[cloudbaseracer]

I am looking to go straight from my computer into my receiver which requires S/PDIF.  Since I am wanting digital out on the computer - what method do people use?  I have a Squeezebox but I am looking to eliminate this piece if there is any way to do that? 

You may be wondering what computer I have.  I am actually looking at various systems at this time.  I am even looking into a MAC Mini but see that it only has USB/Firewire out.  I currently have a 2 year old HP laptop that I thought of using along with a 1.5TB external drive. 

Is this a hopeless cause?

Thanks,

James

[WGH]

You have a couple of options:

Most laptops have S/PDIF output through the speaker/headphone mini-plug, you would just need to find the special cable for the HP.

The other option is to use the USB output with one of the numerous USB to S/PDIF converters available, I use a HagUSB with excellent results.

Wayne

[*Scotty*]

When computers output S/PDIF they do so via an internal sound card which in most cases is considerably less than audiophile grade.
The resulting data stream does not sound good possibly due to high levels of jitter. My friend has a MacMini and was not pleased with the sound of it's S/PDIF output when it was fed into an external dac. I had a similar experience with my ASUS laptop which will also output S/PDIF via a toslink port. Again the less than stellar quality of the internal sound card is the culprit. Both of us have had much better results using an external USB to S/PDIF converter between our computer and our DAC. A low jitter S/PDIF output is not a priority with computer manufacturers, if you can hear it,then it is good enough for gaming or music.
Scotty

[srb]

Does the HP laptop have a firewire port as well?  Generally, if available, firewire is preferred over USB for extracting audio.  Many have no problems with USB though, while others run up against latency problems on USB symptomized by crackling, popping or dropouts, depending upon the computer.
 
This may be more than you want to spend ($200), but I'm sure there are others as well.
 
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FirewireSolo/
 
This will give you up to 24/96KHz support, many (not all) USB interfaces will limit you to 16/48Khz.  It also has a built in DAC as well, but I'm not sure how good it is, relative to the DAC in your receiver.
 
Steve

[cloudbaseracer]

Thanks Wayne, 

So with the HAG I am doing essentially the same thing as with the Squeezebox except that the Duet accepts CAT5 input.  Is there an audible difference between the two methods?

Isn't the speaker plug on a laptop a compromise as well?

I guess someone could use the Mac Mini with the HAG unit since they do not have a S/PDIF out?

Is there anything that converts CAT 5 to S/PDIF that is audiophile quality?

James

[Wayne1]

James,

I'm not really sure what you are trying to do.

The DUET will take a signal from your computer and output SP/DIF. You will have to run SqueezeServer on your computer to use the DUET.

With this system your computer does not need to be in the same room.

You can also use a laptop or desktop with a USB converter to get SP/DIF out of the computer. It that case the computer will have to be near you system and it's switching power supplies may cause EMI that your system can pick up. You would still need to run some music player program on your computer to listen to your files.

There are many options at many price points to do these things. Are you looking for improved sound quality, ease of operation, minimal amount of gear or ?

[srb]

Isn't the speaker plug on a laptop a compromise as well?

The "speaker plug" on the Mac Mini, MacBook, Airport Express and ~50% of the PC laptops available, is a combination headphone and optical jack.  It has an optical digital transmitter built into the jack, and you would connect to it with a cable that has a "Mini-Toslink" connector one end and a standard Toslink optical connector on the other end.
 
As both the Toslink optical and coaxial digital both use the S/PDIF format, when you say your receiver requires S/PDIF, I'm not sure if you mean it has both types of inputs or just one of them.
 
As far as quality, most would rate the coaxial S/PDIF better than the optical connection.  And you can get a coaxial digital output out of a converter connected to either a USB or Firewire port.
 
I use the optical digital out from the Airport Express in my bedroom system, but that is less critical listening than my main system.
 
Steve

[WGH]

I have always used USB --> HagUSB --> DAC. I like this approach because I can change DAC's easily and have never read anybody saying anything good about native S/PDIF output from a computer sound card.

But if you are on a budget and want to give computer S/PDIF --> receiver a try, if your HP has an optical output and your receiver has a toslink input then give it a try. MonoPrice has Toslink to Mini M/M cables starting at $2.24. That's pretty cheap fun, MonoPrice has good quality stuff too, I use their cables all over the house.

Wayne

[Jon L]

I have always used USB --> HagUSB --> DAC. I like this approach because I can change DAC's easily and have never read anybody saying anything good about native S/PDIF output from a computer sound card.

HagUSB is a wonderful and affordable device, but spdif output from my Lynx 2B card handily outperforms it, provided you don't use the ridiculous Lynx breakout cables..

[srb]

HagUSB is a wonderful and affordable device, but spdif output from my Lynx 2B card handily outperforms it, provided you don't use the ridiculous Lynx breakout cables..

Many pooh-pooh the S/PDIF output of soundcards, but I found the integrated Realtek S/PDIF coaxial from my higher end Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 motherboard surpassed the USB DACs I tried in the ~$500 range.
 
