S/PDIF not working properly. Help?

Factual Questions
1

Running Windows 7, with a SoundBlaster SE installed. It has a digital out port. I’m running a 3.5mm->TOSLINK cable straight into my receiver, but receiving no audio. The card works correctly, as I can still get analog sound with a 3.5mm->RCA adapter.

I’ve disabled all other sound devices in the device manager, ensured my receiver was set to the proper configuration, etc. What am I missing here?

2

See what bit rate your receiver takes. You’re probably sending a signal that is at the wrong bit rate. This assumes you have already checked that the digital out is turned on in the audio software and also not muted in the mixer software.

3

I checked that, it’s set to the same frequency.

Since I posted this, I’ve done a little bit of experimenting, and suspect that it may be my receiver that is dying. Bummer.

4

Is it actually lighting up the fiber?

5

There’s no fiber to light up in this scenario, since it’s a simple 3.5" digital out. It’s a simple cable conversion to TOSLINK that makes it work. The audio works from my Macbook, but further research has shown that only Apple computers come with the ability to run a 3.5"->toslink built in.

I did more digging, and it seems the SoundBlaster won’t deliver the proper signal without purchasing a second product, some sort of external digital I/O box.

I never suspected that digital passthrough could be this complicated. This should be the easiest thing for a sound card to do. It’s doing zero work.

I got to thinking about this, and went to try my old TurtleBeach sound card which never worked, even though it had a traditional Optical port. This one is at the wrong frequency, explaining why it didn’t work. sigh Now for my third sound card. Fingers crossed.

6

Sorry, I’m confused. TOSLINK is basically just a piece of optical fiber. You need something to send the digital signals as light down that fiber for it to work; you can’t just do a physical connector change. If it’s not an optical digital out, what is it? Is it supposed to be for coaxial S/PDIF (rather than optical, which is what TOSLINK is)? TOSLINK is not the only kind of S/PDIF.

Anyway, sounds like you have it figured out, but I’m still kind of curious. I’m definitely not up to speed on PC sound cards, so it’s definitely possible there’s something I’m missing here.

7

My mistake. It is a fiber optic cable, but so durned tiny that I thought it was a simple copper wire. On my macbook, it doesn’t put out the red light unless audio is actively playing, which I never knew.

Learn something new every day.