SB Audigy 2 ZS, Vista, Digital out

starfury6 · May 1, 2007, 04:08 AM

Hi All, I hope you can help me a little here.

I have Windows Vista Ultimate running a Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS card with the latest drivers from the creative site. The controls say that the SPDIF out is 'working' (I assume this is the port marked 'digital') but all I get out of it at my AV receiver end (Denon AVR-1707) is static, even when there is no sound output from the computer. When playing MP3's the static noise does change so there is SOMETHING coming out but it's still just static. If I plug the cable into the normal speaker out that the headphones are in then the sound is fine.

I am using a cable with a 3.5mm Jack on the SB end and 2 phono on the reveiver end.

Any ideas? Bit of an audio noob I'm afraid.

Thanks for the help

ROBSCIX · May 4, 2007, 05:43 PM

OK, you ned to make sure that the digital is selcted as the output for sound. You also need to verify that it is in the right format for the receiver to understand. Are you sure your using the right RCA jack? did you try the other one?

starfury6 · May 6, 2007, 04:44 PM

thanks for the reply, someone over on HardOCP managed to sort it out for me. What I had was a 3.5mm jack at the card end which I now have only the red plugged into the receiver coax in. The red had the digital signal on it. All works fine now!

ROBSCIX · May 6, 2007, 05:46 PM

Glad you got it figured out.

**dj_stick** · May 6, 2007, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starfury6

thanks for the reply, someone over on HardOCP managed to sort it out for me. What I had was a 3.5mm jack at the card end which I now have only the red plugged into the receiver coax in. The red had the digital signal on it. All works fine now!

that's strange - the red cable would be the ring connection on hte jack, normally digital audio is passed through the tip… - though the A2ZS's digital jack should have 3 seperate spdif outputs

starfury6 · May 7, 2007, 11:16 AM

When I bought the cable it was on recommendations from a website forum somewhere (cant remember where.

I thought with a digital cable there should have only been 2 outputs through SPDIF anyhow? Digital signal and a ground?

ROBSCIX · May 7, 2007, 12:37 PM

Sure, you have digital signal and ground two wires. The signal is encoded. So you have simple on and off digital but some of those pulses are timing some are for the front channels, rears,center,sub...etc... You can easily have surround encoded on a digital signal. Look at the info that comes down digital cable lines...
Your kinda correct though becasue the original SPDIF sepc only talks about 2 channel So to be fair the new encoded digital cards aren't really using the SPDIF standard.

May 1, 2007, 04:08 AM	#1
starfury6 Dark Jedi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Essex, England Posts: 335 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	SB Audigy 2 ZS, Vista, Digital out Hi All, I hope you can help me a little here. I have Windows Vista Ultimate running a Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS card with the latest drivers from the creative site. The controls say that the SPDIF out is 'working' (I assume this is the port marked 'digital') but all I get out of it at my AV receiver end (Denon AVR-1707) is static, even when there is no sound output from the computer. When playing MP3's the static noise does change so there is SOMETHING coming out but it's still just static. If I plug the cable into the normal speaker out that the headphones are in then the sound is fine. I am using a cable with a 3.5mm Jack on the SB end and 2 phono on the reveiver end. Any ideas? Bit of an audio noob I'm afraid. Thanks for the help __________________ [color=DeepSkyBlue][/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue] Intel Q6600 / Dual 8800 GTS 512/ Asus Striker II Formula OCZ 4GB DDR2 1066 / Scythe Ninja / Hyper 880w 3 x Maxtor 750GB total SATAII / LG Multi Blu[/color]

May 6, 2007, 04:44 PM	#3
starfury6 Dark Jedi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Essex, England Posts: 335 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	thanks for the reply, someone over on HardOCP managed to sort it out for me. What I had was a 3.5mm jack at the card end which I now have only the red plugged into the receiver coax in. The red had the digital signal on it. All works fine now! __________________ [color=DeepSkyBlue][/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue] Intel Q6600 / Dual 8800 GTS 512/ Asus Striker II Formula OCZ 4GB DDR2 1066 / Scythe Ninja / Hyper 880w 3 x Maxtor 750GB total SATAII / LG Multi Blu[/color]

May 7, 2007, 11:16 AM	#6
starfury6 Dark Jedi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Essex, England Posts: 335 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	When I bought the cable it was on recommendations from a website forum somewhere (cant remember where. I thought with a digital cable there should have only been 2 outputs through SPDIF anyhow? Digital signal and a ground? __________________ [color=DeepSkyBlue][/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue] Intel Q6600 / Dual 8800 GTS 512/ Asus Striker II Formula OCZ 4GB DDR2 1066 / Scythe Ninja / Hyper 880w 3 x Maxtor 750GB total SATAII / LG Multi Blu[/color]

May 7, 2007, 12:37 PM	#7
ROBSCIX DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 1,745 Rep Power: 0	Sure, you have digital signal and ground two wires. The signal is encoded. So you have simple on and off digital but some of those pulses are timing some are for the front channels, rears,center,sub...etc... You can easily have surround encoded on a digital signal. Look at the info that comes down digital cable lines... Your kinda correct though becasue the original SPDIF sepc only talks about 2 channel So to be fair the new encoded digital cards aren't really using the SPDIF standard. Last edited by ROBSCIX; May 7, 2007 at 12:44 PM.

May 4, 2007, 05:43 PM	#2
ROBSCIX DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 1,745 Rep Power: 0	OK, you ned to make sure that the digital is selcted as the output for sound. You also need to verify that it is in the right format for the receiver to understand. Are you sure your using the right RCA jack? did you try the other one?

May 6, 2007, 05:46 PM	#4
ROBSCIX DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 1,745 Rep Power: 0	Glad you got it figured out.