USB Soundcard - Digital passthrough
#1
I've got a new SFF PC that doesn't have digital audio out - my receiver supports 5.1 dd/dts etc over optical/coax and works perfectly with my previous 'main' htpc.

I don't really have a choice bar getting a usb>spdif adapter.
Quickly checking on ebay it seems there's quite a few adapters that will only pass through a stereo signal.
I need linux support and want to be rather fussy about the size of the adapter, without spending silly money.
Something like http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HA-INFO-NG-COAX-US...2a08726716 looks great (except it says stereo output), while some of the other cheap usb soundcards look far too big (and like they'd fall apart in 5mins).

Ideally it would just be a tiny adapter with a male usb plug and an optical connector.

Does anyone have any recommendations before I spend hours searching through ebay?
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#2
Re-reading my post :
If it's not obvious, I'm plugging this into a 'standard' 5.1 receiver that supports dts/dd (that I want passed through to the receiver), but ac3/mp3/everything else/etc isn't...and needs to work Smile

Is a device like I linked (assuming it's simply badly translated and does passthrough dts/dd) too 'simple' for my needs with regards to outputting other audio formats?
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#3
Get one of these off ebay:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.as...6829118107
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#4
This one also works with Windows 7 and XBMC live.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product
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#5
I second the turtle beach audio advantage micro. Works great in ubuntu and Windows 7 on my Revo into a DD/DTS receiver.
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#6
I even use the Turtle Beach on OSX, it's a great little device.
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#7
Excellent responses, thank you very much (not sure why I've struggled so much to find an adapter like this).

I couldn't find the linked device on ebay, just the newer model 'Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II'.

I'm tired of googling, I'm ignoring the "the digital output can also send 5.1 channel Dolby® Digital or DTS™ surround sound as an encoded digital audio stream to your home theater system. (NOTE: This feature is only available on the Windows platform.)" comment in the advert - and just hoping this model is the same as the previous version (ie. passthrough works in linux).

Thanks again, I've ordered.
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#8
I think the Windows drivers will actually encode the audio into a 5.1 DD signal that your receiver can play. So if you're playing a game that supports 5 channel surround sound, it'll send it over bitstream to your receiver.

You can stream existing DD/DTS tracks in Linux using the card as well, but the drivers don't automagically encode for you. Although the SVN builds support some of that in XBMC.
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#9
hazeh Wrote:Excellent responses, thank you very much (not sure why I've struggled so much to find an adapter like this).

I couldn't find the linked device on ebay, just the newer model 'Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II'.

I'm tired of googling, I'm ignoring the "the digital output can also send 5.1 channel Dolby® Digital or DTS™ surround sound as an encoded digital audio stream to your home theater system. (NOTE: This feature is only available on the Windows platform.)" comment in the advert - and just hoping this model is the same as the previous version (ie. passthrough works in linux).

Thanks again, I've ordered.


The one I posted passes DD and DTS to my receiver with linux no problem.
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#10
Thanks again for your replies.

They sent the wrong adapter (the amigo II, with just analogue stereo out and microphone in), few more days till I can test Smile
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#11
Got a 'Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II' delivered this morning.
Plugged it in, changed the audio output settings from the xbmc gui on 9.11 live and it works perfectly with dd/dts passthrough.
Exactly what I was after, many thanks!
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#12
Glad to help.
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