Another what is it question.

[Eagle]

Well, here is the problem. My new motherboard comes with onboard audio. I'd like to try it and see how good it sounds, but there are only three jacks of course. A Line Out, A Line In, and a microphone. Now I have a FPS 1800 so I need 4 ch audio, well for 4ch audio, the Line in can be a rear out with a few jumper switches, and the microphone can be another line out for 6 ch audio. The problem is, I need Line In and 4ch audio if I want to be able to hear stuff played from my VCR/DVD players, I can see them with my TV card, and I can hear normal cable/sattelite with the digital audio AUX cable, but there is no RCA loop through.

The question is, What is S/PDIF? My onboard audio has a plug for this (both in and out), ASUS makes modules for this, if I buy one of these modules can I plug my RCA plugs into that? Is that what S/PDIF is for or is it something totally different?

Also if anyone has an ASUS board with the C-Media sound, is it possible to re-rout the microphone to be the rear audio out and leave the line in alone, then it would work fine.

If I cant figure all this out, I'm just plugging my SBLive back in and using it.

[Josep]

personally i'd just stick with the sb live card;) if its really that much of a hassel, above my head though with your questions;)

[Allnatural]

S/PDIF = Sony/Philips Digital Interface

It's a digital hookup for your speakers, much like the Dolby Digital/DTS line from you DVD player. Of course it supports multi-channel audio. I've seen coaxial (RCA) as well as Toslink (optical) connections, so if your speakers have a matching digital input, use it.

[Slougi]

Just use line-in as the second channel and configure mic to work like line-in. No need to buy anything :)

[Eagle]

Originally posted by Slougi
Just use line-in as the second channel and configure mic to work like line-in. No need to buy anything :)

I'd love to do that but a Line-In and Microphone jack are NOT the same thing. How do I configure the MIC to be Line-I? Right now all I know how to do is config the Line-In to be 3 and 4 channel and/or Mic to be 5 and 6 channel. I dont know how to make Mic Line-In or how to make Mic 3 and 4 channel. (Of course Line Out is 1 and 2 channel)

[Slougi]

Just configure your software to use mic instead of line in... and in windows audio properties untick "mute" for mic.

[Eagle]

Again... what software? (Keep in mind I dont yet have this up and running yet, its all theoretical so I havent tried installing drivers or anything else. I'm still waiting on my CPU to come in.)

[Vchat20]

my digital cable box has a S/PDIF out connector. Unfortunately, no S/PDIF ont my PC. I wish i did. Could record some greta CD quality music off of my Cable Box. I have i think somewhere around 25 Music Choice Channels. All music. Plus. Has a screensaver. Wait and it gradually goes dark and spotlights show around the screen. COOL or what?

[AlphaWolf]

eagle: first your going to need to make sure your stereo has an spdif or toslink (optical) input. Then check your hardware manual to see if your sound card has either one of those as an output. Physicaly connect them, then if your using windows, enable advanced controls in the volume control applet. Click the advanced button below the master volume, then under "other controls", check "Enable S/PDIF"

Digital output is nice, I recommend using it. It basicaly makes your stereo do the analog conversion instead of the sound card, which means that all of the interference from inside of your computer (e.g. hard drive accessing, cdrom drive spinning up/down, mouse moving, fans, etc) is eliminated. Not only that, but if you have a nice stereo, odds are its DAC is much better than any PC soundcard that you can buy on the market. That said, if you use s/pdif, theres no need to spend a lot of money on a creative card, because even a $30 vortec sound card with spdif out will sound just as good as a $200 sblive, as the built in DAC is the main thing setting these two cards apart in terms of sound quality, and you aren't even using it.

btw, spdif supports multiple audio channels. I use it for 5.1 AC3 audio in DVDs.

[Eagle]

Thx AlphaWolf, but I just ended up using my SBLive Value instead and disabled motherboard audio. 'Preciate it though. I needed it for my VCR/DVD players, not a stereo system.