[mythtv-users] Problems with alsa & spdif & myth

[Jesper Rasmussen]

DISCLAIMER: I do not want to start a religion war or flaming thread.. 
the folowing is my personal (possibly mis:)understanding

Optical: the advantage is that there is no electrical current able to 
traverse the fiberoptic cable -> your pc and amp is TOTALLY seperated in 
terms of static running along from various components in you pc ,through 
your cabinet, through a cable to your amp.

I have expirenced minor humming and noise being transvered from my pc to 
the amp via "electrical" coax cable. When i switched to optical it vent 
away.

some HIFI people agrues that, when you use optical the signal comming 
from electric components inside you pc, will need to be converted to a 
optical signal, transmitted over the vire, and converted back into an 
electric signal in the other end. And the further argue that such an 
conversion might be lossy and hench deteriorates the signal.

wether or not the conversion is lossy or lossless I do not know

however IMHO I choose optical as I _THINK_ (subjective personal opinion 
:) the noise being trnasfered from the PC is more anoying than potential 
  loss of quality due to conversion.

that said, .. I Believe the A7N8X-E Deluxe mobo does not have an optical 
connector and hench you need to go with coax "electrical" cable.

anyway I also believe the diference is only noticable to the very well 
trained ear.

cheers
Jesper

William wrote:
> 
> The optical connection is usually a little square plastic block with a dummy
> plug installed. The coax connection is round and chrome and looks like a
> standard audio connection. You can use a standard audio cable to connect the
> coaxial type to your receiver but you must buy a special fiber-optic cable
> to use the optical connection. Not sure if there is any difference in
> quality.