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Coax S/PDIF Splitter?

S

S-F

Gawd
Joined
Aug 5, 2010
Messages
671
I use coax S/PDIF form my PC to my stereo and am now needing to also send that signal to a separate receiver simultaneously. Is it possible to split the S/PDIF signal? An other option might be to use the fiber port. Do the coax and fiber ports issue the same signals at the same time? Does any one have any other ideas that I haven't thought of?

The motherboard is a Zotac mini ITX S775 job. Details can be found here: http://www.zotacusa.com/zotac-geforce-9300-itx-gf9300-g-e.html

Thanks all.
 
I'm not sure what you application is where you want a stereo and an AVR getting the same signal simultaneously....but...There are 1-in/2-out TOSLINK splitters...I've seen coaxial SPDIF splitter cables, however I'm not at all certain how reliable they are.
 
OK. I suppose I should clarify a little. My PC is attached to the stereo in the living room which doubles as a theater. I also play all of my music on this PC. I like to create playlists on the fly as my mood demands, not a premade playlist. I am installing a whole house audio system and I want the PC to be one of the sources. So how to get the S/PDIF both to the living room stereo and the WHA amp in the basement? And I already have the coax S/PDIF run from my PC to the living room amp so going with an all TOSLINK solution isn't really an option.

Do you have any kind of link or so forth to these coax S/PDIF splitters?
 
Why does it matter if it's "digital" or not? The coax cable is nothing more than a regular coax cable. Will splitting the signal like that cause havoc?

Also could you tell me a little more about these streaming media players? I use WinAmp exclusively if that's any help.

Thanks for all the input guys!
 
spaceman said:
That isn't digital.

I use an older high end receiver with digital coax inputs as well as optical. It has both digital and analogue outputs.

You probably want a streaming media player that uses hdmi or usb from your pc.
Click to expand...

small hint: do a bit of research before making a post like that. coax is coax. even "digital" coax isn't. Over copper *everything * is analog, it just gets interpreted as digital on the other end. The only issue I forsee would be a signal strength one.
 
S-F said:
Same here. I just don't know what to do about that. I am extremely open to ideas though.
Click to expand...
the only other way I found is splitting the toslink line but that gets expensive fast (~$50 range on Amazon for one)
 
Yeah I have seen fiber splitters. The thing is I already have coax run from my PC to my amp and TOSLINK keystone jacks are hard to come by. I'm not going to run wires along my floor. Even monoprice doesn't sell fiber long enough to make that run. In the future I plan on relocating my amp to the basement with everything else (I have everything down there except my projector, desktop and the amp. The file server, printer, home automation system, etc and now the WHA amp). I plan on continuing to use coax then too.

Oh, and, if I don't look at your handle you can't hurt me?
 
S-F said:
Yeah I have seen fiber splitters. The thing is I already have coax run from my PC to my amp and TOSLINK keystone jacks are hard to come by. I'm not going to run wires along my floor. Even monoprice doesn't sell fiber long enough to make that run. In the future I plan on relocating my amp to the basement with everything else (I have everything down there except my projector, desktop and the amp. The file server, printer, home automation system, etc and now the WHA amp). I plan on continuing to use coax then too.

Oh, and, if I don't look at your handle you can't hurt me?
Click to expand...

hmm.. does the audio device support outputting via 3.5mm and coax at the same time?

Could get a long 3.5mm cable to run to the other device.

hmm.. you mention "file server", is this a linux/*bsd/solaris box? aka: if you just want to play tunes maybe the file server box could do this? would have to track down a web based player though.
 
S-F said:
Why does it matter if it's "digital" or not? The coax cable is nothing more than a regular coax cable. Will splitting the signal like that cause havoc?
Click to expand...

I split mine out like from my gaming rig. One rca only went a few feet and the other 25 feet. Worked just fine... I don't know how long you plan to run yours though.
 
He was asking for coax to S/PDIF splitters.

Anyway, you should probably just use a USB dac like the Behringer U-CONTROL UCA222 USB Audio Interface. That gives you two outputs including an optical and another headphone out to allow for volume control via the PC to your PC stereo. This is the entry level piece. The Cambridge Audio Dacmagic is another example but at a higher price bracket.
 
S/PDIF is either coaxial (RCA) or toslink. He asked if he can split the coaxial. He can and I gave links to cheap splitters that work. I've done it. I used the Y shaped splitter to split the coaxial S/PDIF out on my motherboard to my Altec Lansing computer speakers that have a coaxial S/PDIF in and to my Marantz receiver simultaneously which is 25ft away and it worked just fine. I've split toslink too. If you're going to split, you want to split coaxial especially at longer lengths since toslink loses much more signal over longer runs. Why should he buy extra stuff like a USB DAC? There's no point.
 
I never tried to split a coax for digital audio. If both of his inputs accept coax via that rca splitter then great and problem solved.

The Behringer USB dac is only $30 btw. Not as cheap as the splitter but it is always good to mention the options.
 
Well I ordered a normal coax splitter from Monoprice. We'll see if it works.

Does anyone have a recommendation on a decent D/A converter?
 
Ahhh. I need something that will take coax S/PDIF and turn it into an analog signal.
 
S-F said:
Ahhh. I need something that will take coax S/PDIF and turn it into an analog signal.
Click to expand...

Why not usb? Just easier in this case. You get digital and analog output via usb. More flexible.
 
spaceman said:
Why not usb? Just easier in this case. You get digital and analog output via usb. More flexible.
Click to expand...

There are a few issues with that DAC for my situation. Thanks for the reply though! Oddly enough you aren't the first person to recommend it to me :/ . First I'm needing something at the end of a coax S/PDIF run. I'm splitting the coax at my PC. One is going to my existing amp and the other is going to the basement to the Russound. As the Behringer is a USB device alone it doesn't meet the needs. But what about skipping the onboard sound card all together and going with the Behringer ? Well, I'm already wired for coax to my amp and the DAC in question only outputs S/PDIF optically. Is there a decent DAC that I can put at the end of a coax S/PDIF run? The coax is already run and a lot of it is firmly held in place with two part spray foam. I know I should have run some kind of conduit but hindsight is always 20/20/ I'm not going to tear out $2,000 worth of spray foam to replace the coax with fiber. I can't even find a toslink cable that long.
 
Hmm yeah. Ok best thing I can think of right away is something like my older Boston Acoustics 7120 receiver. I use it as a pre-amp now bc the left channel keeps going out. It has two? coax digital outputs as well as about 5 optical. Maybe search craigslist, audiogon and polk audio forum for an older receiver with that capability.
 
Well I got one of the Monoprice splitters and all is golden! I get great sound all over the house!

Thank you [H] members for all of your input!

Any questions or comments are welcome!
 
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