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Digital vs Analog - Help me understand

J

jimmyj68

Senior member
I decided to get a BlueGear HDA Digital sound card with Dolby Digital output capability. I can set it for analog output and it is very comparable to the M-Audio Revolution card that it replaced. It is driving Swans M-200 speakers and they as far as I know, cannot reproduce digital signals because the basic speaker is an analog device.

What do I need to have the digital output from my new card operate my speakers? I ignored the digital out on my M-audio card because the digital output was sort of a plus and the cards quality and output is focused on its analog output. My new BlueGear HDA Digital X Mystique card is just the opposite. I don't want to buy new speakers.
 
What has persuaded you that your soundcard doesn't produce analog output very well? Is there some kind of review you read that said it was crap?

What do you need if you were to send digital out?
- DAC to convert it to an analog signal
- Preamp for volume control
- Ampilifer unless your speakers are active
 
Oh No --- The card reproduces quite well, I just want to take advantage of the digital output as simply and cheaply as I can.
 
How are you liking the m200s? I haven't had a chance to hear them, but my own speakers are from the company that was originally selling modified swan speakers 😀

I have the X-Mystique also, but the only reason I got it is that I wanted my receiver to do the work of decoding DD streams etc.

The benefit of using a digital out is to send the signal to an external device that will do a good job of converting the digital signal to analog.

"Digital Speakers" (like z-5500s for example) as you know are still analog devices. In the case of that speaker set, you're letting the control pod on the speakers convert the digital input to analog for the speakers. The benefit to this would be if you had a crappy soundcard you could send digital output and the contol pod would do a good job of doing conversions and decoding.

In your case you have a very capable analog card and a nice set of speakers that take an analog input.

If you were to use the digital output, you'd need to get a DAC like rstrohkirch said. Volume control and amp would be taken care of by the m200s, but you'd need the DAC. You'd have to find one that was better than the X-mystique's DACs for that to be worthwhile.

If you do end up going that route, I think you'd be better off getting rid of that expensive X-Mystique and just getting a $25 Chaintech AV710 for digital output. For the most part, digital out = digital out, so your fancy X-Mystique wouldn't really be doing anything.

The X-Mystique's main appeal is DD encoding in real time... but that doesn't really make sense for a set of stereo speakers (especially ones with an analog input).

I think you've got the best system going right now: keep using the nice analog output from the X-Mystique and don't try to get digital going.

Right now you're going Digital to Analog your soundcard. Going digital would just change where the Digital to Analog conversion happens, and you already have a nice card to do that already.
 
Thanks loads (I can't put down your name, it starts with Y and ends with jello), you have cleared up all my questions. I'll stay where i am with the Swans which to me sound better than the Klipsch 2,1's they replaced.

How would you suggest I ensure everything works since I just received the unit a few days ago? For instance, my only real game(?) is Flight Simulator. Since installing the Mystique, my VOR, ADF etc. morse code id's sound terrible. A dot-dot-dash instead of being three tones is about nine tones - each single tone is repeated three times. This happened in a continuos string making identifying the station nearly impossible. in addition, the air traffic control folks sound like they are at the far end of a long hall. Music is OK and admittedly I'm not totally up to speed on the Mystique software.
 
Originally posted by: jimmyj68
Thanks loads (I can't put down your name, it starts with Y and ends with jello), you have cleared up all my questions. I'll stay where i am with the Swans which to me sound better than the Klipsch 2,1's they replaced.

How would you suggest I ensure everything works since I just received the unit a few days ago? For instance, my only real game(?) is Flight Simulator. Since installing the Mystique, my VOR, ADF etc. morse code id's sound terrible. A dot-dot-dash instead of being three tones is about nine tones - each single tone is repeated three times. This happened in a continuos string making identifying the station nearly impossible. in addition, the air traffic control folks sound like they are at the far end of a long hall. Music is OK and admittedly I'm not totally up to speed on the Mystique software.
Click to expand...

Did you get these drivers?

http://www.hidiaudio.com/download/index.html
 
yes I did. I may reinstall though. I have so much security on my system that sometimes downloads get screwed up.
 
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