Creative Audigy 2 AD_EXT pin assignment

**dj_stick** · Jul 26, 2004, 04:38 PM

yes this is what it doesâ€¦
im sure you can buy them from somewhere - but they would be bulky, not designed for internal use in a computer case, and expensive - i would build one if i were you - www.electricstart.de has some electronics for building an analogue to digital converter, for extra inputs

Samir · Jul 26, 2004, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Josh_Hayes
I'm not exactly sure what you want me to do... You want to know what color wire comes off J1? All the pins have leads going to I/O Panel via the OEM Cable.

Trace three wires from 3.5mm jack to J1 connector pins...
You can see pin 1 on J1 connector, it's marked with small arrow, look at right side...

PhilA · Jul 26, 2004, 06:41 PM

I'm sure someone could make a simple DAC converter for the Audigy2 and sell them, I'd buy one but then I'm not very good at soldering. LOL

Josh_Hayes · Jul 30, 2004, 09:04 PM

Here is a picture of the rear of the I/O Board. I believe you will find the pins you are looking for and the route they take. I am not sure how to decipher which pins belong to what on the Audio Port. The J1 connector on the Audigy 2 connect to the row of pins circled in red.

Samir · Aug 1, 2004, 12:49 PM

To Josh_Hayes:

This picture alone, is not much help. What i need is another picture, another side of this add-on card, including connector & cable (where i can see wich wire colors are connected to add-on module & Audigy2 card too)...

cybadog · Aug 1, 2004, 05:33 PM

Shamelessy ripped from elsewhere, ymmv, supposedly J1 pinouts are :-

1 - Analog Ground
2 - Analog Headphone Out Left
3 - Audio Backpanel Mute -- short to ground to mute the backpanel (when headphones are plugged in)
4 - Analog Headphone Out Right
5 - same as #3
6 - Mic input from front panel
7 - key pin (shouldn't be there)
8 - VREF out -- voltage reference for Mic
9 - MIC IN MUTE -- ground when mic isn't plugged in, +12VDC when mic is plugged in
10 - Audio cable detect -- will be ground when headphones are plugged in (not normally used)

headphones & mic connections :-

**dj_stick** · Aug 1, 2004, 05:37 PM

thanks for this information, this will help some users greatly

Samir · Aug 2, 2004, 04:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cybadog
Shamelessy ripped from elsewhere, ymmv, supposedly J1 pinouts are :-

FROM WHEREEEE???

**dj_stick** · Aug 2, 2004, 05:05 AM

Samir: Pin 36 on the AD_EXT - could that be a S/PDIF input? or have the dodged it away and left only 2 S/PDIF ins on the A2 cards?

cybadog · Aug 2, 2004, 08:29 AM

Samir, ripped from this thread.

Samir · Aug 2, 2004, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dj_stick
Samir: Pin 36 on the AD_EXT - could that be a S/PDIF input? or have the dodged it away and left only 2 S/PDIF ins on the A2 cards?

Why you think pin 36 might be SPDIF input? When i traced it, it lead to J1 connector

, pin 10, which is, according to cybadog, 'Audio cable detect'. It's for headphones detection, i think... I really have no clue about where third SPDIF input might be...

Offshore · Aug 3, 2004, 03:22 PM

Hi!

Very much thanks for the Audigy 2 Pinout. I waited a long time for this and I'm very happy find it here. Now I have good news for you. I have connected the Audigy 2 card to the Audigy 1 drive - and it works fine. IR-option, headphone, coaxial & optical SPDIF I/Os and MIDI I/Os works fine, only the microphone2/line-in2 , aux2 doesn't work. I think the problem are the pins ADCSDO2(p31), ADCSDO1(p33) and ADSCDO0(p35) (I2S audio data output) on the Drive. I tried to connect to the Audigy2 Pins I2S input Aux2(p19) and I2S input Line-in2/Mic2(p21) but the Signals are very noisy. Why do I have 3 Outputs (on the Audigy1 Drive) for A/D-Input and only 2 A/D-Inputs on the Audigy2. How can I connect these three Pins to the two on the Audigy2.

