Gonna pass this question on to you experts 'cos it has me baffled!!
Recently I've changed my sound setup so I can use optical input from my Xbox360 to a Creative DTT3500 Amp.
The back of the amp didn't have the usual Left-In, Right-In, Centre-In, only 3 input types: Digital In, SPDIF In and Optical In.
I couldn't be bothered installing the Soundblaster 2 with the Digital Out, but did note that my motherboard had a SPDIF Output, and so connected the lead (just one) from the motherboard to the amp which a first-time success.
What exactly IS SPDIF? Is it similar to Optical only passing an electrical current rather than an optical one?
I'm looking to build my own media centre in the near future, would I be better off looking for a motherboard that has both SPDIF Out and Optical Out rather than the usual multi-channel 5.1 sockets?
Recently I've changed my sound setup so I can use optical input from my Xbox360 to a Creative DTT3500 Amp.
The back of the amp didn't have the usual Left-In, Right-In, Centre-In, only 3 input types: Digital In, SPDIF In and Optical In.
I couldn't be bothered installing the Soundblaster 2 with the Digital Out, but did note that my motherboard had a SPDIF Output, and so connected the lead (just one) from the motherboard to the amp which a first-time success.
What exactly IS SPDIF? Is it similar to Optical only passing an electrical current rather than an optical one?
I'm looking to build my own media centre in the near future, would I be better off looking for a motherboard that has both SPDIF Out and Optical Out rather than the usual multi-channel 5.1 sockets?