HTPC with Digital Coaxial out (S/PDIF)
#16
I have never seen an amplifier that doesn't have an optical S/PDIF port. What exactly are you trying to hook it up to?
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#17
The issue with proposed basic adapters (http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=10...1&format=2 or http://www.infinitecables.com/pop/av_dig-35mm.htm) is that they would restrict me to a stereo signal. From my understanding the only way to truly convert (with all channels for 5.1 experience) to a digital coaxial would be to use this powered converter, which is big and adds so many more cables. Can someone confirm whether this is incorrect?

Thanks for your recommendation on Alienware. I will look into it.

I know it's weird and every cheap amplifier has HDMI today. I still have a much-loved B&O with speakers that only carries DVI and coaxial-in. So, need to find a way to get the audio through without losing the channels.
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#18
(2014-04-21, 17:33)steve1977 Wrote: The issue with proposed basic adapters (http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=10...1&format=2 or http://www.infinitecables.com/pop/av_dig-35mm.htm) is that they would restrict me to a stereo signal. From my understanding the only way to truly convert (with all channels for 5.1 experience) to a digital coaxial would be to use this powered converter, which is big and adds so many more cables. Can someone confirm whether this is incorrect?

Thanks for your recommendation on Alienware. I will look into it.

I know it's weird and every cheap amplifier has HDMI today. I still have a much-loved B&O with speakers that only carries DVI and coaxial-in. So, need to find a way to get the audio through without losing the channels.

this is 100% incorrect. You will get bitstream DD/DTS via the 3.5mm jack with that adapter just like a dedicated coaxial port. That 3.5mm jack can act as either a stereo analog output or a digital SPDIF output.
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#19
Some 3.5mm SPDIF jack implementations even have a optical emitter in them.
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#20
That would be really great and would be fantastic. Just to plausibility tes. why should things like this (http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Optical-To...B000I98ZQY) exist, if things like this (http://www.infinitecables.com/pop/av_dig-35mm.htm) do exactly the same thing?
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#21
Read more online and below from apple web-site makes me doubt that the simple cable will do the trick: Doesn't below imply when using proposed cable (http://www.infinitecables.com/pop/av_dig-35mm.htm), no digital signal would be transmitted as the out would only be used as analogue. And once I use the toslink plug, I am back to my problem that I need the chunky converter?

* The headphone / line output jack accommodates digital optical audio output, analog audio output with a 24-bit, 44.1-192 kHz D/A converter, digital audio output up to 24-bit
* stereo and 44.1-192 kHz sampling rate and supporting encoded digital audio output (AC3 and DTS). For analog headphone / line output a standard audio cable with
* 3.5mm metal plug should be used.

* For digital audio, a standard toslink cable with a toslink mini-plug adapter can be used.
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#22
(2014-04-21, 17:59)steve1977 Wrote: That would be really great and would be fantastic. Just to plausibility tes. why should things like this (http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Optical-To...B000I98ZQY) exist, if things like this (http://www.infinitecables.com/pop/av_dig-35mm.htm) do exactly the same thing?

You're confusing optical with electrical. The optical signal uses light and that light output needs to be converted to an electrical signal to input into a coax port. If it's already outputting an electrical signal then it's just a matter of adapting the jack.

(2014-04-21, 18:21)steve1977 Wrote: Read more online and below from apple web-site makes me doubt that the simple cable will do the trick: Doesn't below imply when using proposed cable (http://www.infinitecables.com/pop/av_dig-35mm.htm), no digital signal would be transmitted as the out would only be used as analogue. And once I use the toslink plug, I am back to my problem that I need the chunky converter?

* The headphone / line output jack accommodates digital optical audio output, analog audio output with a 24-bit, 44.1-192 kHz D/A converter, digital audio output up to 24-bit
* stereo and 44.1-192 kHz sampling rate and supporting encoded digital audio output (AC3 and DTS). For analog headphone / line output a standard audio cable with
* 3.5mm metal plug should be used.

I am not sure why you doubt it will output a digital signal when you then quote that it will. AC3 and DTS are encoded 5.1 codecs. SPDIF over coax uses a simple RCA cable and it can transmit 5.1 Dolby Digital (aka ACS) and DTS. The only difference here is there is a 3.5mm jack on one end instead of RCA.

The only thing you really need to look out for is if the 3.5mm SPDIF jack outputs optical or electrical (aka coax) signal to know if you need the adapter or simple cable.
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#23
You stopped the quote right before it came relevant: *** For analog headphone / line output a standard audio cable with 3.5mm metal plug should be used. For digital audio, a standard toslink cable with a toslink mini-plug adapter can be used. ***

So, I would need to use a toslink mini-plug adapter, isn't it? And then I would need to find a way to connect the toslink with the digital-coax-in? And that's the challenge, where I am not sure I have seen a solution yet?

I would love to believe that I could just use the 3.5mm jack-out from my Macmini with the plain cable. But doesn't the quote above say that the macmini headjack is only analog if used with this?
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#24
Think there is some confusion here.