Steve

[richidoo]

JonL, if you don't use the Lynx breakout cables, did you make your own? How do you get the signal out of the D connector? I want to get several stereo digital streams out of the PC for active amping. I was looking at the Lynx AES16 into 2 Buffalo DACs per speaker.  aa  The Lynx is the only thing I found that can do it well, short of $1000.  I think the streams need to be timed identically, so multiple sound cards wouldn't work.

cloudbaseracer, the sound may vary among your solutions due to jitter. Each different sound card and connection interface and cable makes its own contribution to the overall jitter. Likely your receiver doesn't do anything to remove jitter, so you can probably hear the differences. For consumer gear, more expensive doesn't always mean better. 

Your lowest jitter solution might be a good firewire or USB DAC connected via analog into the receiver. Or just don't worry about the jitter and connect your laptop spdif to the Receiver and have fun. That's what I would try first, see how good it is compared to what you're used to.

There is no black box ethernet to SPDIF adapter that I have ever seen. It would need a microprocessor running application to convert network packets into audio stream. Squeezebox/Duet/Sonos and others of that ilk do what you're looking for, replacing the PC as the controller. But SB/Duet still needs the PC as server.

Maybe a PCMCIA (aka PC Card) soundcard with SDIF out might give you a nice stream with a good clock. Soundblaster, etc.
Rich

[WGH]

HagUSB is a wonderful and affordable device, but spdif output from my Lynx 2B card handily outperforms it....

But the Lynx 2B is hard to fit into either a laptop or a Mac Mini.

I was wondering what what a high end computer setup would cost these days, so following Jon L's lead here is some stuff I put together off the top of my head:

Lynx Studio Technology LynxTWO "B" Model 24-Bit - $899.00 Open box
Empirical Audio Pace-Car 2, Low-jitter digital audio re-clocker with Ultraclock upgrade - $2050.00
Paul Hynes SR3-12 power supply - $292.50 ?
Bitmeister Digital S/PDIF Interconnect 2 meters - $760.00

Total - $4001.50, now all we need is a DAC.

[srb]

I want to get several stereo digital streams out of the PC for active amping. I was looking at the Lynx AES16 into 2 Buffalo DACs per speaker.  aa   

Wow.  I haven't heard of anyone trying to do that yet!  Would that actually be separate DAC chips, or trying to utilize the multi channels of the single Sabre 32?
 
Steve

[roscoeiii]

Anyone come across a Firewire to S/PDIF adaptor that's less than $200?

[srb]

Anyone come across a Firewire to S/PDIF adaptor that's less than $200?

Yes, the one I mentioned earlier in the thread for $199.97!   
 

Does the HP laptop have a firewire port as well?  Generally, if available, firewire is preferred over USB for extracting audio.  Many have no problems with USB though, while others run up against latency problems on USB symptomized by crackling, popping or dropouts, depending upon the computer.
 
This may be more than you want to spend ($200), but I'm sure there are others as well.
 
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FirewireSolo/

Steve

[Jon L]

HagUSB is a wonderful and affordable device, but spdif output from my Lynx 2B card handily outperforms it....

But the Lynx 2B is hard to fit into either a laptop or a Mac Mini.

I was wondering what what a high end computer setup would cost these days, so following Jon L's lead here is some stuff I put together off the top of my head:

Lynx Studio Technology LynxTWO "B" Model 24-Bit - $899.00 Open box
Empirical Audio Pace-Car 2, Low-jitter digital audio re-clocker with Ultraclock upgrade - $2050.00
Paul Hynes SR3-12 power supply - $292.50 ?
Bitmeister Digital S/PDIF Interconnect 2 meters - $760.00

Total - $4001.50, now all we need is a DAC.

Lynx 2B would be for those wanting to use its nice analogue output stage, which is how I used to use it.  For digital only, Lynx AES16 would be the card for around $699.  It's also possible there are other pro-quality cards with a better spdif output than Lynx, maybe even at lower prices.  I just haven't had the time, resources, and inclination to try enough of them and compare. 

The breakout cables are easy to make.  The D-sub box pinout is available from Lynx on-line manuals, so one can easily make an adapter.  I used D-sub boxes from Supra as well as Rat Shack, and both work just fine.  I prefer to just use a short (an inch or 2) wire to female BNC jack (or XLR, RCA), so I can try different digital cables of varying (in)famy  aa

[roscoeiii]

Anyone come across a Firewire to S/PDIF adaptor that's less than $200?

Yes, the one I mentioned earlier in the thread for $199.97!   
 

Good point. Perhaps I should have asked if anyone knew of one that is less than $199.97. Commence search for $199.96 or below option now.... 

[srb]

Good point. Perhaps I should have asked if anyone knew of one that is less than $199.97. Commence search for $199.96 or below option now.... 

I'm on it!
 
Steve

[JDUBS]

Lots of ways to accomplish this.  This looks like a new, and very interesting solution if you're ok with Foobar-only at this point:

http://www.m2tech.biz/

I'm using an EMU-0404 USB and it works well and is capable of 24/192.  Less than $200, easy...

-Jim

[srb]

Here's one for $149.99 and with a $50 rebate through 10/31/2009, so $99.99 after rebate.
 
Phonic Firefly 302 Plus Portable Firewire Interface
 
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Phonic-FIREFLY-302-PLUS-Portable-Firewire-Interface?sku=582373
 
Steve