Bit-Perfect Sound output from your PC

[ontherocks]

You don't need to go north in prices to get bit-perfect (the ability to directly transmit sound data through its S/PDIF port to a receiver (e.g. a regular home theater amplifier, a custom built DAC, etc.) without having any loss or degradation in the process) sound from your PC.

Use any C-Media 8738-MX/8768 based soundcard with S/PDIF output (something as cheap as Zoltrix Nightingale, approx 15 USD/Euro).
And then use cmediadrivers created by dogber1 to override the factory installed drivers. Get it here (Download)
There wouldn't be any processing of the sound and bit-perfect audio would be sent to a external device (AVR, etc)

List of supported soundcards (incomplete) (SupportedDevices)

If the C-Media based soundcard doesn't have S/PDIF output you can try something yourself if you are good at soldering ICs directly. Look here and here

PS: There is a small downside, the analog part of C-Media chips is bad.The above mentioned driver is superior only if you use the digital outputs.

 

[gobble]

You don't need to go north in prices to get bit-perfect (the ability to directly transmit sound data through its S/PDIF port to a receiver (e.g. a regular home theater amplifier, a custom built DAC, etc.) without having any loss or degradation in the process) sound from your PC.

Use any C-Media 8738-MX/8768 based soundcard with S/PDIF output (something as cheap as Zoltrix Nightingale, approx 15 USD/Euro).
And then use cmediadrivers created by dogber1 to override the factory installed drivers. Get it here (Download)
There wouldn't be any processing of the sound and bit-perfect audio would be sent to a external device (AVR, etc)

List of supported soundcards (incomplete) (SupportedDevices)

If the C-Media based soundcard doesn't have S/PDIF output you can try something yourself if you are good at soldering ICs directly. Look here and here

PS: There is a small downside, the analog part of C-Media chips is bad.The above mentioned driver is superior only if you use the digital outputs.

Bit-perfect by itself? YES. Bit-Perfect in the time domain? Impossible. forget it.

The HDD servo will create latencies, the system bus will create latencies, the cpu process scheduling will create latencies .... You can try buffering in RAM and pushing it with DMA without involving cpu, but spdif/optical has its own problems. Even bufferring at the external DAC end and re-clocking it will not result in "perfect" bit-perfect transfer in the time domain in millisecs. hyeah:

On the side - Firewire is the best way to go - used for steady real-time data transfer in F-22 raptor and spacecraft ... hyeah:

And then there are those designers that talk about jitter induced with flip-flop gates and prefer not to use ICs in the path... or stick to WAV as parsing FLAC induces load on the system on an ASIC chip and increases jitter. With these kind of perfectionists - a more powerful chip that can easily decode FLAC is ignored because of resulting emi interference ...

Its a pipe-dream when it comes to measurements ... better to delude oneself that the source is perfect and enjoy it. hyeah: or go Analog

Cheers

 

[spirovious]

PC.

Use any C-Media 8738-MX/8768 based soundcard with S/PDIF output (something as cheap as Zoltrix Nightingale, approx 15 USD/Euro).
And then use cmediadrivers created by dogber1 to override the factory installed drivers. Get it here (Download)
.

I use UNIXONAR drivers which are better than originals.
UNi Xonar ? brainbit | Unified Xonar Drivers

 

[prankey]

Bit-perfect by itself? YES. Bit-Perfect in the time domain? Impossible. forget it.

The HDD servo will create latencies, the system bus will create latencies, the cpu process scheduling will create latencies .... You can try buffering in RAM and pushing it with DMA without involving cpu, but spdif/optical has its own problems. Even bufferring at the external DAC end and re-clocking it will not result in "perfect" bit-perfect transfer in the time domain in millisecs. hyeah:

On the side - Firewire is the best way to go - used for steady real-time data transfer in F-22 raptor and spacecraft ... hyeah:

And then there are those designers that talk about jitter induced with flip-flop gates and prefer not to use ICs in the path... or stick to WAV as parsing FLAC induces load on the system on an ASIC chip and increases jitter. With these kind of perfectionists - a more powerful chip that can easily decode FLAC is ignored because of resulting emi interference ...