Another question. Why must I connect the p34 (Audigy2) to TAD, and why I must connect p36 to p10@J1? Which signals are on these pins?

On the drive i have 2 Outputs for SPDIF In, but only 1 Input on the Audigy 2. How can I solve this? Now i connected both of these outputs on the 1 on the Audigy2.

Thanks Offshore

Excuse me for my bad english language

**dj_stick** · Aug 3, 2004, 03:55 PM

try using CD_SPDIF for the second s/pdif signal

as for the I2S signals, make sure you connect the clock signal pins to the audigy drive

Offshore · Aug 3, 2004, 04:05 PM

I've connected the clock pins to the drive. I have a mic-signal but there is also noise on it.

That would be a solution, but why is there only one digital in on the Audigy 2?

**dj_stick** · Aug 3, 2004, 04:10 PM

i don't know the answer to the second question, you have to ask creative,

perhaps the noise is because the p16v (24/96) chip is upsampling the signal from the ADC's on the drive, which are 16/48, whereas the audigy 2 drive ADCs are 24/96

Offshore · Aug 3, 2004, 04:21 PM

Is there a possibility to change these ADC's on the Drive?

**dj_stick** · Aug 3, 2004, 05:29 PM

i don't think so

Samir · Aug 3, 2004, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Offshore
Hi!
1:
Very much thanks for the Audigy 2 Pinout. I waited a long time for this and I'm very happy find it here. IR-option, headphone, coaxial & optical SPDIF I/Os and MIDI I/Os works fine, only the microphone2/line-in2 , aux2 doesn't work. I think the problem are the pins ADCSDO2(p31), ADCSDO1(p33) and ADSCDO0(p35) (I2S audio data output) on the Drive. I tried to connect to the Audigy2 Pins I2S input Aux2(p19) and I2S input Line-in2/Mic2(p21) but the Signals are very noisy. Why do I have 3 Outputs (on the Audigy1 Drive) for A/D-Input and only 2 A/D-Inputs on the Audigy2. How can I connect these three Pins to the two on the Audigy2.

2:
Another question. Why must I connect the p34 (Audigy2) to TAD, and why I must connect p36 to p10@J1? Which signals are on these pins?

3:
On the drive i have 2 Outputs for SPDIF In, but only 1 Input on the Audigy 2. How can I solve this? Now i connected both of these outputs on the 1 on the Audigy2.

1: I'm very glad it worked! The reason why Audigy2 has only 2 I2S inputs is that third I2S input is used for onboard LineIn input, PHILIPS ADC... You can use this for 24/96 recording, just search this forum for the info how to bypass AC97 codec and get separate input trough AC97 2 - wich is onboard PHILIPS ADC... Reason because you get noise on Aux2 LineIn2 is, most probbably, 48Khz ADCs found on Audigy1 drive... Audigy2 expects 96Khz signals...

2: You don't have to connect these pins at all! Recently i've found out that p36 has 'headphones detect' function...

3: Unfortunately, AD_EXT/SPDIF_IO found on Audigy2 cards has only one SPDIF input! This IS strange, but you can always use CD_SPDIF input...

I have another question for you: Have you used setup like this???

Code:

              purpose:    Audigy2 pins:    AudigyDrive pins:
                  +5V:         1 ------------- 1 or 2, no difference...
                  GND:         3 ------------- 3
                  GND:         7 ------------- 7
                  GND:         8 ------------- 8
                  GND:        14 ------------- 14
                  GND:        16 ------------- 16
                  GND:        18 ------------- 18
                  GND:        20 ------------- 20
                  GND:        28 ------------- 28
                  GND:        32 ------------- 32
                  GND:        38 ------------- 38