Some PC motherboards output an electrical digital SPDIF via a 3.5mm jack. You use a 3.5mm jack to RCA Phono converter to get the SPDIF Coax output. No optical involved. (You normally go into a driver config to decide whether the 3.5mm is carrying an analogue or digital electrical signal - they don't carry both at the same time)

Some PC motherboards output an optical digital SPDIF via a 3.5mm jack at the same time that the jack is also carrying analogue audio electrically. You use a Toslink-mini plug to Toslink converter to get the Toslink optical SPDIF output. If you want to conver this to a Coax SPDIF output you need an optical to coax converter. This is an active, powered device. If you hold your hand close to the back of such 3.5mm jacks you can sometimes see a red glow from the optical output ISTR.

AIUI The Mac Mini (and older Mac laptops - but not the current Retina models which are analogue only) uses the optical approach. So a mini Toslink to Toslink cable and an optical to coax converter should do the job. An electrical 3.5mm jack to Coax SPDIF cable won't work.

Optical and Coax SPDIF carry the same data. DD/DTS and PCM2.0 should all be carried via both connectors - drivers permitting.
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#25
(2014-04-21, 21:39)noggin Wrote: Think there is some confusion here.

Some PC motherboards output an electrical digital SPDIF via a 3.5mm jack. You use a 3.5mm jack to RCA Phono converter to get the SPDIF Coax output. No optical involved. (You normally go into a drive config to decide whether the 3.5mm is carrying an analogue or digital electrical signal - they don't carry both at the same time)

Some PC motherboards output an optical digital SPDIF via a 3.5mm jack at the same time that the jack is also carrying analogue audio electrically. You use a Toslink-mini plug to Toslink converter to get the Toslink optical SPDIF output. If you want to conver this to a Coax SPDIF output you need an optical to coax converter. This is an active, powered device. If you hold your hand close to the back of such 3.5mm jacks you can sometimes see a red glow from the optical output ISTR.

AIUI The Mac Mini (and older Mac laptops - but not the current Retina models which are analogue only) uses the optical approach. So a mini Toslink to Toslink cable and an optical to coax converter should do the job. An electrical 3.5mm jack to Coax SPDIF cable won't work.

Optical and Coax SPDIF carry the same data. DD/DTS and PCM2.0 should all be carried via both connectors - drivers permitting.

this is 100% correct. The only remaining question is which style SPDIF jack the gigabyte system is using, and their website/user's manual is not very helpful in determining that
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#26
(2014-04-21, 21:39)noggin Wrote: Think there is some confusion here.

Some PC motherboards output an electrical digital SPDIF via a 3.5mm jack. You use a 3.5mm jack to RCA Phono converter to get the SPDIF Coax output. No optical involved. (You normally go into a driver config to decide whether the 3.5mm is carrying an analogue or digital electrical signal - they don't carry both at the same time)

Some PC motherboards output an optical digital SPDIF via a 3.5mm jack at the same time that the jack is also carrying analogue audio electrically. You use a Toslink-mini plug to Toslink converter to get the Toslink optical SPDIF output. If you want to conver this to a Coax SPDIF output you need an optical to coax converter. This is an active, powered device. If you hold your hand close to the back of such 3.5mm jacks you can sometimes see a red glow from the optical output ISTR.

AIUI The Mac Mini (and older Mac laptops - but not the current Retina models which are analogue only) uses the optical approach. So a mini Toslink to Toslink cable and an optical to coax converter should do the job. An electrical 3.5mm jack to Coax SPDIF cable won't work.

Optical and Coax SPDIF carry the same data. DD/DTS and PCM2.0 should all be carried via both connectors - drivers permitting.

Thanks, this is really helpful and confirms my concern that the answer how to connect my MacMini will not be as easy. Any other ideas besides the Gigabyte HTPC, which would be confirmed to be working?

Also, thinking of mini-toslink-to-toslink cable, an active converter and a coaxial cable. Do you think my concerns are reasonable that this set-up may lose some quality? Or shall I use go with this ugly converter box and it will be flawless?
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#27
(2014-04-22, 02:20)steve1977 Wrote: Also, thinking of mini-toslink-to-toslink cable, an active converter and a coaxial cable. Do you think my concerns are reasonable that this set-up may lose some quality? Or shall I use go with this ugly converter box and it will be flawless?

Toslink is converted to Coax within amps all the time (the optical feed has to be converted back to electrical somewhere!) - all you are doing is moving the conversion to an external box rather than doing it in your amp. All Toslink connections will go through this process - I don't understand your quality concerns. The signal is remaining in the same digital format (SPDIF) whether it is carried over coax or Toslink - it's the same 1s and 0s.

If you don't want the Mac to look ugly, why not run a flexible Toslink cable from the Mac Mini and put the converter near your amp? The shorter the coax cable the better. Coax connections can be susceptible to electrical interference unlike optical (one set-up I had used to give me sound drop outs when my central heating kicked in) so the shorter the coax run the better.

Also go for decent quality screened cable, rather than just using an audio RCA cable to connect the converter to your amp.
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HTPC with Digital Coaxial out (S/PDIF)0