I am thinking of buying a USB soundcard to fix a few problems on my setup. My PC is approx 20 meters (65ft) away from my Amp, and right now I have a coax cable getting SPDIF along the way. This is a problem because I HAVE to have SPDIF passthrough in order to have any 5.1 output. This is somewhat a problem with my SB live 24bit. Plus the coax cable is not shielded properly and there is synchronisation issues whenever I turn a light on or off anywhere in the condo. I also have a USB cable going through to my Amp, mostly for the IR receiver standing on my living room. This allows me to have a USB soundcard as well just right next to my amp. This would solve all connection issues as I could have SPDIF and a 5.1 analog connection as well. Of course, I'd like my SPDIF issues fixed as well, but even if they aren't I still have a rollback solution -- other than stereo. So I need half decent DACs as well. Has anyone a recommendation here? I have two hubs between my PC and my sound card, will this be an issue with AV synchronization? Is USB 1.1 enough for this application? I was having a look at Terratec Aureon 5.1 USB, has anyone had any experience with that ? Thanks a bunch!
Hi pieroxy, You should consider getting yourself a new 20 metre coaxial cable, properly shielded. That's easiest and least-expensive solution. Regarding S/PDIF (IEC-958) coaxial: apparently it does not use 50-ohm RG-58 cable, it uses good ol' RG-59 (regular 75-ohm TV cable). But an external PC soundcard that lived beside the home HiFi, that too would be sweet :^) Simply connect with USB, I believe highspeed USB is required for good performance with that, but this SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit External http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=206&product=10702 says just requires USB... So you connect via USB, and then you could simply run short S/PDIF from there (or connect six channels analog). I would want to minimize hubs giving priority to the USB Audio, and use highspeed USB of course ;^) The key point is if the External device outputs S/PDIF and 5.1 both, it's very flexible and easy for you. That Live! 24-bit External looks nice and it is reasonable at $60 bucks too. Let us know how it goes, L8R
Thanks The_OGS, Buying a coax cable has crossed my mind, but I need to be sure I'll fix my SPDIF passthrough issues first. The only cards I know that do that are all TOSLink. Buying a 15m TOSLink is just nuts, so I'd need a TOS->RCA converter... Another investment, and not a very elegant solution. USB 1.1 is roughly 10MB/s, and 6channels in 44.1/16 is about 4500KB/s so I think it'll work. Anyways I can invest in a USB2 cord if I need one. Thanks again for the advices
USB v/1.1 provides ~12Mb/s (Mega-bits) This is approximately 1.5 MB/s (Mega-bytes). So you have Optical S/PDIF? I took this to indicate you used RG-59 with RCA termination; it is a simple matter to repair the shielding (or replace). I did find that, for 'maximum frequency/sampling/full-duplex performance' Creative recommends USB 2.0 IOW doesn't work real good on ver.1 (to be expected). I use optical S/PDIF (all ABit has Optical In and Out both, as opposed to Asus for example, which uses coax). Anyway, whatever, Good luck.
