Audio cable NOT needed?

[gmknobl]

Browsing today I came across a post claiming you did NOT need an audio cable connecting to your CD/DVD drives to the motherboard to get sound from these drives! I've never heard of this.

3 questions:

1) Is this true in absolute terms?

2) More specifically, does it hold true for the Lite-On CD & DVD rom drives and ASUS A7N8X deluxe motherboard I recently purchased?

3) If it is true, will using the EIDE cable for audio transfer, as this post claimed, use up CPU processing time or interfere with a burn operation on a CDRW?

Thanks.

 

[SNGX1275]

1 and 2 yes its true if you are on WinXP. #3 yeh it will affect transfer, not so much as cpu processing time, but more of cable time, but if you have a burner with burnproof or equilivant technology then you have nothing to worry about.

 

[agissi]

I dont have the cable hooked up in my PC and i get sound Once I was done building my comp. I saw it and went "umm" But it worked fine without it.

 

[Nodsu]

Both the drive and OS must support digital audio extraction.

My liteon burner supports it. It has nothing to do with mobo. Assuming CD audio is 128 kbps, the effect on normal data transfer should be minimal.

There shouldn't be much problem with CPU either since no decompression is involved, the sound data is sent to the soundcard. Unless your soundcard is very old/crappy, it should be able to process 44.1 kHz sound without problems either.

You should give it a try. I got a huge reduction is background hiss when i disconnected the CD audio cable.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Originally posted by Nodsu
Assuming CD audio is 128 kbps

Let's assume it's 176

44100 Hz * 16 bits / 8 bits * 2 channels = 176400 bps

 

[LNCPapa]

LOL - good catch Mict - I believe the last post is the correct bitrate. Remember that redbook has a slightly higher bitrate than 1X data transfers.

LNCPapa

 

[TS | Thomas]

If you're using Windows 98+ you shouldn't require the audio cables to be connected at all.

 

[Supra]

In windows 98SE I cant use the CD player if I don't have my audio cable connected.

 

[young&wild]

My CD-player can still play CDs without a cable in Windows ME/

 

[acidosmosis]

I've never once had to use the audio cable, and I've been doin this for 11+ years ;-)

 

[MrGaribaldi]

Acid> But then again, back in the early/mid 90's we connected our cdroms directly to the soundcard....

11 years? Man, as time flies! It feels like yesterday I bought my first quad speed cdrom....

 

[acidosmosis]

First quad speed? Lucky you, mine was either single speed or double speed, I'm not sure. I remember playing Rebel Assault and Dune with that sucker hehe.

 

[Nodsu]

Let's assume it's 176

Whoops! My bad..

It's good to see somebody bothers to read my posts since I myself don't.