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Zilla · Guest

I know the board supports it, but it only has the regular
audio out jack. How can I get 5.1 out of the board onto
say an external powered amp?

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- Zilla
Cary, NC USA
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nthums1 · Forum Regular Joined: 20 Aug 2005 Posts: 47

Since no one else wishes to touch this. First I would contact Chaintech support and try to get every bit of info possible from them. Unfortunately most often tech support may not have much knowledge of what the engineers had in mind. Then try to locate the Cmedia site, in taiwan I think. There you can locate a pdf file on the capabilities of the chipset and different drivers. I tried one on SE, but couldn't get it to work at all. Your luck may be better. Although the original design capabilities of the chip exceed what is shown in the user's guide, you may or may not be able to get all of it working. Chaintech may not have hooked up all the pins, but then again it might just be a simple editing of part of the install such as the inf file. Examples of this type of use involve other audio cards I've used and Creative is a good example. Some of their older cards were sold under various names even though they used the same exact chipset. Unfortunately many of their drivers were buggy to say the least, for enough people that they altered the drivers. But not for the good. Their typical practice seemed to be to turn off features completely that didn't work well for everyone. And if Bill released a new OS, the drivers were dumbed down even further to the point it had basic audio, probably in hopes of selling you their latest product. Much of the market was killed when they bought up aureal and the EAX technologies. Fortunately, Aureal must have left a loop-hole in the buy-out and maybe release publicly what code they were using to that point. Result was a group that took it upon themselves to continue to update drivers for those older cards, at least up to the time of XP. These were the people responsible for A3D ver3. and until Creative came out with their latest batch of Audigy, is it?, those old cards were very desireable, cheap, and claimed to compare to anything unless you went with a card costing $4-500. Also the EAX, extended audio functions?, Creative appears to have decided to release to other companies. Most likely because of another company with its development of HTRF?, Company is Sensaura I think. This would have totally killed Creatives cornering of the market. Game developers were starting to write to that standard along with the A3D, EAX2, & DSound. Some were even dropping the EAX2 because most card builders weren't willing to pay the god Creative. But to further complicate, if you should desire more than what is available on the MOBO with this Cmedia implementation and decide to go shopping, there was something in development known as ASIO. An audio/sound IO. I only touched the surface of that and have no idea how it plays into the entire field, but it was supposed to simplify and eradicate much of the troubles being encountered with high quality sound and external hook-ups. Creative may have even added some of this functionality to one of their lastest cards.

So what type of hook-up do you have available to this external amp?
This is from the documents at cmedia.
􀁺 S/PDIF I/O function:
Output: 96 / 48 kHz with 24 / 20 / 16 bits
Input: 48 / 44.1 / 32 kHz with 20 / 16 bits
S/PDIF In is featured with interrupt, auto-lock, anti-noise, and
anti-distortion functionalities support.
When you download this document, you might be interested in the color block diagram, with the three options. All could be implemented, but it appears none are fully available with this MOBO.

If you should try hooking the line out to your amplifier, beware this usually results in ground loop current and a hum. This can be overcome with an isolation transformer which I have seen at Circuitcity recently, WallyWorld, and RadiosHut had them awhile back. I can not speak to the quality of audio obtained with their products, especially since they are designed for auto's where you don't expect top quality sound to start with. They are probably available elsewhere, but I would try to get the specs as to how wide a band they pass and if it is relatively flat across the spectrum.

uddarts · Guest

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Zilla · Guest

Thanks. I've contacted chaintech and this is what they
told me to get. I have both coax and fiber S/PDIF inputs
to my amp.

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- Zilla
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Zilla · Guest

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nthums1 · Forum Regular Joined: 20 Aug 2005 Posts: 47

whether you use optical or coax for the spdif, it should not produce the hum problem. This occurs when you are doing analog, so as long as you are pushing and decoding digital, all should work.
I did do a direct analog hookup for awhile, and only at quiet spots with medium volume did I detect the hum.

nthums1 · Forum Regular Joined: 20 Aug 2005 Posts: 47

[quote="Zilla"]Thanks. I've contacted chaintech and this is what they
told me to get. I have both coax and fiber S/PDIF inputs
to my amp.

What did they tell you to get? Are you referring to the bracket product?
There seemed to be no data for it. Two jacks it looks like, but is that an in and out for spdif? Is it optical or coax, or is it one of each for input or just output?
And also, Cmedia says there is an option which presumably would have two jacks like the picture, which create a dedicated rear & LFE/center. This leaves the jacks already present available for their alternate function in a dedicated manner.
Note: Cmedia's block diagram of the spdif device may have a chip on it to work with the spdif in & out jacks.

Zilla · Guest

s/pdif is "not" analog, as the name implies. optical
provides an inherent isolation because of the ECL
transformer.

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- Zilla
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nthums1 · Forum Regular Joined: 20 Aug 2005 Posts: 47

Thanks Zilla, but I'm still curious what the second jack on the addon is for.
Although Cmedia seems to support an input for spdif, I'm curious if ctech supported it. And to what level, is it duplex?
Or is the second jack for coax, non-fibre, and output only.
I would like to hear back what your results were.
Under which OS and if the Ctech drivers worked or did you need the drivers from Cmedia?

Zilla · Guest

You're way ahead of me. I still don't have the spdif option since
my e-mail to Ctech bounced (services@chaintech.com). Anyone
knows the customer service e-mail?

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uddarts · Guest

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