connecting a sound card to an amplifier

[JamesMcG]

Hi all,
I have recently been looking at purchaseing a amp, cd player and speaker, all high end stuff, but I want to connect the amp to my soundcard and play mp3s throught it.

I dont know that much about stereo systems (my girlfriends dad is getting the system for me but he dosent know anything about computers) and have been told that I nees a card with the phono (?) jacks on it to connect it top the amp.

Does anybody know a soundcard with this feature? has anybody achieved a similar setup?

Also, I dont want to connecting my "speaker out" jack on the soundcard to the headphone socket on my amp!


Thank in advance,
James [sig][/sig]

 

There is a cable that you can buy which has a 1/8" connector(headphone style) on one end and 2 RCA(phono) connectors on the other end. Connect the 1/8" jack to the Line out connector on the Sound card, and then connect the RCA plugs to the input of your Amp. This way, you can still have sound coming out of your computer speakers when your stereo is off, and then be able to play your mp3's throught the stereo without having to change anything. Unfortunately, this is the only way to do it with your existing setup. There are cards out there, certain variations of the Awe64 for example, which have RCA outputs, but then your talking big bucks, so my suggestion would be to do it with your existing hardware. You'll get the same sound out of it, without the hassle of getting new hardware.

I hope this helps.

Matt Blyde [sig]<p> Matthew Blyde<br><a href=mailto:mblyde@becon.org>mblyde@becon.org</a><br><a href= > </a><br> [/sig]

 

[Karl Blessing]

I belive you are refering to those headphone to RCA L/R outputs, had one of those kinds of adapters, and also had some stereo to RCA cables, the first week I had my Receiver, I used it on my computer until my TV arrived. Something you might want to look into is one of those SoundBlaster Live! Platinum 5.1, even tho you can get away with using adapter cables (for much much less) if yer a real audiophile, you might appreciate some of the features of the platinum edition ( I mention 5.1, since thats their new line of Live!s , they have a Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder built in on the board)

check out the specs over at soundblaster.com

also for trying to find the best prices , try pricewatch.com then goto resellerratings.com to see what rating the reseller has.
(current the 5.1 series cost, what the Live!s were orriginally, 199 for Platinum, 99 for all others, the non-5.1 which I have a platinum, non-5.1, can get low as 130, and 30 for others)
Karl
kb244@kb244.com

http://www.kb244.com

Experienced in : C++(both VC++ and Borland),VB1(dos) thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, HTML, Visual InterDev 6(ASP(WebProgramming/Vbscript)

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=629151

 

[JamesMcG]

I did need the RCA L/R to headphone connector. I have it connected to my amp and mp3s sound pretty good thru it.

The only thing I would be concerned about is how much sound quality I am losing thru the cable being very cheap.

I have read the interconnects in high end audio stuff is important. I use a Qed Quinex interconnect between my amp and CD player. Is there a high-end RCA to headphone cable?

I suppose the cable might not matter for mp3s anyway.....



Thanks for your help,
James

 

[ray436]

Considering the losses due to MP3 format, sound card quality, noisy ( electrically ) PC interior, I wouldnt bother with $50 cables. If you go all out sound card wise, and get top o' the line cables you will still need really good source material - ie CD audio, but then you could just put the CD in your audio system ;-)

I would get something half decent ($10), if I were making a long run from the PC to Stereo, but only so I didnt pick up any more noise like AC hum.

Ray

 

[Guest_imported]

Go to RadioShack and buy the adapter. I use it myself. It's a tiny thing, use whatever cable you want, as this adapter has a pair of female RCA to plug your stereo into and the male miniDin that plugs into your sound card's Line In/Out(whatever you choose) Or get two single adapters and use both Line out and Line in, for whatever other editing you might want to do.

The other thing about PC Audio is to make sure you use a Digital(2-pin) Audio Cable between your CD-Rom and your Sound Card. My SoundBlaster Live! has both Analog and Digital connectors on the card, and most good CD-Roms/burners/etc have both D and A connectors on the back.
I've connected my CD-Rom with the Digital cable and my CD-RW with the Analog(4-Pin).