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what cable required?

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Vrykyl

Vrykyl

Tornado Guy
​
Joined
Dec 7, 2003
Location
UK
Hey, a mate of mine has recently purchased a set of logitech z5500's, and intends to hook them up to his audidgy2 ZS - he wants to connect them via digital for best possible quality, and has asked me what sort of cable he needs to do it.... I dont have a main pc atm, nor do i really know anything about audio - so what does he need? can he connect his 5500s and a2 ZS together via digital anyway? i didnt think the ZS had digital out, only coaxial? can somone link me to the sort of cable he'l need if he can? cheers folks! :D
 
Optical, if he has the output. Otherwise, he can use Coaxial, which has slightly worse quality, but is on more soundcards. Also some have, on the jack for center, a digital out.
 
i think the a2 only has coax...theres no square connector on the back of the zs....so im guessing the output is coax? is that still digital? gah im confused
 
Your assumption is correct, though truth be told if you're going to be using the digital out you could use a much cheaper solution, possibly even the integrated audio with no difference in quality. I believe you need a miniplug to rca adapter for creative cards without one of those neat port banks in the front. You can get them at radioshack.
 
the coaxial is a digital signal. remember, with the creative cards you will NOT get 5.1/6.1/7.1 on the digital out unless you either use their speakers or are playing a dvd with passthrough (signal from dvd goes straight out of the sound card, no processing).

also, I read where theoretically the coaxial signal is a tiny bit better quality, but it is so small of a difference it doesn't really matter (nothing noticable, by anyone, unless the receiver/speaker system with digital in REALLY is bad, and then you have other problems.
 
so for 5.1 in music and games (which is what he wants, he has a home cinema for dvd) is he better off not using digital at all and just using regular cables?
 
he's better off with digital, and does his mobo have onboard HD audio, if so, he should have either optical out or coaxial out on it then. I'd use the onboard audio for digital output instead of creatives digital output.
 
Hey wait just a minut here! That card has digital out "if he has the front panel control center", and fromw aht I heard you can go spdf out in the front wich is the best of the best.

See in digital in and digital out for the z card

soundpanel.jpg
 
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nah, hes just got the card, no fancy box - he just wants 5.1 in games and music mainly...iv had a look at the back and the cards only got regular 3.5 jacks, tho one is labled digital out...?
 
yes it looks like the round spdif out - looks like a regular headphone jack...there arent any square 'optical plugs'
 
ok, so we've established hes got digital out - but the z5500's have these hook ups on the back - http://www.gdhardware.com/hardware/speakers/logitech/z5500/shot4.htm
so what cable is needed for digital from the ZS to the speakers? and will that give him the best possible sound in games and music?? or is digital only best for dvd's in which case i should tell him to use regular analogue???
 
Vrykyl said:
ok, so we've established hes got digital out - but the z5500's have these hook ups on the back - http://www.gdhardware.com/hardware/speakers/logitech/z5500/shot4.htm
so what cable is needed for digital from the ZS to the speakers? and will that give him the best possible sound in games and music?? or is digital only best for dvd's in which case i should tell him to use regular analogue???
Click to expand...

proble something something like the rca jack but for digital out, I would go monster if you want the very best, and can afford it. but if not when you go buy them or buy them off the web like at www.newegg.com or amazon.com, search for a digital cable via the search engines they got at newegg or amazon. BTW foudn what you will need at newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0
 
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Here is an Amazon link to a decent looking coaxial digital cable. There really is no need to go with a super-expensive cable for digital applications, since there are no sound quality improvements as there may be with analog cables. The signal stays the same when it is digital no matter the cable.
 
thanks guys! il let him know. just to double check - is digital actually gonna be the best connection type for him anyway? as someone mentioned digital wont give 5.1 in games...which is basically all he uses his pc for
 
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