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#1
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optical better than coax???
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 be installing another DAC soon (Behringer), but it might be helpful to know beforehand whether or not I have to keep the existing Sound Blaster USB device installed. |
#2
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"MZ" writes:
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 be installing another DAC soon (Behringer), but it might be helpful to know beforehand whether or not I have to keep the existing Sound Blaster USB device installed. Does seem odd, considering "bits is bits" as it were. However, an optical medium provides no electrical connection between the devices and hence isolates them electrically. Coax does not provide electrical isolation. This difference makes me wonder whether a ground loop might be interfering with reliable digital communication over a co-ax link. Of course a piece of on-board hardware that drives the co-ax but isn't involved in driving the fiber might also be to blame. Are both ends of this chain plugged into the same properly grounded electrical circuit? Are other devices connected to other circuits electrically connected to these systems in any way? Best Regards, -- /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Todd H \ / | http://www.toddh.net/ X Promoting good netiquette | http://triplethreatband.com/ / \ http://www.toddh.net/netiquette/ | "4 lines suffice." |
#3
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"MZ" writes:
How can this be? Could be a nasty ground loop - not affecting optical links, a software problem causing crappy resampling on your PC or a poor/mismatched/defective/... digital output on your ITX board. Which Via ITX board are you using ? It's the EPIA 800. http://www.viavpsd.com/product/epia_...therboardId=21 How can I determine if grounding is the problem? None of the other equipment (3 amplifiers, 1 DAC) seems to exhibit any poor grounding symptoms, but I seem to recall that when I hooked up the analog outputs of the computer to the amplifier inputs directly it gave me "alternator whine" (even though other analog sources didn't). Should I try an isolating transformer on the coax to see if that fixes it? Any other ideas? I may have missed it in the details...but why not use the fiber that was working fine? No easy way to completely rule out grounding, or to rule out a problem with the circuitry driving and reading the co-ax, but if these problems go away using fiber, seems that's the ticket.... -- /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Todd H \ / | http://www.toddh.net/ X Promoting good netiquette | http://triplethreatband.com/ / \ http://www.toddh.net/netiquette/ | "4 lines suffice." |
#5
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Does seem odd, considering "bits is bits" as it were.
However, an optical medium provides no electrical connection between the devices and hence isolates them electrically. Coax does not provide electrical isolation. This difference makes me wonder whether a ground loop might be interfering with reliable digital communication over a co-ax link. Of course a piece of on-board hardware that drives the co-ax but isn't involved in driving the fiber might also be to blame. Are both ends of this chain plugged into the same properly grounded electrical circuit? Are other devices connected to other circuits electrically connected to these systems in any way? I considered that as well. And to answer your question, the equipment is installed in a car, where ground loops tend to be prevalent. The computer, DAC, and amplifier grounds are all in the same location; there's no "alternator whine", which is often indicative of ground loop issues (or poor grounding in general); the computer's chassis is grounded to this point and so are the rack rails. But I would think that if it was a grounding issue, and there was some sort of interference introduced into the signal, then I'd be having trouble with the digital transmission and it would "cut out" - all or none, I guess. I would think that the problem must then lie either with the digital to analog conversion or "after", or "before" the ADC? But is ADC even employed in the computer? Sure, there's an analog sound output onboard, but why would it have to go ADC-DAC to give me a spdif output? |
#6
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How can this be?
Could be a nasty ground loop - not affecting optical links, a software problem causing crappy resampling on your PC or a poor/mismatched/defective/... digital output on your ITX board. Which Via ITX board are you using ? It's the EPIA 800. http://www.viavpsd.com/product/epia_...therboardId=21 How can I determine if grounding is the problem? None of the other equipment (3 amplifiers, 1 DAC) seems to exhibit any poor grounding symptoms, but I seem to recall that when I hooked up the analog outputs of the computer to the amplifier inputs directly it gave me "alternator whine" (even though other analog sources didn't). Should I try an isolating transformer on the coax to see if that fixes it? Any other ideas? |
#7
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I may have missed it in the details...but why not use the fiber that
was working fine? No easy way to completely rule out grounding, or to rule out a problem with the circuitry driving and reading the co-ax, but if these problems go away using fiber, seems that's the ticket.... No reason, really. The optical requires the use of an external USB device. If the coax worked, I'd just as soon eliminate that extra device. But it brought about a puzzling finding which I couldn't explain. |
#8
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Which shares the same CINCH connector for digital audio and composite
video out. Could be a crosstalk related problem. Check the J11 jumper on the mobo. The jumper is currently set for dig audio and not video. Or it could be a global RFI-related problem : this mobo is only class-B certified with silly provisos, such as using shielded everything But IMO the real culprit is the silly resampling used by Via. Check if your system outputs a 16/44 bitstream when playing CD's. If you've got 16/48, you'll have to circumvent resampling, for instance by following advice given here : http://itx.lincomatic.com/modules.ph...=article&sid=5 Looks like this is a common problem and that the problem is with the spdif. I'd prefer to stick with winamp I guess, so it looks like my only recourse may be to go back to optical. Anyway, here's the manual to the DAC: http://www.zapco.com/prod/pdf/daiisl.pdf It handles both 44 and 48 (when de-jitter is off). |
#9
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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. |
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