Sound Card With Dual Optical Input?

[cypris87]

I'm trying to find a soundcard that has dual optical input (call it SPDIF or TOSLINK if you like). I've got my PC, 360, and PS3 all hooked up to the same monitor, and I can switch between video sources just fine, but for audio right now, both the 360 or PS3 go through the crappy built-in speakers, instead of through my surround system, since I don't have any optical inputs. Is there a card out there that will let me do what I want? I imagine it will also have to be pass through, as I read this on some cards that have just one, but I don't know how all that quite works.

 

[festerovic]

I have not seen a card like this before, I can't see the use in a computer environment up till now. It's only in the last few years that products are catering to people hooking up to TVs and entertainment systems.

If you are willing to open the Sound control panel and switch sources when you need to go from 360 to ps3, you could just get two cheapo cards with 1 optical input each. Alternately, a cheap 5.1 set top receiver (with multiple inputs and 1 output) can be had for around $100. You could just do the switching on the stereo, and have the 1 output go to the input of a card/mobo.

 

[Lutfij]

+1 to mr fester

btw you can think of investing in an Asus Xonar XT(or XTS - the PCI-e one) soundcard, has good audio

on the other hand - i know its radical, but how about having them into a splitter and connected into the monitor

 

[festerovic]

Lutfij, there are no optical inputs on the monitor, so even if he had a splitter (you mean a y cable) (and those are expensive for optical) it would not connect to the monitor. I agree the Xonar is really good sound quality. However, when the source is digital the mobo does a much better job of recreating the audio. If it was analog in, it would be really worth it to get the xonar, but maybe not in this case (cost is high).

 

[Lutfij]

True :/

 

[gamerk316]

You'll need a switch to select teh signal you want; no other way to do what you want, as no soundcard has two optical inputs.

http://www.amazon.com/Cables-Go-28734-Explorer-Selector/dp/B0002OF2FC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1270223821&sr=8-4

Something like this; just select the source audio you want to use.

 

[cypris87]

Thanks guys. I had looked at the splitter route, and that wasn't the ideal solution, so I thought I'd see if there was something that I couldn't find.