Ok so I just bought a new 5.1 280 watt creative speaker set and a creative x-fi extreme gamer sound card. I guess I dont know the difference between analog and digital here. It says I can only use the 5.1 on analog settings. To use the 5.1 on digital I need an SPDIF connection. Is that something I should do? Is it just a cable I need to get? both my mobo and sound card have the SPDIF connectors. I'm not sure what I'm talking about so this may not make sense.
SPDIF question
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MagnusTheBrewer
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It's an RCA connector. You know the round collar plug with a short center pin. Plug one end into the sound card and the other into your speaker setup.
no i dont think that is what i'm referring to. this is a connection between the sound card and the mobo inside the computer. it is an 8pin connector with 6 holes and 6 pins two on top and four on bottom. each connector location says SPDIF...
I guess what I am asking is should I connect the 6pin locations on the sound card and mobo that are labeled spdif? would this improve the sound?
I guess what I am asking is should I connect the 6pin locations on the sound card and mobo that are labeled spdif? would this improve the sound?
Use the 3 analog cables unless there is a reason you can't. Using SPDIF is bypassing what you spent your money on.
The SPDIF is NOT there to "connect between mainboard and soundcard". It's an SPDIF output you could have used INSTEAD of that soundcard, simply by purchasing a suitable "digital audio" slot bracket for your mainboard.
Ok I must not be explaining myself well b/c I know what the actual SPDIF output plug is for. to go digital to plug in speakers.
read what i'm talking about. on the inside on the mobo and on the sound card are 6pin connectors (the little ones, its an 8-pin connector with 2 end pins missing) and written by those connecters it says SPDIF on the circuit board.
read what i'm talking about. on the inside on the mobo and on the sound card are 6pin connectors (the little ones, its an 8-pin connector with 2 end pins missing) and written by those connecters it says SPDIF on the circuit board.
Those are typically for connections that need adapters to expand the functionality. You need a cable that should come with the mobo/sound card to be able to access the SPDIF.
Ok, but if i do use that connection will it allow me to use a digital 5.1 sound rather than an analog 5.1?
You will be able to use digital 5.1 from any source that is encoded in digital 5.1. However, your sound will be better with the analog 5.1.
Don't we just all love these generic statements?
As far as loss of quality at the jack goes, analog is worse, no debating that. That is simply because the SPDIF gives you the original data, and the analog does not.
From the digital port, your individual audio quality depends on where you stick the signal - on the analog, it's coming out of the computer preprocessed and thus inevitably compromised.
As far as loss of quality at the jack goes, analog is worse, no debating that. That is simply because the SPDIF gives you the original data, and the analog does not.
From the digital port, your individual audio quality depends on where you stick the signal - on the analog, it's coming out of the computer preprocessed and thus inevitably compromised.
You REALLY think the DAC and op amps in his computer speaker system is better than his X-fi? I REALLY don't think I am going out on a limb saying his audio quality will be better via analog.
Creative's DACs are far from good, and the ones in the speaker may at least be tuned to match the speakers' properties. This is done even in the crap ones.
The op-amps in the speaker set will be used in either case.
Finally, if the speakers are crap, the OP can't be helped anyway.
The op-amps in the speaker set will be used in either case.
Finally, if the speakers are crap, the OP can't be helped anyway.
You are bypassing the preamp op amps in his sound card which are typically fairly high quality. As are the DAC's on a dedicated sound card.
Digital may have advantages...but only if the receiver is as good of a D->A converter as the sound card.
Whether or not it is noticeable on the OP's speakers is up to his ears.
There are no preamps involved when you go to 5.1 line-out levels. It's straight from the DACs out the jack - and the X-Fi is using nothing special here, the same kind of DAC that makes an onboard audio solution.
If you want halfway pro DAC solutions on a sound card, you need to buy from a more serious maker of audio equipment. (Same for speakers, actually ...)
The one advantage discrete sound cards have is: They are a bit further away from the computer's electrically noisiest area than the onboard codec is, but they both live off the same supply power lines.
SPDIF on the other hand gives you the original data stream - free from any noise whatsoever, ready to do something actually good with it.
If you want halfway pro DAC solutions on a sound card, you need to buy from a more serious maker of audio equipment. (Same for speakers, actually ...)
The one advantage discrete sound cards have is: They are a bit further away from the computer's electrically noisiest area than the onboard codec is, but they both live off the same supply power lines.
SPDIF on the other hand gives you the original data stream - free from any noise whatsoever, ready to do something actually good with it.
There is most definitely preamp circuitry on a sound card. Look at the swappable op amps on any Auzentech card for an example. These are ONLY used when outputting analog(obviously).
And your first statement that the DAC on a sound card is no different than an onboard solution is as you put it a "Generic statement"
Some will be some won't. However, all it takes is a few tests via RMAA to realize that not all audio solutions are created equal. My sound card has a 120dB signal to noise ratio(E-mu 1212m) and I believe the X-fi's test at about 110dB. Very few onboard solutions will match these numbers. Show me an onboard solution that uses the Wolfson DACs of the Chaintech AV-710 or the burr-brown op amps of the Xfi Prelude.
And I am using digital on my computer mainly(besides recording) but only because my receiver is quite nice and does just as a good as a sound card at converting the digital stream.
We were discussing Creative's stuff a minute ago - and Creative's cards use plain AC'97 codecs on their processor chip.
The superiority of what you've now listed is undisputed - but even from these, the SPDIF signal can't go past the 100% quality of the 5.1 passthrough provided by a $8 SPDIF bracket for the onboard sound.
The superiority of what you've now listed is undisputed - but even from these, the SPDIF signal can't go past the 100% quality of the 5.1 passthrough provided by a $8 SPDIF bracket for the onboard sound.
So you're saying that an X-fi performs the same as a onboard solution? I guarantee you that its not only the distance from the motherboard that makes it better.
No I'm not saying that, you're reading that into what I said.
What I said is, the X-fi is a far cry from 'actually good' as far as the signal quality goes. There are other factors to performance, like the X-fi bringing its own brain while onboard audio relies on the CPU doing stuff.
Still, and let me remind you again that this is the point discussed here, it makes NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL when you're listening to a 5.1 passthrough stream.
What I said is, the X-fi is a far cry from 'actually good' as far as the signal quality goes. There are other factors to performance, like the X-fi bringing its own brain while onboard audio relies on the CPU doing stuff.
Still, and let me remind you again that this is the point discussed here, it makes NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL when you're listening to a 5.1 passthrough stream.
And that's why I was encouraging him to stick with analog. Because the quality of the X-fi's analog output is going to be better than what the internal circuitry of his speakers will output.
What makes you so sure that the speaker set's internal digital audio processor - which knows the properties of the speaker set, however poor they may be - does a worse job in serving the speakers right than a sound card?
In fact, particularly if the speaker set has its deficiencies, its own sound processor will serve it best.
In fact, particularly if the speaker set has its deficiencies, its own sound processor will serve it best.
I can guarantee you they don't custom design DAC's and op amps for the individual speakers. They are standard units you can buy yourself from any company's website. If a company like Logitech asked TI or other chip manufacturer to custom design a chip for their speakers, they might as well have just spent more on higher quality drivers.
That's just the way it is. When you buy computer speakers you pay for the speakers themselves and nothing more. They skimp on the internal circuitry. A X-fi sound card will always do a better job than any DAC circuitry in a computer speaker system.
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