SPDIF....in?

[Hajime]

All right.

I've got a kickass set of 5.1 speakers. A nice full PC. And, overall, a nice setup.

Except for one quirk.

No SPDIF in.

I'm looking for SPDIF -in-, in any capacity from an add-on card.

The only card I have been able to find that supports SPDIF in is the Audigy 2 ZS, and I'm not about to touch that creative piece.

Does anyone here know of any other cards that support SPDIF in?

I'm hoping to setup my PS2 to work with SPDIF in, but it's sort of hard - unless a SPDIF port can be confiured to be either input or output? I.e., the infamous AV-710?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Hajime
All right.

I've got a kickass set of 5.1 speakers. A nice full PC. And, overall, a nice setup.

Except for one quirk.

No SPDIF in.

I'm looking for SPDIF -in-, in any capacity from an add-on card.

The only card I have been able to find that supports SPDIF in is the Audigy 2 ZS, and I'm not about to touch that creative piece.

Does anyone here know of any other cards that support SPDIF in?

I'm hoping to setup my PS2 to work with SPDIF in, but it's sort of hard - unless a SPDIF port can be confiured to be either input or output? I.e., the infamous AV-710?

I have the AV-710 and afaik there's no way to change the optical to an input. You can set it up so it loops the output back so you can record it, but I don't think there's any way to change it to an optical line in.

Here's a thread about other VIA envy based cards.

The reviewer recommends the Maddog Entertainer if you want optical in.

What speakers do you have, are you connecting them with digital output?

Also, I don't have a PS2.... does it give DD output for games or something? I'm wondering why you want to use digital vs analog to connect it.

Maddog for $50

The reviewer also seems to indicate that the Catalina is the same card as the maddog with the same capabilities.

These aren't really the best cards though... is there a specific reason you don't want to go the audigy route. I think creative has cleaned up their act pretty well in the audio department since their SB live! days.

 

[jojiboy]

The only one I'm familiar with is the Maddog Entertainer 7.1 DSP. Uses the Via Envy24HT-S chipset w/ Wolfson WM8728 DAC. I don't have this one but I have the Chaintech AV-710 in my HTPC. It uses the same chipset and DACs as the Maddog but doesn't have SPDIF optical input. Excellent chipset and much cheaper than the Audigy cards.


Edit: Looks like YOyoYOhowsDAjello beat me to the punch.

 

[Hajime]

Two words.

Linux support.

Creative's never getting my business

(edit)

Let's just say Creative really screwed the pooch, so to speak, when I bought an Audigy and tried to get it working with Linux.

That experience made me vehemently against anything from Creative.

(Edit)

Buying the Maddog Entertainer right now.