Its a pipe-dream when it comes to measurements ... better to delude oneself that the source is perfect and enjoy it. hyeah: or go Analog

Cheers

Dude unless you are spending in multimillion dollar equipment on Analog, you would not get a comparable and accurate sound than a bit perfect or even a sample rate matched sound. I am sure you are much aware of LIMITATIONS of Analog circuitry especially during mastering, streaming and connecting through an Amp. Lets not live in a dream world and look for the best alternative and as such even an accurate sample rate or oversampling in integer multiple sound card or chipsets sound MUCH better than what I have been able to audition Analog. Analog could NEVER be as accurate as a digital can be to pass the music to the Amp's pre circuits. We could be in endless arguments and I am positive to win them hands down hyeah:

 

[susheeljohn]

Bit-perfect by itself? YES. Bit-Perfect in the time domain? Impossible. forget it.

On the side - Firewire is the best way to go - used for steady real-time data transfer in F-22 raptor and spacecraft ... hyeah:

Cheers

What if HDMI 1.3 out is available on the PC ? wouldnt this be as good or a shade better than the firewire ?.

 

[no1lives4ever]

What if HDMI 1.3 out is available on the PC ? wouldnt this be as good or a shade better than the firewire ?.

Not all HDMI 1.3 on PCs are identical in terms of how they handle audio. Some older HDMI 1.3 connections are like regular SPDIF connections. These can only transfer 2 channel uncompressed audio or bitstream Dolby Digital & DTS. Some can do LPCM. Only a very few can bitstream compressed HD audio to an AVR.

Now in general I would consider a HDMI 1.3 connection from a PC to be better than firewire if your PC can transfer LPCM streams or bitstream HD audio to an AVR. The primary reason would be because almost all modern AVRs support multichannel LPCM audio over HDMI, but very few support over firewire.

-- no1lives4ever

 

[susheeljohn]

Not all HDMI 1.3 on PCs are identical in terms of how they handle audio. Some older HDMI 1.3 connections are like regular SPDIF connections. These can only transfer 2 channel uncompressed audio or bitstream Dolby Digital & DTS. Some can do LPCM. Only a very few can bitstream compressed HD audio to an AVR.

The motherboard is Intel HM 57
Mobile Intel

 

[hemant0285]

I have Asus Motherboard P5QL-EM which has SPDIF output capability byt there is no optical out on the back of the motherboard... I need a SPDIF connector ... [[[this ones mentioned in the link provided by "ontherocks" i.e Low Profile BitPerfect CIM 8738 Card
WHere can i get this adaptor in india
http://www.zen98696.zen.co.uk/Projects/CIM8738Images/MSI.jpg __(LEFT SIDE)

 

[spirovious]

You can get xonar St/STX which has integrated optical & coax connector-
ASUS Xonar Essence STX soundcard review

 

[no1lives4ever]

The motherboard is Intel HM 57
Mobile Intel

This should be capable of multichannel LPCM output and perhaps also bitstreaming HD audio to a AVR.

I have Asus Motherboard P5QL-EM which has SPDIF output capability byt there is no optical out on the back of the motherboard... I need a SPDIF connector ... [[[this ones mentioned in the link provided by "ontherocks" i.e [url=http://www.zen98696.zen.co.uk/Projects/CIM8738_Mods.html]Low Profile BitPerfect CIM 8738 Card

WHere can i get this adaptor in india
http://www.zen98696.zen.co.uk/Projects/CIM8738Images/MSI.jpg __(LEFT SIDE)

If your motherboard has SPDIF connector, then just connect to a DAC or AVR using a coax cable. In general, any cheap RCA cable will do the job nicely if you keep cable length with 1m. The SPDIF output from most computers are of reasonably high quality.

On a lot of motherboards, the SPDIF output needs a minijack to RCA cable, the type that you would use to connect the headphone out to a amp/avr. You can get these quite easily for less than rs. 50 across india.

You can get xonar St/STX which has integrated optical & coax connector-
ASUS Xonar Essence STX soundcard review

IMO spending money on a xonar st/stx to get coax or optical output from he computer is a waste of money. These cards are best bought for analog output and for the high quality headphone amp. If you only want a good quality spdif output and if you can use coax, then get one of the cheaper solutions mentioned in this thread.

