Topic: SPDIF input on computer

[shane]

Does anyone know if this is something that is available.  I'm going to be in the market for a new computer (desktop) and I'm wondering if you can buy a machine nowadays that has a SPDIF input.  I'd like to be able to hook my dat up straight to the tower.  Currently I use an Audiophile 2496 external USB soundcard for this but would like to eliminate it.  Is this kind of option aailable or am I dreaming?

Shane

[hexyjones]

You could always use the internal version of that card...

I usually see boards with SPDIF out only

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1024725&sku=A455-2110

[firmdragon]

i can't remember if it's optical or coax, but there are a few asus motherboards that have teh option of adding a daughter card similar to the zoltrix cards.  real cheap too.  just look fish around the asus website, i'm sure they still make some with this option.

[ford prefect]

Currently I use an Audiophile 2496 external USB soundcard for this but would like to eliminate it. 

Is this what you have?  Do they make this external?

http://www.midiman.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html

[nic]

Currently I use an Audiophile 2496 external USB soundcard for this but would like to eliminate it. 

Is this what you have?  Do they make this external?

http://www.midiman.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html

yeah, there are PCI, USB and Firewire versions.

[shane]

Yep.  Its actually this one here.
http://www.midiman.com/products/en_us/AudiophileUSB-main.html

Shane

[hoobash]

The audiophile 2496 is prob the most popular card out there for transfer. I have one in my machine(i also have a za2). They got for about $100 new now

[phrazelle]

here is one sound card w/ a s/pdif and optical input, relativly cheap
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1164887&CatId=107

i have a Soundblaster Live! Platnium 5.1 and it has s/pdif, optical, rca, and midi inputs on the front of the tower.
http://www.creative.com/products/welcome.asp?category=1

here is the front input section by itself
http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=16&product=26

i would totally recommend any of creatives products.  i have never had a different brand sound card, dating back to the good ol' 486, and have never had a serious problem with any of them.  i have a used 5.1 soundblaster i would sell you cheap if you just wanted to buy the ir drive(3rd link).  hit me back   

[coloartist]

I have the Soundblaster livedrive. I goes in thr front of your compter and plugs into the SB board.

SPDIF in/out

MIDI in/out

Mic in

Headphone out

[julius_the_cat]

I purchased a SPDIF input/output daughter card for my ASUS A7N8X deluxe MB for about $15 and recently installed it. Still working to get it recognized by the OS.  I have both an Omni (delta 1010) card and a Frontier ADAT card- older purchased used on ebay. both have SPDIF inputs but are limited to 48 khz (no surprise on the ADAT); so you might want to check to see if 96 khz signals are OK if that's your intention.

[George]

I always thought the SB soundcards resample, even through their optical ports.

[dnsacks]

I always thought the SB soundcards resample, even through their optical ports.

So right you are.  Soundblaster cards may be good at a lot of things but allowing one to transfer spdif data into a computer losslessly (i.e. without changing the zeros and ones/binary data recorded by the DAT) isn't one of them.  This is because the soundblaster cards resample everything that's fed into them to 48k (even a 48k dat is resampled)

If you're looking for a card that will allow you to accurately transfer what's been recorded on a dat, the soundblaster is not your solution.  Go with an audiophile 2496, etc. that has been proven to transfer without resampling.