Sound card , optical out

Gman

Gman

Gman

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Not sure if its me looking in the wrong place or not but I seem to be having a hard time finding a sound card that I can plug my toslink cable into so I can get digital sound into my surround sound which has only got a optical input available.

my current motherboard which is a good 3 years old has got an optical out however the new mobo i'm getting doesn't so i'm having to look for a new sound card.

looking at the images in the sound card section I can't see 1 which has got an optical out, but by searching this forum ive found reference to a very expensive card which can do optical out however i'm wanting to shell out a max of around £40.

So my question is:
1) is there any sound cards out there that are good for £40 and have optical out
2) is there another way I should be connecting things now as the lack of a optical out of modern cards seems to be telling me i'm doing it an outdated way. Bare in mind on the sourround system i've only got an optical out which i've using with a toslink cable.

any sugestions ?
 
u can biy the audio out header if your mobo supports it i know creative has one

if yor old mobo has one if its in header form u would probably be able to use that too
 
not sure what you mean by a "audio out header" doing a quick search threw up a front header which at a guess would be something that would fit in the CD bays and give some connections.

The mobo is going to be a Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650.

On a side not back onto the sound cards having a read at some reviews for example the X-Fi Xtreme. Its not written on one of the ports "digital I/O" but it just looks like a standard mini jack hole. would this work with say a toslink to minijack connector as i've got afew of them that came with the tolink cables ?

just that it's one of them where the light shines down them so not sure.

Also the Asus reviews say "S/PDIF component output" how that looks like some kind of minijack port, what cables would I use in this to get output to the optical input on my surround system ?
 
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Been reading a few more reviews and looking at other similar posts in this forum and a lot seems to be as confused as me lol

found a post that mentions this card
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Soundcard - Retail

would this card allow me to use a toslink to minijack connection ? in other words does this cards digital out connection ommit a red light ?

Can someone with this card check for me please and see if any of the outputs are ommiting a red light inside the port ?
 
The X-Fi doesn't have a digital out on the backplate (boo!) Only with the front bay..pretty pointless as you'll have it connected to the backplate.

A few C-Media based cards have optical output.
My M-Audio Revo has coaxial digital out.
 
:( shame would go coaxial but the surround sound system coaxial connection is taken up by the dvd player.

just looking at al these sound cards it seems very strange that non have got a standard toslink or optical minijack connection, when all surround sound system tend to use optical as the main digital input :confused:

And the details on the cards a really confusing, for example i've found this card
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Soundcard - OEM

In the product description it says:
"Line In / Microphone In / Digital Out1 / Digital I/O2 (shared 3.5mm FlexiJack)"

Now in this cards case what exactly does "Digital Out1 / Digital I/O2" mean and what sort of connections can I put in these regarding getting digital audio to my surround system. Can I connect a Toslink to Mini Toslink (Minijack) Optical Cable into this at all.
 
hmm according to one review the X-Fi Extreme Music has digital output, but you need a special cable, or the Creative module..

By now, those of you who prefer to use an optical S/PDIF or Coax TOSlink digital connection for your speaker systems are probably wondering how in the world you can take advantage of pure digital audio when the X-Fi's digital I/O functionality is seemingly trapped inside the FlexiJack. This is another spot where Creative dropped the ball with the X-Fi XtremeMusic. In order to use the digital in/out functionality of the FlexiJack, you need to purchase a separate 3.5mm "mini-jack" to RCA plug adapter (see picture below). This adapter will then allow you to connect a digital Coax cable to the X-Fi via the FlexiJack and take advantage of the digital audio if your speaker system or you can record digital audio input. If you were hoping to
Click to expand...

Stupid, why not include standard square toslink and RCA coaxial output? I don't use digital out on the X-Fi so not a concern, but my HTPC (Revo 5.1) I need digital out, that has the standard RCA connector.

I think that cheaper has electrical digital out, not optical. Same as the more expensive X-Fi.

Trust soundcards have optical output

http://www.trust.com/products/product.aspx?artnr=12950
 
It's all very confusing but as fas as I know if you're going with the X-Fi range you will have to buy the upper ones like Fata1ty or Platinum to have the I/O frontplate which supports optical in/output. Creative is quite cheap, doing that to force you to spend more by buying their more expensive cards or optional frontplate. In brief, the only way to get optical in/output from a X-Fi card is from the frontplate.
You should look at Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 Soundcard, it has optical in/out on the backplate and I've read loads of reviews of this card and everyone is saying it blows X-Fi out of the water playing music and almost on par with it in games.


Gman said:
:( shame would go coaxial but the surround sound system coaxial connection is taken up by the dvd player.

just looking at al these sound cards it seems very strange that non have got a standard toslink or optical minijack connection, when all surround sound system tend to use optical as the main digital input :confused:

And the details on the cards a really confusing, for example i've found this card
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Soundcard - OEM

In the product description it says:
"Line In / Microphone In / Digital Out1 / Digital I/O2 (shared 3.5mm FlexiJack)"

Now in this cards case what exactly does "Digital Out1 / Digital I/O2" mean and what sort of connections can I put in these regarding getting digital audio to my surround system. Can I connect a Toslink to Mini Toslink (Minijack) Optical Cable into this at all.
Click to expand...
 
thanks guys cleared things up a little for me. Checked out the Trust card and although it's got the optical out some of the reviews are shocking particularly with driver support on xp so not sure what that'd be like on vista.

Also had a look at the Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1, I like the look of this card however the price is a non starter for me really, not going to pay £113 just got get optical out.

what I think i'm going to try is get a soundcard that's got a digital coaxial out and buy a converter i've found that convert coaxial into a optical toslink output.

i've had a look at the Revo card suggested which has the coaxial out but I can't find it anywhere and the price seems high on some of the posts.

anyone reccomend a decent £30-£40 card with digital coaxial output ?
 
I did that (and am still using it like that) on my cheap Audigy 2. It isn't as neat as a direct optical out but you'll end up with the same. I believe this is the right cable though the "balanced" comment in the description is a little confusing :confused: : http://www.studiospares.com/pd_574030_Mini Jack Phono 25 meters.htm

Also you can get a USB to optical out box from said electronics store at a cost of £15.99. Possibly not as easy to get going though with it being USB.
 
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Gman said:
and that carries a digital signal ?
Click to expand...

yes. The one I have won't pass DD & DTS though, it's a cheap "USB sound box"

Best to buy a soundcard with digital out in the first place. It's good for laptops though, a upgrade over lousy noisy line out.
 
well to roud things off nicely the mobo i'm getting Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 has a coaxial output on the onboard sound so I can just buy the converter for £12 and jobs a good un.
 
you can get cheap c-media and realtek based cards for as little as £15 with optical out. just because ocuk doesnt sell it doesnt mean it dont exist.
 
james.miller said:
you can get cheap c-media and realtek based cards for as little as £15 with optical out. just because ocuk doesnt sell it doesnt mean it dont exist.
Click to expand...

Thanks, just checking them two out although I can find them on their official sites and the odd review website, finding a well know online retailer that sells them is another matter. It seems unless its got creative in the product title no online shop wants to know.

:(
 
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