Do I really need the 4-wire CD-IN connector from my CDR to my soundcard?

[MichaelD]

Yeah I know; one way to find out, right? But I always ask before I mess w/my precious equipment.

I'm gonna be in there tonight to install some REAL rounded cables (as opposed to my six-buck cheapies that suck) and am going to neaten up the case a bit.

The reason I ask is because a couple of weeks ago, I accidently put a music CD into my CDRW instead of my DVD-Rom. I'd never done this before. Much to my surprise the CD started playing just fine. I even copied some tunes from the CDRW to my HD.

So, what is that 4-pin wire for and do I need it? I'd love to get rid of it.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

it's only for playing cd-audio. if you dont want to listen to music cd's through it rip it out. the only thing i don't know about is games. does a game ever use cd audio? id hate to take mine out and have a game not have any music but i think most newer ones use data tracks instead of audio for the music.

 

[MrWhiteUK]

If u r running Win2k use the 'Enable Digital Audio' and u wont need the cable it goes through the pci bus. i dont have any cables going into my SC and I get CD Audio.

 

[inqztive]

okay if you want to play a mussic CD with your sound card (on the lil headphone jack in front) then you must have the audio cableI's absolutely essesntial. For Games usually its wave file that is tranferred through the data cable so CD audio is not used. I would suggest though if your sound card support digital in use the 2 pin digital audio out at the back of the CD drive instead of the 3/4 pin analog audion. You will get better quality.

 

[nortexoid]

sh1t, i never knew that mrwhite.

i just removed all cd-audio cables from my case, still getting cd audio!..sweet.

i thgouth it just enabled the cd-digital out (though still requires digital cable)

 

[MrBond]

Yep, I didn't know about "enable digital audio" either. It's nice, especially with two rom drives.

 

[inqztive]

where do I enable digital audio in win2k?

 

[inqztive]

Well i learnt something new too.

 

[MichaelD]

Ok. Thanks guys. I guess the cable stays. Funny though; me being a "digital kind of guy" the thought of using the 2-pin digital cable never occured to me. Duh. I have the SBLive X-Gamer. I'm pretty sure it's got a digital in. I'll check tonight. I have three of those 2-pin digital cables just sitting in my "cable and connectors" plastic shoebox. Guess I'll get to use one. Later.

 

[MrWhiteUK]

Read This

Mike, you might find that there is no output from the digital out of your drive, alot of them don't seem to be functional.

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks very much MrWhiteUK, I appreciate the tip. But now you've muddled my tired little brain.

Lemmeseehere; correct me if necessary.

1. I don't need any cable (2-pin digital or 3-pin analog) if I enable "digital audio or digital out" somewhere in device manager?

2. If that doesn't work, I can use the 2-pin, but still need to enable digital

3. I can't use both 2 & 4-pin connectors at once. (Wouldn't do that anyway, though)

Thanks for your help.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

The change you are making in device manager is making it so that the CD-Audio is going to go through the IDE cables instead of anything else. It sounds like yours is already enabled since you put a CD in your CD-RW that is not direct wired to your sound card and got sound. As is you don't need those cables at all. If you don't want CD-Audio to be using your IDE cables, turn it off in device manager and hook up either the analog or digital cable.
To dispel something mentioned earlier. You can listen CD-Audio through the headphone jack on the front of your CD-ROM without even having a sound card installed. I do this at work sometimes since I don't have a sound card.

 

[MichaelD]

NelsonMuntz, I sure am glad you've decided to take me under your considerably-sized wing 'o knowledge! Thanks bud, that cable is gone. I'm trying to make my case as neat as WingNutPez's case...have you seen it? Check it out! I never did go for that watercooled/3 fanbuses/neon/rats nest of wires look. I like to be able to open up the case, clean and remove/replace cards w/a minimum of hassle. That's just my opinion though.

I hope he doesn't mind me showing this pic. He did post the link in an earlier post of mine. This is one of the neatest cases I've ever seen. I am jealous! One less cable is a beautiful thing.

BTW, my RAID 0 array is running beautifully. 64kb stripe size, 82.6mbs burst speed and avg read speed of 42mbs. 9.2ms seek time. Cool! Thanks again.

 

[NaughtyusMaximus]

I don't think you stated what OS you are using - but if you do use Win2k, what MrWhiteUK said about clicking 'enable digital audio' is correct. What that does is uses your regular IDE cable to send the digital signal to your sound card - it works very well with all the CDROM's I've tried it with.

 

[MichaelD]

Using Win98SE. I'm pretty sure I've seen the "enable digital audio" in Device Mangler somewhere. I'm at work....can't check until later.

 

[Adul]

<< I don't think you stated what OS you are using - but if you do use Win2k, what MrWhiteUK said about clicking 'enable digital audio' is correct. What that does is uses your regular IDE cable to send the digital signal to your sound card - it works very well with all the CDROM's I've tried it with. >>



Works well with my scsi cd-rom/cd-r has well.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

No problem MichaelD, happy to help. BTW if I put a picture of the inside of my case you guys would all laugh at me. I might have some knowledge, but I don't always take the time to make things look purty.

 

[MichaelD]

Hey guys, I just wanted to report back that I removed the 3-pin cable connecting the DVDRom and the soundcard and have digital audio now! Wow, what a difference! I also have digital audio from the CDRW as well. Thanks for the advice.