             MIDI out:        37 ------------> 25
              MIDI in:        39 <------------ 27
           SPDIF0 out:         9 ------------> 17
           SPDIF1 out:        29 ------------> 19
           SPDIF2 out:        31 ------------> 22
           SPDIF3 out:        27 ------------> 9
             SPDIF in:         5 <------------ 15 (if doesn't work try 6 instead of 15)
 AC97CLK/P16V 24.5MHz:        13 ------------> 4
          I2S1 (Aux2):        19 <------------ 33
 I2S2(ALine-in2/Mic2):        21 <------------ 31
                 GPI0:        35 <------------ 23 
                 GPI1:        33 <------------ 24   
                 GPO0:        25 ------------> 13    
                 GPO1:        23 ------------> 10   
                 GPO2:        24 ------------> 11

Please make a similar drawing of cable you made to connect every pin, and post it here for other users...

Thank you!

aleph · Aug 9, 2004, 12:24 PM

spdif_io on audigy 2 zs (SB0350)

spdif_io and ad_ext looks same as on the picture, unfortunatelly if i connect coax out from external dvd to pins 5-6 nothing happen. if i connect it to cd digital in it works.
is there any difference in spdif_io between audigy2 and audigy2 zs ?

**dj_stick** · Aug 9, 2004, 11:02 PM

external COAX is not of TTL levels, which are required by the AD_EXT and SPDIF_IO headers on the audigy 2, use the CD_SPDIF header for this purpose

exorcism · Aug 10, 2004, 08:30 PM

So I bought this Audigy 2 ZS sound card and found out that the digital output on the back is not really "SPDIF" or something, certantly only outputs stereo to my nice surround receiver.

I called and asked them about this and they said I'll only get surround with dvd's with the rear output, and that if I got the Platinum the SPDIF/Toslink out on the front-panel would allow me to play all my games in surround over the digital connection.

I'm wondering if this is true or not, and if so is it possible to use the spdif pinouts on the board to do this rather than buying the Platinum?

Big problem here is the Audigy 2 ZS has almost no low-end to it's analog outputs and the bass boost they so proudly advertise only works in 4.x/2.x mode (not 5.1+ mode) so that further causes problems to my sound. The analog sound from the card just isn't that good, and certantly doesn't come close to my external receiver. It's very disapointing really.

**dj_stick** · Aug 10, 2004, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by exorcism

So I bought this Audigy 2 ZS sound card and found out that the digital output on the back is not really "SPDIF" or something, certantly only outputs stereo to my nice surround receiver.

I called and asked them about this and they said I'll only get surround with dvd's with the rear output, and that if I got the Platinum the SPDIF/Toslink out on the front-panel would allow me to play all my games in surround over the digital connection.

I'm wondering if this is true or not, and if so is it possible to use the spdif pinouts on the board to do this rather than buying the Platinum?

Big problem here is the Audigy 2 ZS has almost no low-end to it's analog outputs and the bass boost they so proudly advertise only works in 4.x/2.x mode (not 5.1+ mode) so that further causes problems to my sound. The analog sound from the card just isn't that good, and certantly doesn't come close to my external receiver. It's very disapointing really.

it is S/PDIF and definately not surround
here is why

tay714man · Aug 13, 2004, 07:20 PM

Hi, I have a cooler master cavalier case with front headphone/microphone jacks. I'm trying to get my audigy 2 to connect to them. I had the front connections working fine on my onboard sound, but the connectors I have are too big for the pins on the white J1 connector on the card. Does anyone know if there is a way I can connect the jacks without just cutting ends off and connecting the wires directly to the pins? Is there a place I can get one of those white connectors?

CVNet1 · Aug 22, 2004, 02:05 AM

Hey all, I'm new to the forums (joined so I could post here), so if this has been covered somewhere else, please just direct me there. I was looking at connecting the front panel audio to my Audigy1 card and from reading everywhere I understand that its not possible to do with the pinouts on the card as they are a digital connection vs the analog. However I noticed on the back of the soundcard where your audio out connectors are, there are very short pins which stick out from the audio headers and are sauldered at their base to the board. Although I can't rule out that they may just be there to secure the audio connector to the card so you don't dislodge it when plugging in your speaker cable to the back of the computer, I suspect they probably have the dual purpose of also being the connect points for the left and right analog outputs for the card. There are 5 connection points to the back of the PCB for each analog output (the digital one has 7 connection points). Has anyone here tried to or heard of someone who has perhaps sauldered some connectors to the back of the card so they could perhaps plug in the front audio to that?

