SPDIF input on Soundblaster

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Hi,

I'm thinking of buying a Marantz CD5400 which has co-axial and optical
digital outputs. I also have a PC with a Soundblaster Live! sound card
which has a 2 pin SPDIF input. (Inside the PC on a connector). Can I
just connect the two, or do I need some circuitry to convert the
voltage levels?

Where can I buy a cable to connect the two, or do I need to get my
soldering iron out? How do I know which is the shield, and which is the
signal? Also where do I buy a 2-pin Molex plug? Buying from RS seems
overkill, because I would have to buy 5.

Is the input on the Soundblaster card terminated, or do I need to put
on a terminating resistor on the cable, or anything like that? (Value
to use?)

I have seen other posts about this topic but not many replies.

Many thanks for your time,
Dave.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Arny Krueger wrote:
> "Dave" <dwickford@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1107726166.423873.255170@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I'm thinking of buying a Marantz CD5400 which has co-axial and optical
>>digital outputs. I also have a PC with a Soundblaster Live! sound
>>card which has a 2 pin SPDIF input. (Inside the PC on a connector).
>>Can I just connect the two, or do I need some circuitry to convert the
>>voltage levels?
>
>
> IME this connection on the SB Live! is NOT an input for true SPDIF signal.
> Instead, it is designed a for SPDIF-like signal that uses TTL levels. This
> signal is provided by some CD ROM drives. Level translation circuitry is
> required to make a true SPDIF signal appropriate for it.
>
> Please see
>
> http://www.epanorama.net/documents/audio/spdif.html
>
> "S/PDIF coax input circuit"
>
> for more information.
>
>

I've got a SB Live! value card,and I found the S/Pdif connections on the
longer connector on the rear of the card,there are sites with the
pinouts,etc (i'll post the links below,if i can find them.)
Anyways,I just connected an RCA jack to those pins,and fed the Digital
output of my DVD player into it.Works great. ;-)
Also,I think there is a 2-pin digital input in the edge of the
card,near the connectors for the CD-rom audio/TAD/etc.


http://atlas.csbnet.se/livecenter/ [...] =10&page=4
And a neat volume control. http://bit-tech.net/article/54

A couple of the pages I've bookmarked,I'm sure a Google search would
turn up more. ;-) Good luck!