Better Audio Drivers for 8886

It's an Avance or something like that... audio codec 97 (AC97), which I'm sure you knew, lol. I will search for drivers a lil and let you know, good luck!

lsd,

i'm waiting to receive my echo indigo card (99$) to avoid using the onboard sound altogether.. i'm planning on getting a hammerfall multiface in the spring, but just for low latency this is the best price i've found (and i use an echo mia in my desktop).

i really don't think the onboard sound is worth trying to improve. in case you didn't notice, it's rather NOISY ...

what kind of latency are you getting ?? i haven't even installed any proaudio apps yet because i can't stand to listen to the thing in headphones for more than about one track :/

i would have had the indigo already if both ECHO and UPS had not ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY SCREWED everything up.

i'll let you know how it goes with cubase sx, absynth, waldorf attack, etc.

Okay proteron, I don't know what any of things that you mentioned are, so I figure you must know a thing or two about audio.

For the S/PDIF in/out in the 8886--is it optical or digital RCA? What is the y-splitter for? How would I use this w/ speakers and/or head phones?

I just hope there is someone who can bring some coherency to this supject--cause I've seen every possible combination of conflicting info mentioned somewhere on this board.

Here is the simplest way to explain it:

http://www.aopen.com/tech/techinside/spdif.htm

So basically, you need a speaker system with a spdif input, and you can use either a regular RCA cable or you can by a fiber optic cable (optical cable) and use that.

I think where we're getting confused is the part where you mention "optical RCA." There is in fact no such thing. I would like this straightened out once and for all, so I'm gonna make this more complicated than it should be and then post my question at the end. I'm not trying to condescend to anyone, but I want to make it clear exactly what we're trying to ask.

There are two types of sound output that computer systems typically use. One is analog out (which is output from a standard headphone-type mini-jack and contains sound information stored as an electrical (but not digital) representation of acoustic waves. The other is digital out, which represents sound information as 1's and 0's. This digital signal can be sent in one of two ways: electrically or optically. If the digital signal is sent electrically, it travels through a standard RCA cable (with the same end connector as a composite video cable). If the digital signal is sent optically, it is represented as a pattern of light flashes that travel along a fiber-optic cable (very different from an electrical cable, it allows virtually lossless transmission of light as opposed to electricity) to a special connector called Toslink (it is square shaped and the female jack generally has a special protective guard that is removed to insert the cable).



The two pictures on the left above show a Toslink connector from different angles while the one on the right shows two RCA connectors. The output jack on the 8886 is a standard mini-jack (what you connect your headphones to on a portable MP3 player). So, you need an adapter to use either of these.





The adapter on the top converts the output from the 8886 to RCA, while the one on the bottom converts to Toslink, but many computers that output digital sound do not support the latter. The signal that is transmitted using either is the same, so why does it even matter if Toslink is supported? Well, people often complain of interference in the audio system of their computer, and audio that is sent optically is largely immune from electrical interference from other components of the computer.

We know that electrical digital output is supported as it is mentioned in the manual and an adapter is included with the system. So, the question is: Has anyone used a mini to Toslink adapter to output a digital signal optically from their 8886? Or, can anyone confirm that it is possible?

The relative positions of the pictures is hard to guage. On my system (1024x768) they appear where I say in my post that they are located. At a different resolution, they may be in different positions, but you should still be able to get the gist. Any confusion is unintentional.

0110,
Thanks for your reiteration of the issues (with pictures! awesome!). I have these same questions, and want to put this subject to rest too!

I'd love to answer these questions first hand, but my Z-680 speakers are on back-order 'til after Christmas

-iNJ

I'm going to try out the 8886 spdif on a friend's system... It does not have an optical connection, I was wrong about that, it's a microphone in connection (thanks 0110). I have an RCA cable that I'll use to check the RCA part, lol, but the splitter that came with this has both the optical and the RCA connections. Thanks for the explanation! And the pictures! :-)

well that's a much better answer than i could have given in a couple days of absence the quick answer is you can't use the spdif out with headphones unless you put some kind of headphone pre-amp/receiver in between that has a SPDIF in.

btw, am i incorrect in thinking that the SPDIF on the 8886 is OUTPUT ONLY?

I am pretty sure it is output only... although the microphone in works beautifully :-) (I wrote about it in the review).

Note: they appear to have been updated again as of 1/15.

S/PDIF

Just wanted to drop people a line about this. I got the Altec Lansing ADA885 THX Dolby Digital Speakers and they sound amazing w/ the S/PDIF interface. They may not be as loud as the Klipshs, but at $118 (w/ no tax and 2.95 shipping from Overstock.com), they are crisp, clean, THX-rated sound (tho George Lucas isn't going to come over to my house and arrange my home theater).

They are supposed to have a minor cosmetic defect, but I couldn't find anything wrong w/ them (they list at $299). I highly recommend them and that vendor (I've had great luck w/ returns in the past).

I did some recording with the line in (and pretty recent drivers from realtek) and it was extremely noisey. I'm thinking about getting an M-Audio Audiosport Quattro (USB) - The firewire solutions would be nice but are a little expensive for my non-professional needs...

Has anyone else used a USB solution with their Sager? Care to share experiences?

I have an NP8880 - and by the way - getting the line in to work was a whole separate chore. I have to run the TV Tuner software to make the line in work - that is probably adding to the noise!!

Lol, how did you get the line in to work exactly? I couldn't get that done before I sent off the 8886, lol. What exactly did you have to do? I agree the noise may have to do with the tv tuner software... I'd like to try it, lol, if I can get it to work on the 8887 :-)

Well - on most computers you plug something into the line in and you can hear it through your speakers and record ... on the sager 888x series you have to contact tech support and you get this 3 page document (mostly pictures) that tells you to do the following:

***
The Audio line-in feature is implimented by the TV tuner module. Before using the LIne-in feature, make sure that the driver of the TV tuner and TV Studio software are installed. To listen or record audio from another device through the Line-in port, start TV Studio software.

1) Click Start > All Programs > TV Studio > TV Studio7
2) Click the TV Control Panel (rectangle bottom left corner under TV picture)
3) Select VCR (the VCR button in cpanel)
4) Click S-video (first button bottom row - use tool tips to assist)
Note: the audio signal from the Line-in port is through the AuX channel.
5)Open the volume control.
Check Aux on the playback device list and make sure it is not muted
***

You do not have to repeat the VCR/SVideo step unless you use your TV Tuner and select off SVideo - if you quit TV Tuner you lose that AUX input and line in does not work so it looks like it only works when TV Tuner is running which creates extra noise!

Time to buy an external audio recorder if you plan to do anything that needs a clean signal (unless you dig the lo fi sound!)

DRAKLAVA:
I am using the MAUDIO DUO and it runs real well. I am still not sure whether or not the DUO is better or worse than the quattro. They are the same price but the duo has an analog to digital converter, increases the quality, and it uses XLR inputs, for microphones, instead of 1/4 inch inputs that the quattro has. I really like my duo so I hope this is a help to you.

Question about the audio drivers

I have a question about the audio driver download posted for the 8886.Is that driver compatible with the 5660?Also has anyone used Cubase Sx with the internal soundcard?I know it's not a pro card, i plan on getting a MOTU firewire card.But i was wondering for scratch recordings on the road how the performance was with the internal soundcard.I will be getting my laptop next week and wanted to prepare all my latest driver downloads in advance.
Thanks for everyones time and help.