If not, I'll probably test the theory on my own card. If I fry it, well who cares, guess I'll use the Soundstorm MCP-T on the DFI NFII Ultra Infinity instead. I'm just pissed off that Creative treats their customers like crap with their proprietary connections anyway, least they could do is be like some other sound card producer and put pinouts right next to the audio out ports on the backpanel it takes almost zero effort on the PCB layout/design to do that and if they wanted to charge another $10 for this feature I'd be happy to pay for it.

**dj_stick** · Aug 22, 2004, 04:59 AM

CVNet - use google to search for "zap wizard" he has plans for a mod where he uses these solder points to mod his computer case (on a soundblaster live), his website includes diagrams/images on how to do this

imgoof02 · Aug 25, 2004, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Offshore

I've connected the clock pins to the drive. I have a mic-signal but there is also noise on it.

Try changing the spdif frequency in the kx mixer to 96000

44100 and 48000 give me horrible noise

::EDIT:: Oops.. i didnt realize i drifted out of the kx forum on here, and assumed u had the kx drivers (which I would suggest trying btw)

...if your are using the creative drivers... don't they have a menu where u can change the spdif frequency too? (cant remember.. too long ago since i last used those)

if they do, try changing the setting to 96000
if all else fails, go kx! (if u arent already using them)

softlion · Aug 29, 2004, 06:49 AM

[forget !!]
I've just read the first posts

Only digital outputs !!

-----
hi,
I would like to connect my front case Line in and line out jacks to the internal Audigy 2.
Can I do it using the AD_EXT connector and to which pin do I connect line in and out ?

jcgson · Sep 1, 2004, 03:35 AM

I have a Audigy 2 ZS Retail & a RealMagic XCard Mpeg2-card. Now, the xcard has a spdif output which i have connected to the Audigy 2 AD_EXT spdif-in.
When the XCard outputs PCM through the spdif everything sounds ok, but when sending AC3 its all silent.
I have tried both the of the audigy 2 built in AC3-decoder, and the spdif passthrough to my external AC3 receiver but with the same result.

Anyone experience the same problem??
Please help.. :-)

**dj_stick** · Sep 1, 2004, 06:38 AM

make sure you are using the right pins (or try to use the CD_SPDIF connector)
you may have to bridge several pins to activate the inputs on the AD_EXT (see the notes for the image of the pinout)

XavierNL · Sep 11, 2004, 05:19 PM

jcgson,

I initially encountered the same problem as you did, but was finally able to solve it thanks to the info provided in the beginning of this thread. I have posted a detailed explanation how to connect the Xcard and Audigy 2 ZS on the Sigma forums here:

http://www.sigmadesigns.com/dcforum/DCForumID13/7.html

The problem you are having is that you need to enable AC-3 decoding in the (Creative) driver, but that option is not normally displayed unless you have an Audigy Drive connected. To 'fool' your card into thinking this is the case, you need to connect ad_ext pins 25 & 35. For more info, please see my post on the Sigma forums. Good luck, and a BIG "Thanks!" to the guy(s) that provided that ad_ext pin layout!

Jul 30, 2004, 09:04 PM	#34
Josh_Hayes DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Round Rock, TX Posts: 6 Rep Power: 0	Here is a picture of the rear of the I/O Board. I believe you will find the pins you are looking for and the route they take. I am not sure how to decipher which pins belong to what on the Audio Port. The J1 connector on the Audigy 2 connect to the row of pins circled in red. __________________ Intel D850EMVRL Motherboard \| Intel 3.06GHz P4 w/ HT Enabled \| Alpha PAL8942 HSF \| 2 x 256MB PC1066 ECC RDRAM \| 18GB Seagate Cheetah X15-36LP \| 120GB IBM 180GXP \| Creative Audigy 2 Sound Card \| Antec SX800 Case \| PC Power and Cooling Silencer 400 ATX PSU \| 21" Hitachi CM828B CRT Monitor Last edited by Josh_Hayes; Jul 30, 2004 at 09:11 PM.

