The All Purpose Advice Thread

Discussion in 'Advice Threads' started by purr1n, Sep 26, 2015.

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  1. Huhnkopf

    Huhnkopf Friend

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    goddamnit, the Modi Multibit is hard to come by via Schiit Europe. Tempted to get the Bifrost Multibit instead just for not having to wait another month. Plus it's upgradable. Then however I'm almost at Gungnir MB terrority (which is also upgradeable ~:) )

    I'm just annoyed.

    Oh, I'm considering a Xonar STX PCIe in cheap for SPDIF Coax to the DAC. How bad is it? Can't afford a Mutec or anything similar for now.
     
  2. landroni

    landroni Friend

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    I pity your newly born daughter and your girlfriend, Clement... Given your manners, you don't seem to be deserving of either.
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2016
  3. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    Shit....it reproduced?
     
  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
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    Don't take the bait. Ignoring people like that causes them the most mental anguish.
     
  5. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Oooh christ, so driving from speaker taps?
     
  6. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    Xonar STX as a coax source is pretty good. However if you already have a decent motherboard, check out the SPDIF header on the board.
     
  7. Huhnkopf

    Huhnkopf Friend

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    My Motherboard only has optical output. My old Asus Deluxe had coax out. Bummer.

    Thanks for your input.
     
  8. Grahad

    Grahad Guest

    I only have experience with the STX II, but I'd think the STX'll do just fine with coax duty.
     
  9. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    Most motherboards have SPDIF headers, that can used with Coax or AES at the DAC end.
    This is how I have my DAC connected to the header:

    [​IMG]

    On your mobo, look for any header Pins labelled as SPDIF or JSP. Whats your mobo model? I'll look for it.
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2016
  10. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    So I'm assuming you just cut the ends off of a coax cable, hooked those little connectors to the end of each wire and then strung it through a PCI slot opening in the back of the computer?

    What are those little connector sleeves called?
     
  11. Grahad

    Grahad Guest

    0.1" crimp connectors

    This is a 2 pin housing pack to make it neater > https://www.pololu.com/product/1901

    You probably can find it easily in your electronics store or hobby store.
     
  12. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    Cool, thanks. So on my mobo here in the photo that I've attached I would connect them to the two circled pins? Does it matter which is black and which is red?

    EDIT: Oh wait nevermind.. I think I see that there are two separate connectors that come up in black there below. Didn't see it originally.
     

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  13. Grahad

    Grahad Guest

    Yes it matters. One's the ground and the other's the signal.

    Looks like a Gigabyte board, but I can't ID the model. You should check the motherboard manual and see if the 2 black pins next to the green box is what you need instead, the green connector is the AC97 front panel audio (without SPDIF).

    [The pins you circled should be the ground and mic pin.]
     
  14. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    Yeah, I just realized that. It's the pins in black. The mobo is a Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3. How do I tell which is ground and which is signal? Should that be shown in the manual?
     

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  15. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    Why aren't more people doing this? With all the talk of getting rid of USB issues it seems like this would be a common enough solution that I would have seen it more by now. Are there any drawbacks?
     
  16. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    Of the two pins, one is spdif and other is ground. Refer your mobo manual to identify.
     
  17. take

    take Friend

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    I tried using the SPDIF out on my motherboard to Gungnir Multibit. It seems that my system sends audio differently via SPDIF than USB and doesn't output any information when there's nothing playing. That means that whenever I have music paused, or when in exclusive access mode, when I switch tracks, it will engage the muting relay, causing audible clicks and a second of muted audio. Rather than figure out if SPDIF sounds better, I figured I didn't even want to know and just switched back to USB. I'm not sure if anyone else has experienced anything like this. I'm on Linux using Pulseaudio, FWIW.
     
  18. Grahad

    Grahad Guest

    Well it's always fun to purchase more stuff... There's also the PC is a noisy environment thing.

    From the manual (red to the pin nearest to the edge of the board, black to the other)
    [​IMG]
     
  19. Grahad

    Grahad Guest

    Just comment out (add a # in front of the line)
    load-module module-suspend-on-idle

    to

    # load-module module-suspend-on-idle

    in your PulseAudio config file. Should be in /etc/pulse/default.pa

    https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio
     
  20. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    I havent used any exotic converters, only Music Fidelity VLink ii and Firestone Redkey. Both sound much worse than the direct spdif connection.
    Quite a bit also depends on the mobo audio circuitry (sheilding, noise filtering etc.)
    I recently upgraded mine to an Asus mobo that has a separate PCB for digital audio. Sounds much more resolute than my previous mobo. I never expected to hear such differences at the digital level but was proved wrong.
     
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