Does Xonar support internal spdif passthrough for Geforce HDMI?

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grafixmonkey

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Going by the images on newegg and the Xonar D2X manual I downloaded from Asus, I cannot see any internal SPDIF output to connect to the SPDIF input on my Geforce card.

I'm getting a new sound card expressly because I want to put sound out through HDMI and play games on my TV with a nice home theater experience. Is there a way to connect the Xonar to the Geforce's internal SPDIF input?

Possible slight complication - I want the analog stereo speakers on the computer desk to work too, when I'm sitting there. (I'm resigned to having to change inputs in Windows every time. It's not ok, but I've learned to be OK with it.) For that reason the Xonar HDAV 1.3 isn't a very good option since it does not seem to have an analog out at all.

I don't think I see a front panel audio connector either. Are those things really not there? I thought these things were all baseline standard connectors!

(But of course, you can still connect that useless analog cable from your CDROM drive.)


Hackish solutions like soldering an spdif connector to a coax spdif cable are cool with me. Doesn't have to be pretty, just has to work.
 
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leon2006

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The output of your video card is to go the HDMI-Input of the XONAR card. The output HDMI of the XONAR card will have the Video & 7.1 HD Audio.

The Output HDMI of the XONAR card goes to your LCD / HDTV display to provide HDVideo/HD Audio

You don't need the SPDIF option or it will defeat the option of the XONAR card that is the provide a True HD 7.1 Audio. The SPDIF is a not a TRUE 7.1 Audio.

 
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grafixmonkey

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Missed something: "I want the analog stereo speakers on the computer desk to work too, when I'm sitting there. For that reason the Xonar HDAV 1.3 isn't a very good option since it does not seem to have an analog out at all. "

I really don't care about 7.1 sound. This machine will not be playing movies of any sort. This is just for piping games to the HT area without having to buy a second, less powerful computer to do it. Right now I barely have speakers for 5.1. Haven't had 5.1 in games since my Klipsch Promedia Ultras died in 2007. (I've had LAPTOP SPEAKERS! So I'll ride 5.1 until they come out with 11.3 and all the people with 7.1 have to upgrade too.)

Has anyone else here played Space Quest IV? Roberta Williams SO called it.



Things I need in a sound card right now:
Decent support in games to where I won't be like "man this sound card just can't do this"
Avoid Creative if at all possible because they keep the sound card industry terrible for personal gain and that's not OK
Internal SPDIF to pass 5.1 sound through my Geforce
ANALOG stereo minijack or RCA outputs for the on-the-desk speakers
MIC or Line-In for recording lectures and howtos
ASIO support that tries not to crash too much
 
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grafixmonkey

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Upon closer inspection...

Is that a front panel audio connector on the Xonar HDAV 1.3? Does that provide a half-reasonable quality analog stereo out and a mic or line in?

My case has front panel audio jacks and my desk speakers are stereo. If I can get stereo analog out at the desk and full HDMI audio support to the home theater area I'm good to go. (Need to be able to plug a mic in somewhere though, on an occasional basis.)


Do ALL spdif signals suffer from the limitations mentioned by leon2006? (I'm not even sure what he means by "TRUE" 7.1 audio?) If I get an amp that supports a separate sound source on an hdmi input, can I run an optical wire alongside the HDMI and skip the internal connector entirely?


The problem I run into is audio receivers tend to either not provide or ignore other audio inputs when I plug this machine in through HDMI, because the Geforce puts out an audio signal that has no audio in it.
 
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grafixmonkey

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Despite the advantages the article says you get with an HDMI pass-through card, the current offerings have a major problem for me in that the ones with good games support do not have a simple stereo analog minijack to connect my desktop speakers to. (Remembering that my HT is "over there" where my keyboard and monitor aren't.)

I'm searching around but the only hits I get are specifically related to HDCP issues when playing Blu-Ray.

This system does not nor will it ever have a bluray player. It will never need to play an HDCP audio stream, or even ever play a movie. Emphasis on this. This system will never in its lifetime play a movie. I use something else for that. This system is for playing games on my HT with the best audio that is reasonably possible and also needs to have simple stereo audio at the desk for YouTube, mixing demo reel tracks in stereo in Audition, and lipsyncing animation and stuff.


Since it seems to matter, my video card is Geforce GTX 260 and has a 2-pin spdif passthrough port. I keep running into articles from 2007 talking about the "upcoming" 8xxx series that solves the problem everyone's talking about.


So,

1: Can I use the FP Audio port for my stereo output at the desk, or does that process the sound for headphones somehow that would mess with the sound on my nice Klipsch 2.1's?

2: Can I get NON-HDCP audio from video games that sounds good, through my GTX 260, in 5.1 or better? Can it NOT do 7.1 at all with that passthrough? Is the spdif connector unable to carry "HD Audio" signals at all, or just unable to carry them with HDCP for blu-ray support?

3: Can all this mess be bypassed just using a different cable to get audio to my Onkyo HT receiver, and running that alongside the HDMI? Can optical support NON-HDCP, "HD Audio" signals in 7.1?


 
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