Aug 1, 2004, 12:49 PM	#35
Samir kX Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 521 Rep Power: 0	To Josh_Hayes: This picture alone, is not much help. What i need is another picture, another side of this add-on card, including connector & cable (where i can see wich wire colors are connected to add-on module & Audigy2 card too)... __________________ MU3NKA 3A HAPO6!

Jul 26, 2004, 06:41 PM	#33
PhilA DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	I'm sure someone could make a simple DAC converter for the Audigy2 and sell them, I'd buy one but then I'm not very good at soldering. LOL

Aug 1, 2004, 05:33 PM	#36
cybadog DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Shamelessy ripped from elsewhere, ymmv, supposedly J1 pinouts are :- 1 - Analog Ground 2 - Analog Headphone Out Left 3 - Audio Backpanel Mute -- short to ground to mute the backpanel (when headphones are plugged in) 4 - Analog Headphone Out Right 5 - same as #3 6 - Mic input from front panel 7 - key pin (shouldn't be there) 8 - VREF out -- voltage reference for Mic 9 - MIC IN MUTE -- ground when mic isn't plugged in, +12VDC when mic is plugged in 10 - Audio cable detect -- will be ground when headphones are plugged in (not normally used) headphones & mic connections :-

Aug 2, 2004, 08:29 AM	#40
cybadog DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Samir, ripped from this thread.

Aug 3, 2004, 03:22 PM	#42
Offshore DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Germany Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Hi! Very much thanks for the Audigy 2 Pinout. I waited a long time for this and I'm very happy find it here. Now I have good news for you. I have connected the Audigy 2 card to the Audigy 1 drive - and it works fine. IR-option, headphone, coaxial & optical SPDIF I/Os and MIDI I/Os works fine, only the microphone2/line-in2 , aux2 doesn't work. I think the problem are the pins ADCSDO2(p31), ADCSDO1(p33) and ADSCDO0(p35) (I2S audio data output) on the Drive. I tried to connect to the Audigy2 Pins I2S input Aux2(p19) and I2S input Line-in2/Mic2(p21) but the Signals are very noisy. Why do I have 3 Outputs (on the Audigy1 Drive) for A/D-Input and only 2 A/D-Inputs on the Audigy2. How can I connect these three Pins to the two on the Audigy2. Another question. Why must I connect the p34 (Audigy2) to TAD, and why I must connect p36 to p10@J1? Which signals are on these pins? On the drive i have 2 Outputs for SPDIF In, but only 1 Input on the Audigy 2. How can I solve this? Now i connected both of these outputs on the 1 on the Audigy2. Thanks Offshore Excuse me for my bad english language

Aug 3, 2004, 04:05 PM	#44
Offshore DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Germany Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	I've connected the clock pins to the drive. I have a mic-signal but there is also noise on it. That would be a solution, but why is there only one digital in on the Audigy 2?

Aug 3, 2004, 04:21 PM	#46
Offshore DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Germany Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Is there a possibility to change these ADC's on the Drive?

Aug 9, 2004, 12:24 PM	#49
aleph DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	spdif_io on audigy 2 zs (SB0350) spdif_io and ad_ext looks same as on the picture, unfortunatelly if i connect coax out from external dvd to pins 5-6 nothing happen. if i connect it to cd digital in it works. is there any difference in spdif_io between audigy2 and audigy2 zs ?

