SB0092 turn on/off "thump"

MEXXX`

Hello, I have a SB0092 that makes a nasty turn on/off noise. I've had this card in many motherboards and it makes the same noise in all of them regardless of whats connected to the outputs; i.e. heaphones, amplifiers, etc..

My problem is that I have a tri-amped setup and the turn on transient is so bad my amps go into pretection. When I turn the PC off they don't go into pretection but I get an extremely loud "thump".

Is this problem specific to this card, or do they all do this? If switching cards won't help is there any way to avoid this nasty spike without having to turn my amps on and off constantly?

TravelRec.

This behaviour is related to initialization of the DAC circuitry inisde the analogue outputs and cannot be fixed by software. Best is to switch on the amps after the computer is completely up and switch them off before the pc shuts down. Another way is to insert a fast limiter between the soundcard and the amps. Just another solution is to do the D/A conversion externally with dedicated D/A converters (using SPDIF) that not have this problem. This final solution could be a bit expensive...

TravelRec.

MEXXX`

I knew I was going to get an answer like this. I would do all the DAC externally but as I mentioned I am doing tri-amping so I would need a digital output for each amp and the card only has one.

I guess its time to start saving for a $3,750 DEQX. It should only take me about 3 years or so.

TravelRec.

The SB0092 has 4 digital outputs SPDIF (stereo) on it´s AUD_EXT header!!!

MEXXX`

Wow I'm a tard; I've never bothered to to look into what the pinouts of that header actually are.

This is great, now not only can I get rid of the turn on/off noise, I can use some nice non-oversampling DAC's.

How do I connect to the SPDIF outputs via the DSP window? I see only 3 stereo SPDIF connections on the epilog, where is the fourth?

Generic SPDIF Left
Generic SPDIF Right
Digital Center / SPDIF1 Left
Digital SubWoofer / SPDIF1 Right
Headphones Left / SPDIF2 Left
Headphone Right / SPDIF2 Right

And correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I found for the pin loactions on the header....

SPDIF0 : Pin 17
SPDIF1 : Pin 19
SPDIF2 : Pin 22
SPDIF3 : Pin 9

TravelRec.

For connecting 4 SPDIF transmitting units (optical), visit schematics on www.electricstart.de , electronics section, this is for SB0090 and SB0092. For connecting all SPDIF outs inside DSP, use ProFX "kxlt" plugin - i don´t know actually, if all 4 outs are available with epilog plugin, "digital rear" is the output that is missed on your list above.

MEXXX`

Thank you very very much for all your help TravelRec.

Thank you also for that link, the info is very useful. I am fine with using digital coax instead of optical, but I wouldn't have known I need to use a couple resistors for coax if I didn't see that application circuit.

I only need three SPDIF outs, so using the epilog is good enough for me. I was just curious as to where the fourth output was.

EDIT: After thinking about the fact that using coax will allow current to flow from pc->dac->amps; I realize using optical is a much better option. The optical connection will allow complete electrical isolation between the pc and and other components and help reduce noise and ground loop issues.

EDIT: EDIT: My config now is ProFX src->EQ type stuff->kxlt. With this setup the master volume disappears, why is that? The only way to adjust the volume is with the Wave slider. Is there any way to set it so any program that would normally adjust the "master volume" adjusts Wave instead? This won't be a problem in the future as I will probably end up building a separate unit with three DAC's and an IR controlled motorized potentiometer. This way I can leave the Wave at full output at all times and adjust the signal to the amps the correct way. Btw, I use my setup strictly for music from Wave and never need any input or recording functions.

Sorry for all the edits.

TravelRec.

The kxlt plugin is a switchable unit. Connect (for now) Analog Front with your Mixer/EQ and you will have sound. Then connect in parallel a digital output with the same out of the Mixer/EQ and you will have the digital signal on the AUD_EXT pin too. You can have both digital and analog at the same time. In the DSP you also can add a volume plugin or similar and control this via MIDI - btw. nearly all plugins can be controlled via MIDI and so you can set your volume externally via a controller box or similar. And yes - the optical connection to the PC is the best connection thing to avoid ground-loops and noise input from one device to the other.

MEXXX`

I'm not using SPDIF with kxlt right now, just rear and center/sub analog. I was just curious as to why FXBus->epilog has a master volume control but FXBus->kxlt or src->kxlt does not.

Ultimately when I have the DAC's I am going to use a potentiometer after the DAC's for volume control so they arn't playing full volume into my amps when the digital signal is low or off.

Her is a pic of the configuration. I'm inverting the phase on one channel of two of my amp modules to bridge them mono. Its a very interesting trick and can be done on most amplifiers.

http://i5.tinypic.com/125gvux.jpg

TravelRec.

Okay - hehe, try this with Creative driver

MEXXX`

Was that a comment in regards to my bridging technique and no such possible way to do it with Creatives less than useful drivers?

TravelRec.

It was a small joke - but it´s unfortunately real - you are unable to separate outputs neither to connect signals manually to different outs - so no need to call this creative software a "driver" - it´s more a systemkiller and harddisk-filler that supports btw. the soundcard a little :o) ...