ljdamore

To Barrows and all, Thanks for the responses. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. In light of: 1) the very few that seem to be doing this (spdif out from main board), 2) the difficulty I've had even finding out even the most basic information as to how to do it and 3) the doubtful results - I think I'm going to quit. If I had a better computer background I would have done it just so that I could form my own judgement about it - but life's too short. Thanks to all for the assistance. Lou

Hi SeeHear, I am using XP, but in a similar window I do not see SPDIF out. I think that is the problem. I just don't know how to enable the SPDIF. Would appreciate any ideas on how to do that. Thanks for your assistance. Thanks, Lou

Hi Firedog, Thanks very much for your reply. The Asus board did not come with any documentation or instructions. I have done quite a bit of research on the web and there have been lots of people on the ASUS and VIA forums with the same issue of trying to utilize the spdif out. I do not see "spdif" or "Asus" in the device manager or in the Sound control panel. As you say, it could be improperly wired to the Main board, but my guess is that I have wired it properly. Can you provide any clue as to how the SPDIF would be enabled if it is in fact turned off. Some other posts on other sites suggest that sound defaults to the HDMI outputs? At any rate, it is not life or death, so if I can't figure it out, I'll move on. Thanks for your suggestions. Best, Lou

Firedog, I connected the ASUS board to the proper pins on my main board and connected the RCA on the ASIS board to the coax input of my Stello DAC. I changed the sound options in the control panel from my Music Fidelity V-Link to the only alternative that showed up - HD Audio rear output. I also changed my output preferences in FOobar to HD Audio rear output. I get no sound whatsoever from my Stello DAC and I am guessing it is because HD AUdio rear output might be the left/right analog RCA's on the back panel. Can you give me a clue as to what I might have to do to enable the spdif out? Any ideas will help. THanks, Lou

Thanks for your input firedog. I had not heard much about this method and maybe you gave the reason why. I will give it a try. At least I might find out that I had not been missing something great these past years. Best, LD'A

Hello everyone, This is my first post. I have been using a computer music server for around 4 years now. I have used a couple three usb/spdif converters over this time. I recently was looking at the Schiite Audio website information about the Bifrost DAC where they gave their opinion that the spdif interface is still superior to the usb/spdif conversions (including their own). In thinking about this, I wanted to give SPDIF out a try. My main board is a small format Via VB8003 ITX and cannot accept a sound card - so my first idea to buy a soundcard and just use the spdif out will not work. However, the main board does have SPDIF pin outs. I purchased a little $ 12 ASUS board with spdif rca and toslink output connectors that I can connect to the proper pins on my main board. My question is, has anyone out there have experience with this? Is this source likely to be better than USB or does it all depend on the quality or implementation of SPDIF by the computer manufacturer? Although I have long been a MAC guy, I am using Windows XP SP 3 as my operating system with FOOBAR. I would appreciate some guidance on how I would enable the SPDIF output. I did not recognize any option to do so in the BIOS, so I am guessing it might be in the Windows setup somewhere. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks and best regards, Lou D'Amore