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[enderandrew]

I know nothing about SPDIF outputs.  My mobo has onboard 5.1 support.  I want to buy some 5.1 channel speakers for my computer.  My computer has a SPDIF output.  Every single pair of 5.1 speakers I've looked at have several inputs on the back, but none labeled SPDIF.  ASUS claims that SPDIF is THE format for 5.1 outputs.

I went to Best Buy and asked a sales man if I could hook up any of their speakers.  He had no clue what SPDIF is.  I asked someone at two of my local computer stores and they both admitted they knew nothing about hooking surround speakers to a computer.

Newegg.com lists speakers, and you can pick which hookup for the speakers you want, but SPDIF is not an option.  I tried searching for SPDIF and tons of sound cards/mobos have SPDIF.  Not a single speaker set mentions anything about SPDIF.

What the heck am I missing?

[Trisman]

Try looking for S/PDIF.  It's a connector for a digital standard thats normally either an RCA jack or an optical Toslink port.  If it's the RCA port it will look like the port that the yellow/white/red cables for you XBox hook into except this one will be black in color.  If it's the Toslink it will look like a square hole (probably with a protective box stuck in it).  These are used a lot more in a me theater setting (espicially DVD players, chances are if you look on the back of your DVD player, they will both be there).  On newegg.com the connection type is called Digital+RCA.

This post has been edited by Trisman: Dec 27 2004, 12:22 PM

[enderandrew]

I've done Google searches for SPDIF and come across S/PDIF as well.  I knew what the connector was.  I wasn't sure however which speakers that I could buy what would hook up properly.  Thanks for the suggestion!  I'll go check newegg.com now!

[stinkytwinky]

i use my surround sound system

[enderandrew]

NewEgg.com only had one 5.1 speaker set with the Digital+RCA connection.  Yet most of their video cards and sounds cards use the S/PDIF output.  Something is not right.

[Trisman]

Yeah, as I said it's seen a lot more in home theater systems.  It's a digital output so all the DAC work is done in the speakers (in a theater setup, it connects the DVD, etc. to the receiver, so the receiver does what it was meant/built to do, decode the sound).  The connection is mainly there if you want to connect to your theater from your computer (like me).  If you have analog 5.1 out on your board, and the board has a halfway decent chip for sound, it should be comparable quality sound as the digital out.

This post has been edited by Trisman: Dec 28 2004, 05:22 PM