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#1
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Which of the higher-end sound cards have optical in?
Hi:
I've been cruising Google, and there has been quite a bit of talk about the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 as well as a multitude of others. Even though the M-Audio seems more popular, the specs I've read seem to indicate it doesn't have optical inputs. My Sony TA-E9000ES only has digital optical out, so that's somewhat of a constraint. Or is there another way? I haven't heard of any converters between S-PDIF and optical. I am not attempting to achieve the end-all be-all of fidelity here. I just want a high quality card that's at least capable of 24/96 recording and can do a good job potentially ripping analog sources. Thanks, -Clint |
#2
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Clint Olsen wrote:
Hi: I've been cruising Google, and there has been quite a bit of talk about the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 as well as a multitude of others. Even though the M-Audio seems more popular, the specs I've read seem to indicate it doesn't have optical inputs. My Sony TA-E9000ES only has digital optical out, so that's somewhat of a constraint. Or is there another way? I haven't heard of any converters between S-PDIF and optical. I am not attempting to achieve the end-all be-all of fidelity here. I just want a high quality card that's at least capable of 24/96 recording and can do a good job potentially ripping analog sources. Thanks, -Clint As its digital, pretty much any cheap card that does 24/96 with optical in will do it. Should be less than $50. Also, there are many digital-optical converters, check Ebay and other places. Mike |
#3
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Clint Olsen wrote:
Hi: I've been cruising Google, and there has been quite a bit of talk about the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 as well as a multitude of others. Even though the M-Audio seems more popular, the specs I've read seem to indicate it doesn't have optical inputs. My Sony TA-E9000ES only has digital optical out, so that's somewhat of a constraint. Or is there another way? I haven't heard of any converters between S-PDIF and optical. I am not attempting to achieve the end-all be-all of fidelity here. I just want a high quality card that's at least capable of 24/96 recording and can do a good job potentially ripping analog sources. Thanks, -Clint Just use the analog outputs of the receiver to connect to the soundcard. Connect the soundcard to the receiver just as if you are connecting a tape deck using the RCA jacks. Chances are that the optical output would not be compatible,assuming that you want 2 channel stereo which it sounds like what you want because you mentioned analog sources. The optical output from the receiver is usually surround outputs of all 5.1 or 6.1 channels. You needn't worry too much about D/A quality because you're looking at good quality soundcards. CD |
#4
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Codifus wrote:
The optical output from the receiver is usually surround outputs of all 5.1 or 6.1 channels. You needn't worry too much about D/A quality because you're looking at good quality soundcards. The digital output on my surround preamp can output 5.1 DD/DTS *or* 2-channel PCM (say from a compact disc). Paying an A/D-D/A conversion seems like a bad idea. I have a digital output stream. Why perform an unecessary conversion? I think the other poster's idea of finding a Toslink-S/PDIF is a more sound (pun intended). Some sound cards actually offer a companion card which breaks out optical for you, but I haven't seen that on any of the M-Audio cards. -Clint |
#5
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Clint Olsen wrote:
Codifus wrote: The optical output from the receiver is usually surround outputs of all 5.1 or 6.1 channels. You needn't worry too much about D/A quality because you're looking at good quality soundcards. The digital output on my surround preamp can output 5.1 DD/DTS *or* 2-channel PCM (say from a compact disc). Paying an A/D-D/A conversion seems like a bad idea. I have a digital output stream. Why perform an unecessary conversion? I think the other poster's idea of finding a Toslink-S/PDIF is a more sound (pun intended). Some sound cards actually offer a companion card which breaks out optical for you, but I haven't seen that on any of the M-Audio cards. -Clint Fair enough. I didn't realize that the digital output also sent 2 channel audio data as well. But you mentioned ripping analog sources, which a CD player is not. An analog source attached to your receiver would be the turntable, tape deck, HIFI VCR etc. Their musical data would be running through the receiver in analog form. So when you record from one of them to the computer, only one A-D conversion would occur. This is of course assuming that you have a standard type receiver. I've heard of some new age receivers which convert all sources to digital within the receiver. Those type are the exception. CD |
#6
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Codifus wrote:
Fair enough. I didn't realize that the digital output also sent 2 channel audio data as well. But you mentioned ripping analog sources, which a CD player is not. An analog source attached to your receiver would be the turntable, tape deck, HIFI VCR etc. Their musical data would be running through the receiver in analog form. So when you record from one of them to the computer, only one A-D conversion would occur. Indeed, you are correct. The Sony preamp I have has a case of 'digititus' (no analog passthrough), so on analog sources, I was planning on connecting directly to the card. Which means I'm gonna need a phono preamp to convert to line-level should I get serious about doing such a thing. Thanks, -Clint |
#7
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Clint Olsen wrote:
Codifus wrote: Fair enough. I didn't realize that the digital output also sent 2 channel audio data as well. But you mentioned ripping analog sources, which a CD player is not. An analog source attached to your receiver would be the turntable, tape deck, HIFI VCR etc. Their musical data would be running through the receiver in analog form. So when you record from one of them to the computer, only one A-D conversion would occur. Indeed, you are correct. The Sony preamp I have has a case of 'digititus' (no analog passthrough), so on analog sources, I was planning on connecting directly to the card. Which means I'm gonna need a phono preamp to convert to line-level should I get serious about doing such a thing. Thanks, -Clint I was looking at the Sony TA-9000ES here; http://home.online.no/~espen-b/ta-e9000es/ I'm curious, how do you know that the analog isn't pass through? With a receive as feature packed as this, I would assume you'd have options on how to handle analog data. CD |
#8
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Codifus wrote:
I'm curious, how do you know that the analog isn't pass through? With a receive as feature packed as this, I would assume you'd have options on how to handle analog data. It was pretty common back in the early days of digital surround preamps that everything was performed in the digital domain. Sony even came out with a companion unit called the P9000ES to handle exactly the analog features missing the surround preamp. Since then analog pass-through has become more common. I believe all the newer Denon and Sony receivers support this. -Clint |
#9
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Clint Olsen wrote:
I've been cruising Google, and there has been quite a bit of talk about the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 as well as a multitude of others. Even though the M-Audio seems more popular, the specs I've read seem to indicate it doesn't have optical inputs. My Sony TA-E9000ES only has digital optical out, so that's somewhat of a constraint. Or is there another way? I haven't heard of any converters between S-PDIF and optical. Add a CO2 to the Audiophile 2496 and you've got your optical inputs. -- Len Moskowitz PDAudio, Binaural Mics, Cables, DPA, M-Audio Core Sound http://www.stealthmicrophones.com Teaneck, New Jersey USA http://www.core-sound.com Tel: 201-801-0812, FAX: 201-801-0912 |
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