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Does S/PDIF off motherboard still have problems that S/PDIF does off a souncard ?

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Miab

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Some (my) motherboards have S/PDIF out. Since it's inbuilt would it not be less suseptible to electrical interference and signal coruption. The motherboard itself has to be quite free from interference being very delicate and all electrically. PCI interface I believe might have more issues than inbuilt. Any thoughts?
I ask this because I'm ready to purchase a DAC and there are many more options in S/PDIF DAC's than USB. I don't want to use a S/PDIF-USB converter.

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Re: Does S/PDIF off motherboard still have problems that S/PDIF does off a souncard ? - bullethead 18:32:42 03/19/07 (3)
Yes they have the same problems. I know this from experience. However an external USB -> S/PDIF output wouldn't have the same issues. You can get the Hagerman USB -> S/PDIF for about $130.
- HagUSB (Open in New Window)
- I have a related question... Please take a look. - Yashu 00:02:29 03/25/07 (2)
  I too noticed problems with my sound card's digital out ever since I got my new MHDT dac. I have a USB to Toslink device called the MD-PORT DG1. I got it a looong time ago and it was intended for minidisc players with a toslink input, but it seems to work with my DAC just fine.
  This device installs with default windows drivers and I can select it as the output device in winamp if I want.
  My question is, Do you think there is an advantage to buying this HagUSB thingie or is the device I have essentially the same thing? (it was a similar price point back in the day... and it was designed for the same reasons, to avoid the noise and problems with internal cards)
  I now have a NON-OS DAC that can really sing and I want to use it's full potential.
  - Re: I have a related question... Please take a look. - Miab 22:16:42 03/25/07 (1)
    What NOS DAC are thinking of hooking up? This is exactly what I'm hoping to do. NOS all the way!
    - it's an MHDT - Yashu 12:03:46 03/26/07 (0)
      I got an mhdt dialogue II from a guy on audiogon. It's awsome and sounds very un-digital.
      I first used the digital IO module for my audigy4, but with the music still using the card's internal mixers it was sounding kindof dull... better then the analog out but still dull.
      I tried a USB to optical adapter and it sounded pretty good, but it causes problems for DACs due to the way it starts and stops it's signal.
      I now am using the IO module again, but tried the winamp ASIO plugin and it sounds pretty good... I guess the key is just bypassing the internal mixdowns and getting access to the raw stream.

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