On Wed, 6 Jul 2005 13:34:32 -0400, MZ wrote:


So I've been running an optical output from a USB sound card (sound blaster
MP3+) to a Zapco DAC for a while now with great results. Today I tried to
use the coax spdif output of the on-board sound card (Via ITX board - AC97
codec) with the latest drivers into the same DAC. Oddly enough, it sounded
awful. There was a prominent high frequency distortion generated by the
midrange and highs of the music. It didn't sound like clipping distortion
or anything like that. It sounded more "digital" in nature - almost like
high frequency artifacts introduced by a poorly encoded mp3, only more
severe.

How can this be? Is this originating in the onboard sound or the DAC? I'll

You have broken equipment. Comparing 1230987105132085 to 1230987105132085
should be no different. Can you tell that the left one was hand typed and
the right one done with cut'n'paste? It's the same with coax vs. optical.