optical out advise!!

[jbell]

I have a minidisk player/recorder.
I also have the creative live drive setup with optical out BUT... my new rig which is the asus a7n266-e mobo has the 6channel audio card but no optical option.


what card do you recomend that will allow me to keep my asus sound card and will give me optical out options?


thanks


JB

 

[Iron Hawk]

I love my audigy!

 

[jbell]

I love my audigy!

I love mine too - can I run my ACR audio and my creative? or can i get a dedicated optical card?

 

[jbell]

*Bump* for anyone with a real answer....

 

[Monaco]

I've never seen a daughtercard that provided optical in/out for a PC that didn't cost and arm and a leg....frankly I am surprised that Creative included one with the Live- most folks have no idea what it's for, let alone actually USE it.

So, you have the AMR sound card? There's no way to upgrade those AMRs unfortunately, unless you call ASUS and ask them. It would probably be easiest for you to switch back to the Live card and ditch the 6-channel AMR.

OR you could hit some pawn shops- try and find a cheap used MD player, or something that has RCA in/out and optical in/outs as well, and do it that way.

 

[jbell]

I was thinking of getting a 5cd/md deckfromsony - and I went to great lenghts to get this card - no way am I ditching it yet - it can't be an option. It isn't an AMR card - it is a reversed PCI slot (ACR) Audio Communications Riser - with the codec chipset it is the only officially certified digital sound setup by DOLBY DIGITAL.

 

[Monaco]

AMR, ACR, CMR, CNR, whatever- they're all the same thing more or less, that weird little slot that only accepts a few very specific modems, network and sound devices.

If you want to add optical out, you'll need to get a new card from the manufacturer- ACR, etc pinouts are proprietary.

The only add-on cards I can find that have optical in/out besides the Live you already have are really expensive devices from the music biz, I bet you don't want to drop ~$500 on it, I know I wouldn't

Any reason why you can't use BOTH the Live and the 6-channel doohickey? Kind of a kludge but it'd work for the time being, wouldn't it?

 

[jbell]

it isn't the same slot you are thinking of - it is a pci slot - exact same size just put on board backwards....

I found one earlier for $100 but thought maybe you guys knew of something else.

 

[Monaco]

not that it matters BUT- AMR, CNR, etc etc are all the same thing- a proprietary connection for network and sound devices. The idea is to make a cheap, simple connector that only the manufacturer can use. A PCI slot has to be regulated, conditioned, and 100% compatible with all PCI cards, while an ACR slot just has to work with 1 or 2 devices that the original manufacturer builds- thus it is a lot cheaper. Further, companies can build ACR cards for much less, because they have complete control over the systems they get installed into- they don't need to build for backwards compatibility.

PCI is a free open standard, but to support it 100% costs money. If your board had a real PCI slot instead of an ACR slot it would've cost more, defeating the purpose of nForce. And, it's slightly cheaper to buy PCI connectors and attach them backwards, compared with AMR risers (those little brown connectors), because PCI connectors are already built by the bucketload while AMRs etc are specialized and built in lower volume.

Sorry for the mini-rant, it's all just semantics anyway isn't it.

More importantly- if the review I just read is correct, your AMR card has an SPDIF connector? That IS an optical connector, just shaped weird. Head to Radio Shack and score some adaptors and it will work with your MD player.

http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/projects/spdif/ - this page has great info on audio optical in/out connections.

Hope some of this helped...

 

[jbell]

If I can go SPDIF<--->TOSK that would rock!! thanks I will look into it.

 

[jbell]

UPDATE - well thanks for the help guys and here is the correct answer....


FRY's electronics sells an item for around $40 bucks - it plugs into your SPDIF out plug and runs either off battery or ac adapter - sold separately, it changes the signal from electric pulses to light pulses and creates the tosk plug needed to run optical cable!


Keep this for future reference..


*note seems like I am pioneering new ground here - SSS will confirm that over the last month no one here can answer any question I ask and it use to be everything I asked was answered byu the first couple posts now I get flamed and a hard time about anything... if not then it usually a smart quip or an answer that is totally known to not be an option becuase it has been stated as such in the original question.

but now you all know the answer.

Monster of Rock - thank you for your help - it was a lead in the right direction.


JB