SP/DIF output.

[bretty]

G'day all.

I have a decision to make about upgrading my sound card. I have the Live 5.1 DE at the moment, and all I use it for is digital out.

I am the lucky owner of a set of Yamaha TSS-1 digital speakers. Do differnent card have different audio quality using SP/DIF? I mean it is just a pass through method as far as I know.

Does using SPDIF redce CPU time too? I sould get more overall system performance by using this as the CPU doesnt have to render any audio effects. Is this right? I am thinking about getting another sound card. (Dog smashed the Green output as he tripped on a cable) I only use the card for digital out.
Do different cards perform better or worse while using Digital out?

Thanks in advance

Bretty

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

The only differences that I can think of are jitter and voltage differences. Jitter because of inaccuracy in computer's and soundcard's clock, voltage differences because some soundcards and optical drives that have S/PDIF out (nowadays some manufacturers just call it digital out) use 5 volts instead of standard 1. I'd imagine Creative has followed to the standard (IEC958 if anyone cares) though. I'm not sure about CPU usage, but like you said, if it's just a passthru without processing, I don't see why it would tax the CPU / soundcard. Maybe not even the PCI bus. I don't have any devices with digital in here, so I can't test myself.

 

[bretty]

Ok.

Although the voltage going through the sound card is not going to improve performance right?

I am not looking to use less CPU time, just wondering about the audio clarity. Thanks.

Bretty

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Right, the voltage has nothing to do with performance.