-- no1lives4ever

 

[hemant0285]

You can get xonar St/STX which has integrated optical & coax connector-
ASUS Xonar Essence STX soundcard review

This is a great Sound Card with BURR Brown DAC... but its good for a HTPC purpose... BTW Wats the price of this SC...any idea
I dont want to spend on a new sound card... when i already hav d feature in my mboard... jus need to get the connector...

 

[spirovious]

This is a great Sound Card with BURR Brown DAC... but its good for a HTPC purpose... BTW Wats the price of this SC...any idea
I dont want to spend on a new sound card... when i already hav d feature in my mboard... jus need to get the connector...

Price around 9-10k.
Asus Professional Sound Card MODEL - XONAR ESSENCE ST ? Lynx - The Audio , Electronics And Computer Online Store In India
There is another one with optical out,AUDIOTRAK Prodigy HD2 -
AUDIOTRAK Prodigy HD2 ADVANCE DE Sound Card 2-Channel | eBay

 

[hemant0285]

Price around 9-10k.
Asus Professional Sound Card MODEL - XONAR ESSENCE ST ? Lynx - The Audio , Electronics And Computer Online Store In India
There is another one with optical out,AUDIOTRAK Prodigy HD2 -
AUDIOTRAK Prodigy HD2 ADVANCE DE Sound Card 2-Channel | eBay

Thanks ... But I need the SPDIF connector ....

 

[spirovious]

Thanks ... But I need the SPDIF connector ....

Asus ST/DX has that.DX for 5k around.

 

[ontherocks]

I have Asus Motherboard P5QL-EM which has SPDIF output capability byt there is no optical out on the back of the motherboard... I need a SPDIF connector ... [[[this ones mentioned in the link provided by "ontherocks" i.e Low Profile BitPerfect CIM 8738 Card
WHere can i get this adaptor in india
http://www.zen98696.zen.co.uk/Projects/CIM8738Images/MSI.jpg __(LEFT SIDE)

If you cannot find it anywhere in India (not a surprise) build it yourself.
See here http://www.hifivision.com/surround-amplifiers-receivers/12176-how-connect-avr-pc-3.html#post171720

 

[hemant0285]

If you cannot find it anywhere in India (not a surprise) build it yourself.
See here http://www.hifivision.com/surround-amplifiers-receivers/12176-how-connect-avr-pc-3.html#post171720

Thats a great guide..... This guide helps us to connect PC-->AVR via RCA/Coaxial Cable.. Is it possible to connect via a Optical output cable (Toslink cable) BTW Will there be any difference between the transmission from
Coaxial out...
and
Optical Output..thru Toslink cable
....Both are same or is der a diference....

 

[spirovious]

If you cannot find it anywhere in India (not a surprise) build it yourself.
See here http://www.hifivision.com/surround-amplifiers-receivers/12176-how-connect-avr-pc-3.html#post171720

When we talk about Bitperfect,I am not sure that onboard spdf(MB)can do this.
Many have reported that motherboard digital out can not output perfect/noiceless than a dedicated soundcard.

Recommended PC Motherboards | Computer Audiophile
NetMP3 — QWER Portal

 

[ontherocks]

Is it possible to connect via a Optical output cable (Toslink cable)

It is possible, but then you will have to procure an optical converter (something like Sharp GP1F32T or Toshiba TORX173/TOTX173/TOTX1701(F)) or the one which you have been looking for in the first place.....so back to square one

BTW Will there be any difference between the transmission from
Coaxial out...
and
Optical Output..thru Toslink cable
....Both are same or is der a diference....

Both will be exactly the same.

 

[hemant0285]

It is possible, but then you will have to procure an optical converter (something like Sharp GP1F32T or Toshiba TORX173/TOTX173/TOTX1701(F)) or the one which you have been looking for in the first place.....so back to square one

Both will be exactly the same.

THANKS.... Then I will use coaxial output method...

 

[hemant0285]

GOT THE S/PDIF Output Bracket (For ASUS-4 Pin Connector)
Asus SPDIF Out + Coaxial (Out) + Optical (Out) Module | eBay