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What is S/PDIF and hooking up speakers to Audiophile
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| sufee_b |
What is S/PDIF? and is it used for connections like a synth?
And also, i got my Audiophile, but i want to use my normal computer speakers for now but there is no connection for the jack, there is only one out with some different end, do i need a certain cable converotr, if so what type? |
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| Boomer187 |
i use my onboard audio for my speakers.
or I convert rca's to to the lil 1/8th and plug it into my sub for my speakers. |
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| Derivative |
S/PDIF stands for sony/phillips digital interface and is an optical in/out for connecting digital hardware sources to your soundcard. synths are typically connected to your soundcard via analogue ins/outs. things like mixers and certain samplers (which have an S/PDIF in/out of course) are the type of gear you would connect to your soundcard via S/PDIF. if you are recording say, a live dj set or vocals through an external mixer then this is really useful because its a bit for bit copy of the sound received from the mixer by your audio source (decks, mics whatever) and its infinitely better than recording to minidisk via your hardware mixer.
if you want to connect your audiophile to your computer speakers you will need a weird consumer electronics type cable. im not sure if the audiophile is any different to the delta 1010 which ive got but the delta requires 2 outputs from my hifi speakers (left channel, right channel), both unbalanced TRS 1/4 inch jacks. thats basically the big headphone jack type connection, the one you use to plug a guitar into an amp. you can get unbalanced TRS to TRS jacks easily from any guitar or consumer electronics shop but theres a whole range of connections which are TRS on one end and a consumer electronics type of connection on the other (theres quite a few). my hifi has a dual RCA female phono connection so i needed 2 x 1/4" TRS jack to male RCA phonos to connect my soundcard to my hifi. ok, its been long getting to the point but you need to specify what inputs are on your computer speakers. if you have a 5.1 speaker set up for your PC then its probably got the same inputs as my hifi.
to clear up any confusion you can see what these connections look like here https://sslrelay.com/s75376715.onea...ndex.shopscript
if that link doesnt work just go to http://www.leadsdirect.biz and click product overview at the top and follow the links to the 'musical' section and then 'audio leads'
although it doesnt say in all cases, the jacks that are specified on that site are all 1/4 inch TRS. the phonos that are specified on that site are also known as RCA connections (check whether you need male or female ones).
if you got really cheap computer speakers then its probably got a single headphone jack input aka 3.5mm stereo jack (like my old 7 watt comp speakers). these are the mini versions of the TRS connection for consumer audio products. note that there is no 1/4 inch TRS to 3.5mm stereo jack. you CAN however get a 3.5mm stereo jack to 3.5mm stereo jack and then purchase an adaptor which you just stick on one end of your cable and which turns it into a 1/4 inch TRS to 3.5mm stereo jack. this adaptor is also available on leads direct. however, if your soundcard like mine requires 2 outputs to be used for stereo play then i dont know how a single mono TRS to stereo 3.5mm jack will ever give you a stereo signal. i assume it would just play sound in mono on both speakers.
i hope that helps so far. |
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| echosystm |
You'd want something like that, 1 cable and a female to female connector doodad. Although, you can probably connect the cable straight to your speakers/sub or get the same cable with a female headphone jack. :) |
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| Dj Thy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Derivative
S/PDIF stands for sony/phillips digital interface and is an optical in/out for connecting digital hardware sources to your soundcard. synths are typically connected to your soundcard via analogue ins/outs. things like mixers and certain samplers (which have an S/PDIF in/out of course) are the type of gear you would connect to your soundcard via S/PDIF. if you are recording say, a live dj set or vocals through an external mixer then this is really useful because its a bit for bit copy of the sound received from the mixer by your audio source (decks, mics whatever) and its infinitely better than recording to minidisk via your hardware mixer.
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Indeed, it's Sony/Philips digital interface, but the optical one is just one kind of it. Usually if people refer to S/PDIF, they refer to the coaxial connection (which isn't really coaxial, because it uses cinch aka RCA jacks). The optical connectors you refer to are using the same digital code, so indeed it is S/PDIF too, but that's usually not the name people give to that one. As it's Toshiba that "created" that optical connection, it's also called Toshiba Link, or TOSlink.
So, it's been widely accepted for some years now that when people refer to S/PDIF, they mean the RCA type, and TOSlink, the optical type. But they are both carrying S/PDIF code.
In professional circuits, a common digital interface that is used is AES/EBU. In fact, this AES/EBU doesn't differ much from S/PDIF (only some transmission details and some bits change), they are both defined as the AES3 standard (S/PDIF : asymetrical AES3, AES/EBU : symetrical AES3). So quite some machines are capable of understanding both S/PDIF and AES/EBU, even if they claim it's impossible.
Just clearing things up. |
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| Derivative |
| cheers for the correction - that'll explain why theres quite alot of coaxial/optical cables out there with different end pieces. i dont really use S/PDIF often, actually the only time ive used it is to hook up my delta to a friend's mixer so i can record a mixtape. dont know the difference between coaxial and optical but whatever type i used it sounds a million times better than recording to minidisk. |
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