Spdif sound card

lndm · 19th April 2006, 11:52 AM

I am considering using my computer as a cd transport. I could rip tracks to wav files before playing them. I am assuming this would help smooth the flow of data.

I have a yamaha sound card with spdif output. I have two questions.

1. How do I ensure the spdif output is a faithful copy of the raw CD data. for example, not an A to D recreation or conversion (from cd drive, software or the soundcard).

2. is this output suitable for D to A (like direct connection to a DAC).

Lovan · 19th April 2006, 01:44 PM

Hello

One way I've seen people testing if the dac is outputting correct data is using a HDCD and a HDCD kapable DAC. HDCD only works if the data is unaltered.

Suitable is difficult to tell. It should work thou.

DocLorren · 19th April 2006, 02:23 PM

Just make sure that no audio cable is connected from the CD Rom drive to your motherboard. Then the contents from your CDs should be recorded as wavs without any DA-AD steps onto your hard drive. I use audiograbber, freeware, to convert to wav.
The spdif output should be in the correct format for an external DAC. On my system fitted with an Emu 0404 soundcard this works beautifully. It converts optical data from my CD player (Sony X222ES) to analog and also wav data from the hard drvie to analog while it has an optical output should I want to use yet another external DAC. Hope this helps.

danb1974 · 27th April 2006, 02:18 PM

Make sure your soundcard does support 44.1KHz, many cards only support 48KHz and resample the signal.

lndm · 27th April 2006, 02:36 PM

This is helpful advice, thanks guys. I think I should go ahead with this, and ultimately review my choice of soundcard.

Ouroboros · 27th April 2006, 02:44 PM

I use the tiny M-Audio 'Transit' USB sound interface. I've just checked the performance of it this morning using the 'RMAA' freeware and it is remarkably good.

19th April 2006, 11:52 AM	#1
lndm diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: nsw	Spdif sound card I am considering using my computer as a cd transport. I could rip tracks to wav files before playing them. I am assuming this would help smooth the flow of data. I have a yamaha sound card with spdif output. I have two questions. 1. How do I ensure the spdif output is a faithful copy of the raw CD data. for example, not an A to D recreation or conversion (from cd drive, software or the soundcard). 2. is this output suitable for D to A (like direct connection to a DAC).

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19th April 2006, 01:44 PM	#2
Lovan diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Sweden	Hello One way I've seen people testing if the dac is outputting correct data is using a HDCD and a HDCD kapable DAC. HDCD only works if the data is unaltered. Suitable is difficult to tell. It should work thou.

19th April 2006, 02:23 PM	#3
DocLorren diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Utrecht	Just make sure that no audio cable is connected from the CD Rom drive to your motherboard. Then the contents from your CDs should be recorded as wavs without any DA-AD steps onto your hard drive. I use audiograbber, freeware, to convert to wav. The spdif output should be in the correct format for an external DAC. On my system fitted with an Emu 0404 soundcard this works beautifully. It converts optical data from my CD player (Sony X222ES) to analog and also wav data from the hard drvie to analog while it has an optical output should I want to use yet another external DAC. Hope this helps.

27th April 2006, 02:18 PM	#4
danb1974 diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Timisoara	Make sure your soundcard does support 44.1KHz, many cards only support 48KHz and resample the signal.

27th April 2006, 02:36 PM	#5
lndm diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: nsw	This is helpful advice, thanks guys. I think I should go ahead with this, and ultimately review my choice of soundcard.

27th April 2006, 02:44 PM	#6
Ouroboros diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Nottingham UK	I use the tiny M-Audio 'Transit' USB sound interface. I've just checked the performance of it this morning using the 'RMAA' freeware and it is remarkably good.