Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions how to send computer sound output to stereo amp

The creative cards are great for what they're made for: gaming.

If you game on the computer,

a) the creative processors deal with all the audio, and doesn't put the audio burden on your CPU at all, leaving your CPU to the game so you get higher framerates

b) Their EAX for 5.1 gaming is unbeatable.

The price you pay for that is mediocre audio quality, when you check the measurements done on their cards. The op amps they use are dirt cheap, too. Check out the external terratecs and some m-audios, they may be more to your liking.

Ahh, I get it (I think). I'll check into these other cards.

Thanks for your patience, the computer end of it is new to me.

thanks for the tip thasp

I do have a coax input on reciever so all I need is that card and a long coax cable and I should be in business.

Do all coax cables come with the same terminators?

Since I went fully to digital music, my main audio source in my entertainment room is an HTPC with an M-Audio Revolution. It has 2 meter digital coax out to my Onkyo receiver.

Thasp - A big thank you for setting me on the right path here - I bought the card you suggested - using the line outputs the results are so-so. However using the toslink output the results are very nice indeed. I had a long and tortuous route to tack the cable to so I was then worried about the cost of such a long cable and the problems I might having making it turn corners. However I got 50ft of cable for 20 bucks from the link below and it works just fine. Listening to music online ( Napster), the sound is not quite CD quality but very good all the same. I can now sample endless quantities of new music for less than 20 dollars a month. Nice.

http://www.stsi.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=STSI_4&Product_Code=J823A-50

I was reading about this topic somewhere else (can't remember) but some people were stating that most/all sound cards only output 2.1 via the TOSLINK/digital connections. Is that true or can you try some testing with 5.1 source on your computer?

I'm curious becasuse if 5.1 is available then I'd hook up my computer and play some UT2k4 on my HT. I wonder how badass that would sound!

In reply to:

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If so, plug the digital coaxial out of your soundcard into the receiver. Unless it's one of those Creative pieces of trash it'll send relatively the same thing a CD player would.

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I just bought this card so I could use my laptop to listen to Rhapsody on my home theater. The sound is crystal clear, and I no longer have to endure an endless barrage of static and clicking noises through every song as I had previously. I paid about $100 for it and am quite satisfied.

With that in mind, let me just say that not all Creative products (and definitely not the one in my case) are "pieces of trash."

And no, I don't work for them.

Out of curiosity, what is the longest optical cable you can run from the card to the receiver?

It depends on the quality of the cable. You can theroetically go hundreds or thousands of feet. Optical cables work by reflecting the optical signal along the entire length of the cable. If you were to take an instantaneous snapshot of the signal within the cable, you'd see a zigzagging line from one end to the other. The purer the glass/plastic is, the better it's polished, and the tigher the cable jacket adheres to the glass/plastic's suface, the less the signal is degraded with each bounce.

The main thing you need to watch out for when running an optical cable is to not put any kinks in it. Try to keep the turn radii no tigher than a few inches -- like wrapping it around a 1 liter bottle.

I just got the new Turtle Beach Montego DDL for 70.00
I use 12 ft toslink to my onkyo 503 digital input.
The DDL stands for Dolby Digital Live and converts stereo 2 ch (Yahoo music, CD's, MP3) to surround 5.1 which my receiver decodes for HT. Sweet. Crystal clear.