Dumb question? Maybe. DVD/Audio Connection Issues

[DrDr]

I have a:

LiteOn 166S 16X DVD-ROM
LiteOn 32x12x40 CD-RW

Running on an Windows XP-PRO based Athlon XP1700+, ECS K7S5A.

I am utilizing the on-board sound (embarassing I know but I was pinching pennies and I have yet to upgrade).

Both drives have the "audio cable" attachment on their rear. There are two attachments on the mainboard but they are for two different types of connectors. Since both drives are LiteOn drives, they utilize the same connection type and therefore, only one drive can be attached to the mainboard (via the audio cable).

My questions are:

1. What are the advantages of attaching this cable since sound production occurs whether the cable is attached or not. Furthermore, I think there is an analog and digital attachment, yet the drive came with a cable that will only attach to the analog connector.

2. If I wanted to attach both, is that possible with some sort of Y-Connector?

3. If #2 is not possible, and sound production would be vastly superior with a soundcard, then do I need to look for a specific card that will accomodate the attachment of multiple devices?

4. Is there a good online resource to read about these issues?

Any help is much appreciated.

Indebted . . .

 

[Viper96720]

Yes you could get a y-connector and hook up both to the one socket. Yes sound would be better with a good sound card.

 

[IanthePez]

you probably don't even need the cable....

If I remember right it enables you to use the ports on the front of the drive to plug headphones in and all that.

 

[Pariah]

1. What are the advantages of attaching this cable since sound production occurs whether the cable is attached or not. Furthermore, I think there is an analog and digital attachment, yet the drive came with a cable that will only attach to the analog connector.

There are none, don't use them. WinXP sends the audio digitally through the PC bus which is the same thing that using the digital audio connector in the back of the drive does. Both are better than the analog connector on the back of the drive.

 

[Ophir]

Originally posted by: Pariah

1. What are the advantages of attaching this cable since sound production occurs whether the cable is attached or not. Furthermore, I think there is an analog and digital attachment, yet the drive came with a cable that will only attach to the analog connector.

There are none, don't use them. WinXP sends the audio digitally through the PC bus which is the same thing that using the digital audio connector in the back of the drive does. Both are better than the analog connector on the back of the drive.

What he said. Just pass the signal through the IDE cable to the PC bus.

 

[DrDr]

Other than knowing that IDE stands for Integrated Device Electronics, I know nothing. Can someone recommend a decent source (website, book, etc.) where I can hone my hardware knowledge?

 

[Ophir]

Just hook up the drive (drive -> IDE ribbon -> mobo) as usual w/o the audio connectors (like you would hook up a hard drive). Not sure exactly how the data is processed, but as I understand it, WinXP will send the data to the soundcard via the PC bus. From what I have read, this is the highest fidelity method of transferring data to the soundcard.

You don't have to configure anything, WinXP does it all for you. Just hook it up and forget it.