Aug 10, 2004, 08:30 PM	#51
exorcism DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	So I bought this Audigy 2 ZS sound card and found out that the digital output on the back is not really "SPDIF" or something, certantly only outputs stereo to my nice surround receiver. I called and asked them about this and they said I'll only get surround with dvd's with the rear output, and that if I got the Platinum the SPDIF/Toslink out on the front-panel would allow me to play all my games in surround over the digital connection. I'm wondering if this is true or not, and if so is it possible to use the spdif pinouts on the board to do this rather than buying the Platinum? Big problem here is the Audigy 2 ZS has almost no low-end to it's analog outputs and the bass boost they so proudly advertise only works in 4.x/2.x mode (not 5.1+ mode) so that further causes problems to my sound. The analog sound from the card just isn't that good, and certantly doesn't come close to my external receiver. It's very disapointing really.

Aug 13, 2004, 07:20 PM	#53
tay714man DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Hi, I have a cooler master cavalier case with front headphone/microphone jacks. I'm trying to get my audigy 2 to connect to them. I had the front connections working fine on my onboard sound, but the connectors I have are too big for the pins on the white J1 connector on the card. Does anyone know if there is a way I can connect the jacks without just cutting ends off and connecting the wires directly to the pins? Is there a place I can get one of those white connectors?

Aug 22, 2004, 02:05 AM	#54
CVNet1 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Hey all, I'm new to the forums (joined so I could post here), so if this has been covered somewhere else, please just direct me there. I was looking at connecting the front panel audio to my Audigy1 card and from reading everywhere I understand that its not possible to do with the pinouts on the card as they are a digital connection vs the analog. However I noticed on the back of the soundcard where your audio out connectors are, there are very short pins which stick out from the audio headers and are sauldered at their base to the board. Although I can't rule out that they may just be there to secure the audio connector to the card so you don't dislodge it when plugging in your speaker cable to the back of the computer, I suspect they probably have the dual purpose of also being the connect points for the left and right analog outputs for the card. There are 5 connection points to the back of the PCB for each analog output (the digital one has 7 connection points). Has anyone here tried to or heard of someone who has perhaps sauldered some connectors to the back of the card so they could perhaps plug in the front audio to that? If not, I'll probably test the theory on my own card. If I fry it, well who cares, guess I'll use the Soundstorm MCP-T on the DFI NFII Ultra Infinity instead. I'm just pissed off that Creative treats their customers like crap with their proprietary connections anyway, least they could do is be like some other sound card producer and put pinouts right next to the audio out ports on the backpanel it takes almost zero effort on the PCB layout/design to do that and if they wanted to charge another $10 for this feature I'd be happy to pay for it.

Aug 29, 2004, 06:49 AM	#57
softlion DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	[forget !!] I've just read the first posts Only digital outputs !! ----- hi, I would like to connect my front case Line in and line out jacks to the internal Audigy 2. Can I do it using the AD_EXT connector and to which pin do I connect line in and out ?

Sep 1, 2004, 03:35 AM	#58
jcgson DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	I have a Audigy 2 ZS Retail & a RealMagic XCard Mpeg2-card. Now, the xcard has a spdif output which i have connected to the Audigy 2 AD_EXT spdif-in. When the XCard outputs PCM through the spdif everything sounds ok, but when sending AC3 its all silent. I have tried both the of the audigy 2 built in AC3-decoder, and the spdif passthrough to my external AC3 receiver but with the same result. Anyone experience the same problem?? Please help.. :-)

Sep 11, 2004, 05:19 PM	#60
XavierNL DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	jcgson, I initially encountered the same problem as you did, but was finally able to solve it thanks to the info provided in the beginning of this thread. I have posted a detailed explanation how to connect the Xcard and Audigy 2 ZS on the Sigma forums here: http://www.sigmadesigns.com/dcforum/DCForumID13/7.html The problem you are having is that you need to enable AC-3 decoding in the (Creative) driver, but that option is not normally displayed unless you have an Audigy Drive connected. To 'fool' your card into thinking this is the case, you need to connect ad_ext pins 25 & 35. For more info, please see my post on the Sigma forums. Good luck, and a BIG "Thanks!" to the guy(s) that provided that ad_ext pin layout!