonight with AC3Filter installed. I'll let you know how it goes.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6829130002

[bdg825]

Thank you...

Does anyone know of a good motherboard that will take a 3.4 Ghz Intel P4 Prescott w Hyper-threading that includes Dolby Digital Live. I am debating getting another mother board rather than spending 80$ on a sound card. Seems like a better deal? Comments?

Ben