What Audio Cables do I need for Soundblaster 5.1 card?

[ginky4]

I just purchased a Plextor 12/10/32 CDRW , A Pioneer DVD/CDROM, and a Soundblaster Platinum Live 5.1 soundcard. Now I need to find the correct cables to hook to the sound card for each drive. These new drives did not come with any cables other than the IDE. What kind do I need to hook the DVD/CDROM to the sound card? And what kind do I need to connect the Plextor CD-RW to the Sound Card? Are the cables the same or does 1 have more pins than the other? It looks like the end that goes into the CD-RW and the DVD/CD ROM is a 4 pin. What about the ends that connect to the sound card? Let me know!

 

[nekulturny]

if you use win2k you don't need cables. you can just set it (in system/sound properties) so it will run digitally.

 

[AMB]

You also get digital IDE in Win 9x

 

[Noriaki]

You need 4pin to 4pin analog CD audio cables
Any computer store will have for $2 each

Or you can set it to run digitally through IDE, but that wastes IDE bandwidth and CPU time to use the IDE bus so I don't much personally like it. (though I'm just being picky, in reality you probably won't notice it)

 

[ginky4]

I will not be using the digital output for my sound connection on this unit. So, it looks like I will need 2 ( 4 pin to 4 pin) connectors to have sound for both the cd-rw and the cd rom. Is this the case? One to connect the CD-RW to the sound card and one to connect the regular cd rom to the soundcard. Do you know if the sound connectors on the Soundblaster Platinum Live 5.1 sound card are both 4 pin for each drive . It seems to me that my old AWE 64 soundblaster card had one 4 pin that i had my cd rom connected to and one 2 pin that my cd-rw connected to. Please advise.

 

[superbaby]

<< Or you can set it to run digitally through IDE, but that wastes IDE bandwidth and CPU time to use the IDE bus so I don't much personally like it. (though I'm just being picky, in reality you probably won't notice it) >>


That's right, you won't notice it at all 🙂 CDDA streams hardly saturate the IDE bus, since they only read at 1x (150kb/s). CPU time is minimal or trivial.

 

[Sunner]

What they meant was that you will be running CD audio digitally from the CD, through the IDE bus, instead of directly through an analog cable.
It doesnt have anything to do with what outputs you use, and I prefer it myself since it leaves more room in the case, an also gives a purer sound(though this may be just my immagination).

 

[ginky4]

I will be using Windows98SE on an Abit kt7 Raid Motherboard with these 2 drives. Does this still apply or will I have to purchase the cables to get the audio to work for each drive. If I have to purchase the cables , Can you tell me what type to get? It looks like the CD-RW and the CD rom both have 4 pins for the one end of the cable. I am not sure what the sound blaster 5.1 card has on it as far as connections for the other end of the cable. Do you know if it takes a 4 pin cable also for each drive or does it have something different?

 

[Noriaki]

the sound blaster card has the same 4pin connectors the CD drives do.

I have a Pioneer 104S 10/40 DVD/CD Rom and it's attached to the CD_IN connector on my SBLive! that looks the same as the 4pin connector on the Pioneer drive.

Same story for my Yamaha 8x8x24 CDRW except it uses AUX_IN on the soundcard instead of CD_IN

Both play CDDA audio just fine.

As people have said, you can set it up to go digitally trough IDE to get to your soundcard.

This is all internal, which external connector you use makes no difference, either you send it from CDdrive to sound card in analog form and then output it in analog (using 4pin cables) or you send it from CD drive to sound card in digital form (using IDE) and then the sound card converts it to analg for output. Either way works fine and I seriously doubt you will notice a difference either way once it's set up.

 

[TheRabbit]

Using a 2pin digital audio cable for my Pioneer DVDA04SZ (10/40) and a 4pin analog cable for my Mitsumi 4804TE CDRW.
Both are connected to a SBLive Value (DIGITAL_IN, CD_IN)

works perfectly for me 🙂

 

[Leo V]

If sound quality means anything to you, avoid the analog CD cable like the plague. It's an antenna that picks up and magnifies all eletronic noise in your system, not to mention you're using the crappy DAC in you CD-ROM drive. I'd remove such a cable if I had one, to be doubly sure that it's not being used! 😀

 

[ginky4]

Where do you make the setting that determines if the sound will be digital through the IDE bus or Analog through the cable. Is this something that is done in Windows or is it done by jumpers?