PC Audio to Surround Amp - SPDIF?
Discussion
Hi there!
The wife's old desktop is being replaced but it's still more than pokey enough for Half-Life 2 etc and it's had the last few years of old hard drives wedged in it, so I plan to use it as a media center/ server. It will live behind the TV and connected to it via a standard vga cable for the display (TV ran out of HDMIs ages ago). I have a Sherwood surround amp which has the Xbox and digi box/DVD player connected via optical - so these are used up. I noticed it has 2 co-ax digital audio inputs.
The PC in question only has on board sound, so it has the three 3.5mm sockets on the back. The software mentions enabling SPDIF, at roughly 20Hz or 40kHz or something.
Can I simply get a 3.5mm headphone to RCA phono cable and use this from PC to amp?
Any advice welcomed. Thanks.
The wife's old desktop is being replaced but it's still more than pokey enough for Half-Life 2 etc and it's had the last few years of old hard drives wedged in it, so I plan to use it as a media center/ server. It will live behind the TV and connected to it via a standard vga cable for the display (TV ran out of HDMIs ages ago). I have a Sherwood surround amp which has the Xbox and digi box/DVD player connected via optical - so these are used up. I noticed it has 2 co-ax digital audio inputs.
The PC in question only has on board sound, so it has the three 3.5mm sockets on the back. The software mentions enabling SPDIF, at roughly 20Hz or 40kHz or something.
Can I simply get a 3.5mm headphone to RCA phono cable and use this from PC to amp?
Any advice welcomed. Thanks.
Thanks for the replies.
It's a little confusing as my laptop deffo has SPDIF written by it's head phone socket and a quick Google suggests it's got a little light at the end of the port itself and you use a kinda 3.5mm style optical cable thing. I don't know if this is true (I can't see the red light as the article suggests) and if the laptop is sending a digital signal but not in an optical format. In theory this doesn't sound difficult.
The PC in question does not have anything other than microphone, line in and line out, but no markings for SPDIF, but is is mentioned in the aoftware which came with the motherboard (sound deck) so in theory it should know what it's talking about!
I suppose the answer is to try it. On a phono to headphone jack digital lead then, is it 'left' or 'right' that is used for the signal, or both?!
It's a little confusing as my laptop deffo has SPDIF written by it's head phone socket and a quick Google suggests it's got a little light at the end of the port itself and you use a kinda 3.5mm style optical cable thing. I don't know if this is true (I can't see the red light as the article suggests) and if the laptop is sending a digital signal but not in an optical format. In theory this doesn't sound difficult.
The PC in question does not have anything other than microphone, line in and line out, but no markings for SPDIF, but is is mentioned in the aoftware which came with the motherboard (sound deck) so in theory it should know what it's talking about!
I suppose the answer is to try it. On a phono to headphone jack digital lead then, is it 'left' or 'right' that is used for the signal, or both?!
Hi! A quick update; I found the header on the motherboard and made a lead from an old CD audio cable and soldered a phono female free socket onto it which I fitted to a space PCI blanking slot.
Success! The amplifier recognises and plays the audio fine. Although I can't seem to make it recognise the rear speakers in Windows. Any ideas? TIA.
Success! The amplifier recognises and plays the audio fine. Although I can't seem to make it recognise the rear speakers in Windows. Any ideas? TIA.
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