SPDIF
 

Hi Everybody!

Just wondering is there any need to connect my SPDIF connector from my DVD/CD drive in my PC to the sound card using the supplied cable.

I forgot recently after some upgrading and did not appear to lose any functionality.

Is this thing really necessary? What does it do?

Cheers

I think it's for piping analog audio to the sound card, (i.e. what you get when you plug the headphones into the front of the cd player). Most media players etc extract the audio digitally these days though, so the lead isn't used....

Are you sure you connect DVD/CD player to the sound card via SPDIF?

SPDIF is a digital audio cable (Sony Philips Digital Interface) and usually has a Toslink or RCA connector.

Normally the internal DVD/CD drives just have the std audio connector (can't remember what the heck it's call) - maybe it is SPDIF afterall :)

Its a flat plug identical in appearance to the audio lead that goes from CD drive to sound card (about 2cm wide by 3mm thick).

Oddly, all features of the Drive seem to work without either connected.

I know that SPDIF is for digital information transfer but presumably digital signals go down the ribbon cable so it seems superfluous to me.

Cheers

Usually, these are for external connections or specific internal devices that may require a seperate digital connection.

You can play music CD's through the normal speakers as the data is transmitted via the ribbon cable. The only time I've seen seperate audio cables is with Iain's setup where you use the headphone socket on the front of the player itself.

I never use them myself nowadays. A SPDIF output on the card would be good if you wanted to transfer audio from the PC direct to an external device - MiniDisc or even a Tape player, for example.

If it does Input too, then you could use it to transfer from MiniDisc or Tape onto the PC.

Stefan